How I lost over 100 lbs armed with Grip and Rip 2.1, guest post by Gerry Schiela

Every week I get emails with success stories of those who make gains with Grip and Rip, and everyone of them means something to me. Some times I just forward them out to my associates, some times I just save them and send back a thank you. Every now and again I find one that truly moves me. This is such a post.

First of all, losing weight is a huge accomplishment for anyone who does it. I do not want anyone to think I am deminishing their achievement, but some weight loss stories are more impressive than others. Losing 20 lbs makes you feel a little better, maybe look a little better. Losing 100 pounds literally changes everything in your life.

Gerry, even though You and I have never met I am tremendously proud of you. I hope to one day meet you face to face and shake you hand. While you give credit to me and the DVD for your weight loss, it was all you brother. You asked the questions, you ran the experiments, you did the work. You have done an amazing thing in your life.

-ATG

I just lost 100 lbs.  Well, I had just lost 100lbs a few weeks ago when I spoke with Adam about writing this.  As I type this I am over -110 lbs.  (I am still recovering from Thanksgiving.)  I will provide my history, and struggle, with weight loss and “body transformation” as a way of giving some background.  I left the 4^th grade as the second thinnest kid in class; I returned to the 5^th grade as the second heaviest.  The onset of puberty can produce some bizarre shifts in some of us.  My struggle with my weight has been a steady battle ever since—long term, I have pretty much always been on the losing end.  There have been bright spots that burned out quickly—running cross-country in high school, pumping iron, more vigorous martial arts training.  These were all short-lived victories, and over time my weight grew more steadily.  It doesn’t help that I am a pretty decent cook, and that cooking and eating is one of my hobbies; rather, I should say that it “didn’t” help, because I have been able to transform that into an ally.  Nearly 5 years ago I quit smoking, and I put on another 50 lbs. after that.  So there I was at 326 lbs. at the beginning of the summer, when I decided it was time to stop trying to lose weight, and just lose weight.  If you are familiar with the Grip & Rip program, then you will recognize that as a paraphrase.

Gerry before his weight loss

Before I got to the summer I had already been making plans to work on my weight loss, but either didn’t have the time, or the commitment.  I had purchased various exercise equipment—Heavyhands walking weights, kettlebells, Indian clubs and maces, but had not been steadily using them.  I was on Ryan Pitts’s mailing list for strongergrip.com and he both mentioned his visit to Grip & Rip, and the forthcoming DVD.  As a side note, I had found Ryan several years before when I became interested in Indian clubs and maces.  At the time I was back in school, and without a job.  Ryan gave me free advice on how to build and use my own equipment, and I told him that when I had a job I would purchase equipment from him.  This I did, and have never regretted it.  I am impressed with every piece. I had even been using it sporadically.  When I read his e-mail I was intrigued.  I wrote him and asked him if it were worth it to shell out the money for the Grip & Rip DVD, and he said that he thought so because it would enable me to, in effect, become my own personal trainer.  As I already had a great deal of confidence in Ryan’s integrity, as well as his products, I ordered it that evening.  After I watched it, I knew I had found a program that would help me.  Rather than some kind of dogmatic program of “musts” and “corrects” it came off as an instruction manual for you to listen to yourself, instead of listening to others.  The line that stuck with me most was:  “Unless they are paying you for your deadlift, it is just their opinion.”  It made a lot of sense.  However, still in my second year of teaching, I knew that I would not have time to stop trying and just “do” until the summer came.  So I used the information to research diet and exercise and waited.

As silly as it may sound, I had always allowed myself to be bullied when it came to losing weight and being fit.  You “must” do this, you “must not” do that.  Being neither able to do it the “best” way, nor able to stop myself from struggling with the incorrect way, I allowed myself to fail on multiple occasions.  The strange thing about all of this is that there were many things I already knew from my both my lifelong pursuit of martial arts and my training as a teacher.  I just never let myself carry that knowledge over to the world of diet and exercise, because, well, what did I know?  I was just some middle-aged, fat guy who had never been successful with either since the 5^th grade.

