Cliff Wilson- Prep for 2013 with Core Nutritionals

[pureintensity]

I am subbed so I watched it this morning. I have never understood the people who claim they have bad genetics, or look at me or others and just assume we have great genetics. There is always an excuse to not train hard, eat right and find out what your capable of. Personally I am grateful that people are so short sighted that they never actually get going, makes us that do look that much better.

I think most would be surprised what they could accomplish if they just put in the work for a decade or two.

Agreed. I have what most would call subpar genetics; however, I busted my ass for a decade and won a pro card. I may never do much as a pro, but that doesn't mean I can't keep improving.

Keep crushing it during prep! I'm amazed at the amount of volume you are hitting in the gym while in a deficit. How much cardio are you doing these days?

You guys are most definitely right! Over the course of 10-20 years of training someone with "lesser genetics" can bridge the gap immensely. Like Pete said, this needs to be about improvement upon your own personal best. It is essentially a competition with yourself over the course of your career.

As for the volume, I have just held it steady. I know that many will lower the volume of training as a prep continues but I don't typically do this until the very final few weeks, or maybe when calories come back up before a show. My reason for this is the energy loop it creates. If I lower the volume of my training then I will need to make up for the lower energy expenditure by either lower calories or increasing cardio. My calorie output will still be the same but I have just lessened the training stimulus, so this combined with my lower calorie intake and/or higher cardio level would be a likely scenario for muscle tissue breakdown because of lower perceived need. So I just keep everything steady except for when food intake comes up before a show. In this case food is coming in at a higher rate and growth will easily happen. I will typically lower volume then to also allow for a little better glycogen replenishment before the show. I realize that most do not subscribe to this but it has just always worked really well for maintaining strength and size. Of course, I am not bull headed about this though. If someone is just totally run down and feels like crap then I will lower the volume. lol. I always consider each case individually.

For my own cardio I am doing one 12 Min. HIIT and three 15 Min. MISS sessions per week. I will typically burn about 175 kcals during my HIIT sessions and about 160-180 during my MISS. I actually backed off my cardio a few weeks ago because I started to lose a bit faster than I would have liked.

[pureintensity]

My Core Fury just came in today! Holy hell I am excited. I have only been able to try samples here and there but now I have a full tub! I will record some highlights from my workout and put it up early next week!

LET'S GO!!!!!

[The Solution]

Fury is no joke man. 1.5 scoops is KILLER, 2 scoops would blow me away. Doug nailed the melon flavor, i am eager to see how the Lemon lime tastes when released. have you had a beta sample of the LL?

[pureintensity]

Fury is no joke man. 1.5 scoops is KILLER, 2 scoops would blow me away. Doug nailed the melon flavor, i am eager to see how the Lemon lime tastes when released. have you had a beta sample of the LL?

Yeah, tell me about it. When I was beta testing, Doug sent me a sample to try and it turned out to be a full 2 scoops. I as FLYING! I don't think I need that much. lol. It has been a while since I tried the flavors but I think I actually like the LL better than the melon. I can't remember for sure though.

[pureintensity]

Fury is no joke man. 1.5 scoops is KILLER, 2 scoops would blow me away. Doug nailed the melon flavor, i am eager to see how the Lemon lime tastes when released. have you had a beta sample of the LL?

Training was ridiculous! Got some good video that I will be sending off to Doug. Also, it was the lemon lime that I liked a bit better. But they were close.

[pureintensity]

I am feeling damn good. I got back to training tonight after taking the previous 3 days off from the gym. It was time for a little deload to let myself rest. I took three days off, increased my calories, and made sure to lay off caffeine completely for the three days. Here were my macros for the three days.

P- 265
C- 380
F- 75

My weight held steady and I am now at 183.0 as of this morning. I took some pics tonight and am pretty happy with the progress. I am starting to take shape.

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In other huge news. I have also decided to begin promoting. I am going to be co promoting the North Central Natural Bodybuilding Championships with my wife, and one of my clients Hannade Ibrahim. The show will be on Aug. 24th in St. John IN. It is a small show right now but I look forward to growing it over the coming years.

Anyway, as always, thanks for following. I should have a new video log up tomorrow

[pureintensity]

I have a brand new video log up up now! I am pretty excited about this one. I find that motivation seems to be a pretty big issue for some. In this log I try to examine where motivation comes from and the proper approach to successfully motivate oneself. Hope it helps!

[KBolen]

I am feeling damn good. I got back to training tonight after taking the previous 3 days off from the gym. It was time for a little deload to let myself rest. I took three days off, increased my calories, and made sure to lay off caffeine completely for the three days. Here were my macros for the three days.

P- 265
C- 380
F- 75

My weight held steady and I am now at 183.0 as of this morning. I took some pics tonight and am pretty happy with the progress. I am starting to take shape.

