Wing's Daily News

Its sadly ironic that I just wrote an article about this very thing yesterday. My condolences to Scott Powers family. Click this link to read a very descriptive article about this unfortunate tragedy.

What happened to Powers? When I climbed Mt. Washington last month it took about 4.5 hours to make the summit and 2.5 hours to down climb (climb back down). Apparently something happened to Powers that caused him to do his descent at night which is incredibly dangerous. My guess is that he became lost, wandered too far to the right of the trail he was supposed to be on, (Tuckermans) slipped over the ravine edge and slid down a nearly vertical 800 foot ravine wall. I climbed past that very ravine and its gigantic.

It's hard to judge scale from this photo which I took when I climbed Mt. Washington but this is Tuckerman Ravine where Scott Powers fell to his death.

Its always easy to second guess a mountaineering catastrophe but it seems that Powers may have been a bit under-prepared for a dangerous winter solo ascent. But then again maybe he wasn’t. Mt. Washington is not “tall” by big mountain standards but its very steep. You gain over 4,400 feet of vertical elevation in only four miles of climbing. It’s simply not practical to carry everything you think you might need. You’d end up having a pack of 50 pounds and never be able to hump that shit to the top. You have to make practical trade offs. The writer of the article that I linked to ponders the question of whether Powers had a bivouac tent and stove to melt snow to make water. Holy hell how much gear was the guy supposed to take with him on a day climb?

The most important piece of equipment that a climber can bring with him on a climb is his mind. I was talking to a friend of mine last week about taking him on a summit attempt of Mt. Washington with me. I explained to him that even If we are in sight of the summit and conditions are too dangerous to continue we would turn around. His response was “hell no, I’d keep going”. It’s that exact mind set that can get you killed on a mountain. A good climber knows when enough is enough and abandons a summit attempt. I’ll quote one of my mountaineering idols Ed Viesturs “Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory”.

Scott Powers if you can hear me in heaven I’m sad that you died on the mountain, but much respect for going out like a badass…peace!

p.s. I’ll be doing my own winter solo attempt on Mt. Washington next month. WAR!!!

dis·ci·pline: activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training

Most people want to lose weight or get into shape but few can or will. Ultimately most will fail. Their failure will not be from lack of trying but rather lack of discipline. I see it all the time in martial arts. People get all jacked up with the idea of learning MMA or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and are wicked gung ho for the first few weeks or months. However their new found enthusiasm nearly always wanes and their dreams of being an MMA fighter fade like the setting sun on a summer day. The same thing happens to people that want to lose weight or get into shape, strong out of the gate but not much on the back stretch.

Let me break it down for you. Losing weight and keeping it off is F****** hard. How many six pack abs did you actually see last summer at the beach? Wait, the news gets even worse. UCLA researchers report in the April issue of American Psychologist, the journal of the American Psychological Association that “You can initially lose 5 to 10 percent of your weight on any number of diets, but then the weight comes back,” said Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study. “We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of participants, while complete weight regain was found in the majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people.”

Click here to read the study.

So if diets don’t work what does? Who knows? I’ll tell you what worked for me, iron willed discipline, determination and long term commitment and consistency. I lost nearly 60 pounds from my willingness to suffer and endure. The irony though is the more I suffered the stronger I became mentally and physically. I was talking to a very good friend yesterday who happens to be fitness professional and told her that I could not be broken mentally. Her reaction to my claim was justifiably dubious. I clarified my statement by saying that I have placed my personal breaking point so far out there, that I simply can’t reach it.

Another key to my success is engaging in activities that demand an extreme level of physical fitness like mountaineering and rock climbing. I’ve set some pretty ambitious fitness challenges for myself like climbing Mt. Rainier, Mt. Denali and ultimately K-2 in the Himalayas. It will take about 10 years to accomplish those goals. During those 10 years I must keep myself in top physical condition. Simply put, I’ve set fitness goals that won’t allow me to slip back into obesity. I’d rather be dead then fat again.

What’s the point of this article, to inspire readers to lose weight or motivate them to go out and get into shape? Nope. Statistics mathematically prove that nearly all of you will fail. However one or two of you just might succeed and for those of you that do, I’ll be waiting for you at the summit.

Be prepared, believe in yourself and never ever F****** quit!