Here are a few things that really sparked me over the Grip & Rip program, and the connections I should have been able to make:

• “There is no best, only best right now.” This made an infinite amount of sense to me.  There is a joke that my taijiquan (“t’ai chi”) instructor used to tell:  “How many taiji players does it take to screw in a light bulb?  10.  1 to do it, and 9 to say he did it wrong.”  I always knew the lesson there, but I never carried it over to body transformation or exercise.  Grip & Rip let me see that the case was more similar than dissimilar to what I already knew from experience.
• “Closest to your life movement.” This is simply a matter of being “natural.”  Could it really be that easy?  I didn’t have to go to a gym in a certain uniform, or use a machine in a certain way?  Or pay excruciating detail to match perfectly Arnold’s movement with a barbell?  My silat instructor calls this a “walk in the park,” and is how techniques should be drilled and practiced:  fluidly and naturally.  Was it really that simple?  It really is.
• “Progress through testing.” This gem is something that was recently drilled into me to become a better teacher.  We call it “formative assessment.”  Not every “test” is for the purpose of grading—we test things in advance to see what the students are most capable of doing, and where they need the most work.  This way they can progress through testing, not simply be “punished” for failing tests.  Why shouldn’t this apply to me in my workout as well?  What’s good for the goslings is good for the gander.
• “There is no off switch to adaptation.” It is easy to underestimate how important this is.  My silat instructor says all the time, over and over, there are no advanced techniques, just basic techniques refined over time.  I even put that in our book!  Yet I never even thought about it when it came to “fitness” and diet.  I had spent so much time being told what I “had” to do, and as I had always failed at that, I had always blamed myself.  Yeah, yeah a “vicious cycle,” cry me a river in your spare time: I WAS to blame, but I was to blame for trying to adapt myself to what may, or may not, be right for others, instead of letting myself adapt to what I was doing.
• The above is closely connected to another gem from Adam:  “You do not have to work to get anything; you just have to do it.” Part of allowing the basics to become more and more refined is doing less and less work, not more and more.  The important thing is that you do and do, not work, and struggle.  I knew this from my taijiquan days, and so many Taoist adages:  “Do anything ten thousand times and you will master it.”  Then again there was Yang Cheng-Fu’s saying, that my instructor always quoted: “If you expend one day’s effort, you will reap the benefits of one day.”  I spent too much time stressing over having to “work” and “struggle” and then end up NOT doing or carrying it through.  I was reaping the benefits of individual, and scattered sessions, because stressing over the work and struggle prevented me from actually doing.

Those are the things that stood out right away.  But, from the first time I heard: “Stop worrying about what other people think about your program, and get focused on your results.” I knew that Ryan was right.  However, I also knew that I wasn’t ready right then, but I was also inspired by the line, “Start with whereever you are at and I will take you as far as you can possibly go.” I knew I could start, as long as I started, so I planned out my time.  I researched the exercises and type of diet that would be right for me to maximize results, but I also knew I would need some help for record keeping and such.  That I got from my Dr.’s office.  I first put the program into practice by learning not only about the exercises included, but the exercises that appealed to me.  I dusted off the kettlebells, I acquired more pieces from Ryan.

Ryan was right, this program allowed me to become my own personal trainer. Did it provide me with complete information, like a course on being a personal trainer?  No.  But it did give me a helluvalot of really excellent information.  I did not focus on that for this write up, because I wanted to focus on what was most important to me.  Grip & Rip gave me the inspiration to know that I could find out information, I could figure out information, and I could listen to myself.  I could be my own trainer. I use the information, and when I have hit my weight loss goal, I will be using more of it and hitting some PRs but the program both inspired me and empowered me with information and a direction to adjust myself to my specific goals rather than conforming myself to someone else’s generic and predefined goals.  I have lost over 110 lbs. now in just over 5 months, and I am over 2/3rds of the way to my goal; if I had to list the things that have helped me most, then the Grip & Rip program and its guidance and information would be near the top of the list.

Gerry 100 lbs lighter, leaner, meaner, smarter. Well done Sir!!

-Gerry

Are you ready to become your own coach? Are you tired of slow progress or no progress? Get Grip and Rip 2.1 right now and set up your game. Learn to PR Everyday and make more progress than you ever have before. The time is now.