Advice is what we ask for when?

"Advice is what we ask for when, we already know the answer but wish we didn't"

by: Erica Mann Jong  

It has been a while since I have written and it is time I started again. I actually find it therapeutic and it allows me to stay focused on my own goals as I try to help motivate you to yours.

If you go to my page "Who is Jim Kipp you will notice that I was not always a fit man. I was overweight and out of shape and was even taking medication to control high blood pressure and my doc wanted to put me on cholesterol meds.



This brings me to the quote of the day.



Many times I had asked advice about getting back in to a physical condition that was healthy. The truth of the matter is I did already know the answer. EAT HEALTHIER and EXERCISE. I remember when I finally took control of my life and decided I had, had enough of this out of shape unhealthy lifestyle. I made the decision to get healthy, no one made that decision for me and I knew what I had to do. So I did it. I looked into different types of diets and decided what diet lifestyle I wanted to lead.

Now I live it.



Too many people look at the word "DIET" as a temporary thing. However when scientist look at ancient cultures and discuss the "diet" of people of the past they are not talking about a temporary thing. They are talking about their eating habits and life style. THIS is how you need to look at your NEW eating habits.



Make the decision to get healthy and make it a lifestyle change and you will be successful.



Tip: One thing you can do starting today , and with today's technology you always have a phone with you, is to write down everything you eat, and I mean everything you put in your mouth including fluids. Then each night take a look and decide what you can do better.



Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.

Quote of the Day: Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness. – Earl of Derby - 

A truer statement has not been made. If you do not spend the time getting to the gym you will have to spend time getting better from and illness or worse yet, NOT GETTING BETTER. 

I recently was interviewed by the Mechanicville Express community newspaper. One of the questions I am asked often and was asked by this paper is how to stick to an exercise regimen. 

Let’s face it, many of us have good intentions and even get to the gym as part of our New Year’s resolution, but someplace along the line after the first month you stop going. We avid gym goers see this every year. The gym is crowded with new fresh faces and the regulars have trouble getting to the equipment they are usually not having to “weight” to get on. (LOL see what I did there. I kill me.)

There is a way to stay on track and be one of those avid gym goers. The way I find most helpful is to schedule it like you would any other appointment. Make it a mandatory part of your week. If you had a doctor’s appointment you would do everything in your power to make that appointment.  Even getting your hair cut you schedule. WHY not schedule you workouts. Secondly you do need to be a little flexible as to when you schedule your workout. 

Family life can hinder our ability to get to the gym. Some people have said to me that their children come first and I agree. I just think that living a healthy lifestyle so I am around for my children is part of putting them first. I want to be around for my children and I don’t want to be just sitting on the side lines waiting for them to come to me. I WANT TO RUN TO THEM.  If you really want to put your children first and mean it, then get into an exercise regimen, at the gym or at home and stick to it. Make it a part of your daily schedule and you will be successful.

You are welcome to come to one of my training sessions for adults at the Mechanicville community center. Contact me through my email at the top of this page for more information. 

I also want to turn you towards a gym in the capitol district that caters to all lifters. It truly is non judgmental. ABC Sports and Fitness there are powerlifters, bodybuilders, Silver Sneakers, Cardio gurus and people of all shapes and sizes workout out there. I personally love the place. I have plenty of equipment at home and do some training there. But the atmosphere there is fantastic. 

Tip: Don’t try to schedule your exercise time at a time when you know dam well you won’t do it. I know dam well that I need to do some cardio. I have an alpa-1 antitrypsin deficiency. I believe that as long as I do cardio of some kind it can only help me. However I, like so many other people schedule my cardio when I know I won’t be able to do it.  As ideal as it is to do your cardio in the morning before you have breakfast, I have a tough time getting up to do it.

2014 World Champion Masters II 83 kg



Wesley Kipp IPF Masters II 83 kg weight class World Champion

On Friday April 18, 2014, I achieved a goal I have been striving for since my first National Title win. I won the IPF Masters World Championship Bench Press Meet.


It is interesting, the fact that the weights you hit in the gym don't always equate with what you will hit in a meet at this level. Things like time zone differences and changes in sleep patterns can make a big difference. Judging also tends to be more strict at a meet of this caliber.