From a fat ass to a bad ass.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The above poem pretty much sums it up. I climb because I do not want to go gentle into the night. I want to push myself to the most extreme limits and climbing is the way to do that. I believe climbing is the most dangerous “hobby” in existence. Fate can be very cruel to foolish or unlucky climbers. In fact even world class climbers have died pursuing their passion to reach the summit. I’ve given thought lately about a climber’s intense drive to make the summit of a mountain. It’s an interesting phenomenon, getting to the top. Because when you make it, there is nothing there. You are quite literally standing on the top of an empty mountain peak. So why die trying to get to the top?

Climbing to the summit of Mt. Washington

For me the reward of the climb is not making it to the top, but knowing you’ve accomplished something that few others could. When I made it to the summit of Mt. Washington this past December I felt not joy but rather great disappointment because the challenge was over, I had done it. I’ll quote Maya Angelou “Achievement brings its own anticlimax.” When I down climbed back to the base of the mountain I vowed that I’s seek an even greater challenge, something that would push me even more.

A climber left where he died on Mt. Everest

I ask myself from time to time why I am getting involved with a pastime that can quite possibly get me killed. The ways you can die mountaineering are legion. You can fall, be buried in an avalanche, succumb to exposure, the list is really gruesome,  long and for me alluring. There is a saying in mountaineering that goes like this “there are old climbers and there are bold climbers, but there are no old and bold climbers. That’s a bit intimidating because I’m starting my climbing career at 50 years old. Therein lies part of the great challenge, to prove to myself that I can be a very good climber despite starting late in life.

I don’t want to be like everyone else. I don’t want to be counted among the thousands of nondescript anonymous faceless people that meander aimlessly through their lives and will reach the end of their time knowing that they have achieved nothing of greatness, that they did nothing to become immortal as an individual.

The famous Three Laws of Robotics by science fiction author Isaac Asimov are as follows:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

If you are a science fiction fan and you have read Isaac Asimov then perhaps you are familiar with the above 3 laws. I’ll use the “Three Laws Of Robotics” as a pop cultural reference to establish the fact that Joe Paterno because of violating these laws has NO legacy.  Through his inaction he destroyed his lifetime of football coaching achievements. Done, end of story.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve written for this column for the simple fact that progress has been SlOOOOOOW. I’m in about the fourth week of my USP Labs quad stack of OxyElite Pro, Compound 20, Anabolic Pump and Powerfull.

It’s hard to judge my total body weight loss since starting because I started taking a creatine supplement about a week ago, so I’ve gained about two pounds. However I just took my body fat measurement using Accu-Measure skin fold calipers. Using the Jackson Pollack 4 method I calculated my body fat percentage at 8.52% that’s pretty amazing considering that at the start of the USP stack my body fat percentage was 9.56!

A fitness professional that posts frequently on the USP Labs forum gave me some critical advice on adjusting the ratios of my macro nutrients in my diet which has helped immensely.

Here are some quick observations:

1. Weeks one and two were a bit rough as the introduction of the USP products made me a bit edgy and my sleep pattern was disrupted.
2. At about week 3 things leveled out and the “edginess” and sleeplessness stopped.
3. At week 4 I feel quite good on the products.
4. OEP and Compound 20 are not magic bullets. They must be used in conjunction with sound nutrition and exercise.
5. The fat loss process is NOT fast and you must have the ability to be patient and stick with the product and training protocols.

I’m very confident that using the USP products in conjunction with my fitness routine and sound nutrition I’ll achieve that badass ripped muscular look with no damn belly fat that I’m gunning for!

50 Years Old and in the best shape of my life. GET SOME!

One of our regular readers Al always has insightful and well thought out responses to articles that I write. I linked to a story that was run on nytimes.com about Apple having all of its production work done overseas. It’s really a scary article. Al responded with this:

American life is unsustainable. More and more jobs leave America each year and the quality of those jobs become more skilled. It’s not a trend that is reversible. It is globalization. We will continue to grow poorer as our wealth flows into China, etc.

Like the articles mention, it isn’t salary alone… if we want these jobs we need to basically work for 1/20 of our current pay, work longer hours and forfeit family and social life as we know it. OR, we need to curb our consumerism and reverse globalization by only buying USA products… which isn’t possible. Why? Again, what takes months for the US to do, developing countries can do in days.

We are vastly over educating ourselves and carrying high debt loads, meanwhile developing markets have highly specialized training. There are no misconceptions… they will not be a CEO, etc.

Its not a pretty story, I see it in trading as well. India is doing a lot of the behind the scenes work…. its only a matter of time that traders get exported, just how dr’s reading mri’s, xrays, etc are beginning too.