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In other huge news. I have also decided to begin promoting. I am going to be co promoting the North Central Natural Bodybuilding Championships with my wife, and one of my clients Hannade Ibrahim. The show will be on Aug. 24th in St. John IN. It is a small show right now but I look forward to growing it over the coming years.

Anyway, as always, thanks for following. I should have a new video log up tomorrow

You're looking GREAT Cliff! Nice job. Can't wait to see you hit the stage!

[red_cat]

Looks like things are definitely taking shape. Figured out which shows you're targeting?

[pureintensity]

You're looking GREAT Cliff! Nice job. Can't wait to see you hit the stage!

Thanks Kerri!

Looks like things are definitely taking shape. Figured out which shows you're targeting?

No positive on the shows just yet but I have likely narrowed down a time. I am thinking June, maybe late June, will be my time. I plan on doing several shows so I will likely pick my first around that time and do a few more heading into the fall.

[The Solution]

You looking to travel far for your shows or stay around Indiana? I know Ohio has the natural northern show which is always very popluar and great competioin in lakeland OH

[pureintensity]

Still doing my thing, sorry about not posting as much. I have been really busy with a lot of side projects beyond my usual work with clients. I have been working on a few case studies that I contributing to a presentation to be given at the World Endobolism Congress. Pretty excited about that! Plus, I am traveling to St. Louis in a few days to give two lectures to a bodybuilding camp. That should be great as well. Not to mention, I still need to do my taxes. Haha!

Anyway, my weight has been holding pretty steady but I am getting a bit leaner so I haven't changed anything. If the visible changes are coming then I am not going to live and die by the scale. I weighed in today at 181.2. Starting to feel skinny but that just comes with the territory.

So I had been wanting to detail my training plan for quite some time as I had been getting some questions about it since I started this log. My training plan is a mix of a few forms of periodization and one that I use often for my clients. So I decided to write and article about it. I finally got it done and put up. So here is the link. Check it out and feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I know some of you already saw, thanks for the feedback. It is called Power Block Periodization.

http://www.corenutritionals.com/winn...iodization-pbp

As I said before, I am headed to St. Louis this weekend to speak at a bodybuilding camp. I plan on snapping some training pics and progress pics so I will put those up when I get back. I will try to get another post in before I leave. Thanks all!

[pureintensity]

You looking to travel far for your shows or stay around Indiana? I know Ohio has the natural northern show which is always very popluar and great competioin in lakeland OH

I have a few in mind that I will be traveling to. I am mostly waiting to pick my shows until I see how a few of my clients do that are set to compete in May. I have a few MONSTERS that will be going for pro cards. lol. If for some reason they do not get them at their first shows then we will need back up shows. I prefer not to compete against my clients if possible, so I will be looking to avoid them. lol.

I think I know which show you are talking about. Is that a natural NPC show?

[fltallpaul]

I like your program. The idea of avoiding failure was once so foreign to me. After getting involved in powerlifting I saw the light and am grateful. I may give your program a run in the near future. I just need to get my leg to allow me to squat again!

[pureintensity]

I like your program. The idea of avoiding failure was once so foreign to me. After getting involved in powerlifting I saw the light and am grateful. I may give your program a run in the near future. I just need to get my leg to allow me to squat again!

Thanks Paul, I have to admit. I have been guilty of too much failure it the past as well. It can be real easy to fall into convincing yourself that stopping short of failure is taking the easy way out. But these days I mostly save failure for just a few sets on my weaker body parts. I never take legs to failure anymore. Mostly just chest and biceps these days.

Hope your leg gets better soon man!

[The Solution]

I have a few in mind that I will be traveling to. I am mostly waiting to pick my shows until I see how a few of my clients do that are set to compete in May. I have a few MONSTERS that will be going for pro cards. lol. If for some reason they do not get them at their first shows then we will need back up shows. I prefer not to compete against my clients if possible, so I will be looking to avoid them. lol.

I think I know which show you are talking about. Is that a natural NPC show?

yes it is, and its always a very well run show with a lot of big names and a nice little expo. I highly suggest it.

[pureintensity]

yes it is, and its always a very well run show with a lot of big names and a nice little expo. I highly suggest it.

Thanks man! I will definitely keep that in consideration. Especially for my clients as well. For my own shows I am going to be mostly looking to compete in the NANBF, OCB, NGA, and DFAC. This just being that I have found those federations to be most to my liking (as a whole) within structure and judging. But I am not completely opposed to doing an NPC show either. I will have to give it some thought for sure.

[pureintensity]

I am back after a great weekend at the St. Louis Bodybuilding camp. We had a pretty good turnout and my seminars went well with some great questions afterward. It also really got me fired up to compete this year as many of those in attendance were only a few weeks out from their shows.

Well, I finally had to cut my macros to get things moving along again. As of today I am 179.6 and I cut my macros last Thursday. Here are my current numbers.