My USA Team coaches were fantastic and it is with great thanks to them I achieved this goal.


I also should thank my lifting coach, John Bogart, who has assisted me in hitting heavier and heavier weights in my training sessions. Then there is former World Champion, Sean Culnan, who gave me some great advise regarding my opener. Sean advised me, as did my coaches, to lower the weight for my opener.


As it turned out, just my opener at 200kgs would have won the meet for me. I am so thankful for the valuable advice and assistance from both of these men.


My training partners were also key to my being able to win this event. This is where I want to address the importance of surrounding yourself with great people. My people include my training coach, John Bogart and my training partners, Johnny O, Johnny Z, Dan Howsman, Hope LaFreniere and, of course, my girl Jeannine Trimboli. These people are my strongest supporters yet also give me honest lifting critiques. When you are lifting and looking to compete you don’t want people to only tell you "how great your lift looks". You want them to tell you what you did wrong, even if you completed the lift.


For example, there have been lifts I made in the gym that were some pretty heavy lifts. Instead of simply being impressed, my training partners would be the first to tell me it looked like crap, and I was lucky to even get the weight up. This type of constructive criticism is very important. Yes, I want to hear how good a lift is, but I also want to know when I am doing something wrong.


I was lucky enough that my opening lift won the meet and my second lift simply secured the win. However, what weighs on my mind is that I missed my third attempt. I did not transition my left elbow under the bar fast enough and missed a lift that I have hit easily over the past 2 months.


There is always something to learn from every meet. If you watch my lifts in the video below you will see my first lift was not as clean as my second. This is because I stayed tighter in my second lift, even though the weight was heavier, it went up easier. My coach was messaging my team mates while he watched the live stream and made a point of telling them to tell me to stay tight.


Lastly I want to thank all the people who helped me to actually travel to this meet. It gets expensive traveling as a member of the USAPL World Bench Team. My friend Jim Kelly, when he found out I was on the World Team, took it upon himself to put together a benefit concert for me. While he was disappointed that the turn out was smaller than he anticipated, I was just thrilled that someone took the time to do this for me. I also want to thank those who helped me out through the GoFundme website. I am a blessed person. The money raised was enough to cover my hotel expenses.


Thank you all.

Vid

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvfrz7NTF38

Your toughest competition is yourself

Training last night consisted of hitting an easy opener in a loose bench shirt.

I did this in case I discover that I'm having an off day during warm ups, the day of the meet.

Let's just say my opener in the last night's loose shirt is still more than what won last year’s world meet.

Also, at this point in training, with the meet date quickly approaching, it is important not to over train and have my central nervous system shut down.

It looks like I will peak just right.

With your help and support, Gold medal here I come.

That was my lifting update for you, now for the quote of the day. 
 

 Quote: " I view my strongest competition as myself. You're always trying to top yourself, rather than worrying what other people are doing"  by: John C Riley.

John C Riley is an American actor, and while I don't normally like to quote and actor, I totally agree with this statement.

I am always competing against myself whether it is in the gym, at work, or in a competition. I want to best my previous performance. My workouts consist of weekly PR's, at least that is the goal. I strive for a personal record as small as half a pound. Yup you heard me half a pound. One week it may be a 5 rep max, the next a 4 rep max and so on. I always try to keep pushing.

If you are training just to be more fit you can apply this to your workouts as well. Each work out attempt one more rep, or half a pound more. If you are a cardio enthusiast then try to beat your time by a few seconds or go a little longer if you are a time person. Whatever the case may be simply push yourself a little bit.

OK OK now you going to say, "Let's see Jim apply this to diet" 

 You know every day when you wake up you have a goal to keep to your diet. Make this a competition to get through the day without cheating on your diet. If you do cheat, plan on doing better the rest of the day, and the next. 

If you're one of those people that never cheat, like me when I first went on a low-carb eating plan, you are still in a competition of maintenance. You will have family and friends telling you, that you are doing fine and it is OK, to cheat a little, the competition is still within yourself to adhere to the principles you set for yourself.