Regular days:

P-255
C-270
F-55

Moderate day:

P-250
C-435
F-55

High day:

P-230
C-560
F-55

This did a really nice job of getting things moving again as I am below 180 for the first time in a LONG time. Strength has begun to drop a bit but I expected this. Nothing terrible but I have noticed a bit of a drop off as energy is down a little. I am just grinding through and fighting like hell to hold on to everything I have though. Considering how close I am to show weight I am still feeling pretty damn good though.

I plan to take some pics early next week and put them up. Until then I just need to keep pushing!

[KBolen]

Glad the camp went well. Wish I could have been there. Nice job, Cliff! Keep pushing - you are getting close!! ~ "Brick House"

[pureintensity]

Glad the camp went well. Wish I could have been there. Nice job, Cliff! Keep pushing - you are getting close!! ~ "Brick House"

Thanks Kerri! Maybe next year. They already asked me back so it is in the works

[sculpt07]

Any updates cliff? Hope your going well mate

[pureintensity]

I....AM.....BACK!!!! Haha! I can assure everyone I never stopped prepping, I have just been swamped with work and finding time to log was not easy. But things have slowed and I am ready to log again.

I realize that this log is about my prep and not my work, but I will get you guys caught up on what has been going on with my business because this is bodybuilding related. I will start with that and then touch on my prep.

On April 20th I headed down to Missouri for the Southern States show to be with one of my clients names Mike Morea as he attempted to win his pro card. I have been working with him for a few years now so this one was a long time in the making. He ended up winning the whole show and taking home his IFPA pro card. Here is a pic of him just before pre judging. Dude is a beast!

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Then on May 4th I was in Peoria IL for the NGA Heart of America as a few of my clients were taking the stage. It was a pretty good day there as well. This was a pro/am so there was a pro show held in conjunction with a pro qualifier for the NGA. My pro figure girl took 3rd. My pro mens bodybuilder made his pro debut and took 2nd and I had an amateur named Jon Aggen win his NGA pro card that day.

Then this past weekend I was in MN for the Mr. Natural MN. This show was HUGE! This was also a pro/am for the IFPA. While I was in MN I had clients competing in several places on this day. To be honest, this was the busiest day for my entire prep career a I have never had so many clients competing in so many different places at the same time. I had 10 clients competing in Minnesota, Canada, New Jersey, and Illinois. I was a bit worried about keeping up with the demand of handling so many different peak week and show days. Well, the day went 1000 times better than I could have asked for. Not only was it not an issue but it was pretty easy. Here were the highlights of the day.

Mike Morea- made his pro debut and won the IFPA MN show. 13 guys in a tough professional line up and he took the whole thing.

Kevin Lofy- competed in the WNBF Continental in Canada and won his first professional title. Unanimous decision as the overall winner. The guy is 5'9. He weighed 188 lbs on Thursday morning. On Friday we fed him about 1400 grams of carbs and he hit the stage at about 200 lbs. on show day. Here is a pick of this monster.

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Garett Roush- won his IFPA pro card at the Mr. MN show. This was only his second show but this guy is a BEAST! I promise you that he will be a force for years to come. I think he may have the sickest glues in natural bodybuilding. Check out this video I took of the overall posedown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=AYMM3uWbrSg

Matt Burdess- Won the overall and his DFAC pro card. His dad died a week before the show and he decided to follow through with the show and dedicate it to his dad. For him to win his pro card at this show is unreal.

Doug Ryan- Competed in Marc Lobliner's ANBF show. He is not a big guy but he is shredded. He ended up winning his pro card at this show as well.

So this month has been crazy, but I just couldn't be prouder of my clients that competed. They handle their business every single time they hit the stage an I am always impressed with their work ethic. It sure makes me step my own game up that is for sure. While all this has been going on in the past month I was also writing a few case studies for a presentation at the 2013 Endobolism Congress. So finding time for all of these peak weeks, the two case studies, and my own prep was definitely challenging. But I got it done. So here is where I am at in my prep.

I have still been running Power Block Periodization but my strength has finally taken a hit. I am doing my best to keep it up but it is rough. Here are my current macros.

P-240
C-230
F-55

Moderate day:

P-230
C-375
F-55

High day:

P-210
C-550
F-50

My weight had stalled for a bit so I made a few more aggressive cuts and it got it moving again. I am not down to 173.8 as of this morning. Damn I feel skinny! lol. The last progress pics I took were on May 2nd and I weight 176.8. Here are the pics. I am definitely leaner now and will be taking some new pics next week.

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Also, I have finally picked my first show. I will be announcing what show in just about another week or two. So in all things are going well. I am tired and hungry on certain days but that is to be expected. Now that my schedule is dying down a bit I should really get things a bit easier and keep buckling down. Thanks again for being so patient on these posts. I will do my best to keep up from here on out

[pureintensity]

I must apologize for completely falling off of the forums for a bit. My season is over and I am now into my offseason. I will be logging it here, I also included a quick recap on how my placings went. I hope to have some of you follow along. I won't drop off this one

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1138661293