Tip: I have noticed lately how important it is, when I train people to teach them to stay tight. Sometimes especially when training a teenager it is even more an issue of coordination. Sometimes they grow out of their body, meaning they lose some coordination due to growth spurts. It is important to keep this mind with teens as they go through these growth spurts.

Reflection is key

" The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection."- Thomas Pain

"Thomas Pain was an American Political Activist. One of his principal contributions was the powerful, widely-read pamphlet Common Sense (1776) that advocated colonial America's independence" (Thank you, wikipedia)

He literally had a common sense approach to things. I find personal reflection extremely important. I even apply it to diet and exercise.

As for my diet, I often take the time to review and reflect what made me successful in staying on course or why I may have failed in my attempt to be consistent with my diet plan for that day. 

Sometimes it is due to poor planning on my part that I may fail, other times it is even simpler than that. LACK of willpower. Yes, willpower is sometimes a challenge even for me and I have been eating clean for a few years now. 

My exercise schedule is constantly changing as I reflect on my goals. Each training cycle involves a time for reflection on how successful it was or was not. I make a point to speak to my training partners all the time. I also engage in discussions with the people I train. I am consistently asking them how they feel certain exercises are affecting them and what they thought of their training sessions.

I was thrilled to hear one of my younger trainees recently say how he has gotten stronger in the two months since he started working with me and that he has seen greater gains in that short time than he had in the past year and a half working with his team at school. 

This shows his reflection on his training and in this case it was very uplifting for him. Sometimes this is the true benefit of reflection. The boost in confidence in knowing that what you are doing is successful.

Tip: Set aside time each week to reflect on your diet and exercise program and it will benefit you in many ways.

Do not surrender to past habits!

Rant and Tip for August 1, 2013

Quote: "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender." ~Vince Lombardi~

Vince Lombari has had many quotes over his career. I found this one and thought this is where I am now when it comes to my way of eating and exercise. I find it very hard to surrender to eating a less than healthy diet and hitting a new personal best when I lift. I am always striving to get better and better. The harder the work the greater the reward, as you change your lifestyle and work hard to be successful in your lifestyle change, you will find it harder and harder to surrender to any unwanted urges or cravings you encounter. Work hard and you will be successful.

Went it comes to exercise as you work hard to achieve your goals you will find as you go along it will be harder and harder to give up on that last repetition. I recently was working out with a friend and hit some great person best in the bench. I made a miss-calculation on the bar and instead of hitting 315 for 1 rep I pressed 335. I forgot we were using 100 lb plates and 5 pound collars. This added 20 pounds to a bar I thought was 315. Anyway the weight went up easy. My training partner at the time was John Bogart a master bench press world champion. He immediately put 345 on the bar for my next attempt; again it went up with speed and confidence. We made a bold jump at that point to 355. I was excited to make this attempt. I hit a sticking point at just before lockout. I held that bar there and continued to try to lock out the weight. I did not want to surrender to the bar. Ultimately I missed the lift but, I fought it all the way. We dropped the weight to 350 and I did hit that weight.

As the weight went up I hit the stick point and t was at this point and I pushed harder, I was not going to surrender to the weight. I wanted it to go up. I needed it to go up. I would not surrender to the bar. When you strength train consistently you will find this will happen to you in your workouts. As you get stronger from your training and you find that you are able to do things you have not done in years, you will find it hard to surrender to the life you had before training. Whether you are a cardio aerobic type person or a strength training individual like myself you will not want to go back to you previous lifestyle.

It is funny as a young adult or child you do not realize what a gift being fit is. You almost take it for granted and you allow yourself to eat anyway you want and you do not take in consideration the affects it could have on the rest of your life. As a mature adult we have experienced the side effects of an unhealthy lifestyle and for many of us it took that for us to pull ourselves together.


Through this blog I have raised about $100.00 towards the National and World meets. I have a long way to go but I will get there. Thank you to those who have made donations to help me get there.

Tip: Make your new lifestyle fun. If you do not enjoy the exercise you are currently doing mix it up and find something you enjoy. Now I do know some of you may think UGH I don’t enjoy any physical activity, this you will just have to overcome. You can do it and you will find something you enjoy. Maybe it is just a matter of going with someone you enjoy spending time with.