Something will have to give… we either A) continue on course and we become equal globally, on a lower plane, B) we revolutionize our work habits and salaries to match the developing world more closely C) we become protectionist and go local for more expensive, lower quality goods at a reduced pace…. or more likely a mixture of A, B and C.

Take about 10 minutes to click on the link to a story that I read on nytimes.com. It’s an incredibly well written piece about American companies shipping jobs overseas and having products like the IPhone made in countries like China. Go into the archives of wings daily news, I wrote an op-ed piece  in October called “Make money the old fashioned way…work for it,” about this very phenomena.

Click here to read the  NY Times article.

Yesterday was my best rock climbing class yet. I worked with Dave at Doylestown Rock Gym. Dave taught me how to belay. For the non climbers reading this belaying is when one climber using a friction or mechanical braking system, prevents another climber from falling. Doylestown Rock Gym requires a person to be certified in belaying before they are allowed to belay another climber at their gym.

The woman at the bottom is belaying her partner who is climbing.

Belaying at an indoor gym has its practical applications. Two people can belay each other and take turns climbing. Belaying someone outside takes on another dynamic because if your belay system is set wrong or you make a small mistake your climbing partner can pay for it with his or her life. Belaying is a critical aspect of climbing. I just finished reading a book about the 1939 summit attempt on K-2 (one of the tallest mountains in the world). The climbing team was down climbing in a storm. The lead climber slipped and pulled down the other five climbers with him. Six men began falling down a very steep slope to certain death. The last climber kept his cool and jammed his ice ax behind a boulder and was able to belay the other falling climbers. It’s gone down in mountaineering lore as “The miracle belay”. I can’t overstate how important belaying is.

Dave’s teaching style is very concise and technical. He took the time to demonstrate to me how to tie the belay knots and set up the belay gear. He paid attention to everything I was doing and corrected my many mistakes.

As a martial arts instructor one of the things that always baffles me is when I demonstrate a technique and a student does it improperly, not because they don’t get it but because they simply just don’t care. I find that rather curious because what happens someday if you need to defend yourself for real and you suck because you never cared to pay attention and learn your techniques properly?  I’ll tell you what happens, at minimum you get an ass beating; the worst is you get killed. Guess you should have paid attention in class.

The consequences of f***** up in climbing can result in your own or somebody else’s death. The point is I paid attention to every detail that Dave taught me. I asked him if I could repeat techniques over several times. I asked him about terminology, technique and theory.  I even asked him to come to the pro shop so he could explain what different types of gear are for.

An interesting nugget of information I learned was about the “elongation in use” characteristic of a climbing rope. Simply put, that is the length a rope will stretch under load (when a climber falls). Let’s say for instance you are climbing a rock wall and you miscalculate the length of rope to use to belay your partner. Your partner falls, the rope stretches just about a foot too much and splat your partner smashes into the ground. Oopsey!

I learned allot yesterday had a great time and am looking forward to my next lesson. The more I learn and practice gets me one step closer to reaching my climbing goal, to become an “Alpine Style” climber.

Follow me on twitter@alpinefit

In seven months I went from a fat sedentary slob that weighed 250 pounds with a body fat percentage of 30%, to an incredibly vibrant, fit 210 pounds at 9% body fat. What was to secret to my success?  There is no secret. It was simple old fashioned ass busting hard work.

From Fat To Fit

I’ll speak plainly. I am in the best shape of my life at 50 years old. In fact I’m in better shape than most people of ANY age. I take pride in the fact that because I was willing to work hard, suffer and be disciplined I am no longer counted among the ranks of the obese.

My fitness journey has been interesting to say the least. I’ve actually lost friends since I went from fat to fit. I’m not exactly sure why but I have my suspicions. Because of the fervor of my fitness quest I’ve also been labeled a psycho, told that I am obsessing and having a mid life crisis.

I find it sadly ironic that the very people that seem to be resentful of my fitness success never seemed to have a concern when I was “sad fat Jim slowly eating himself to death”. Some of my “ex” friends are fat themselves and some are not so I’m not exactly sure what the catalyst of their resentment is. Quite frankly I really don’t care as that very group seemed content when I was two cheeseburgers away from a heart attack. So why do they suddenly care now that I’m fit?  Actually I’m surprised that one of them never took me to the side and said “Jim you are getting heavy you need to do something about it”. In any case that bunch has been scraped off the bottom of my shoe like the residue of a former life. For every friend that I’ve lost I’ve gained three that are positive, motivating and fitness minded like me.

I’ve also heard people say that I’ve become arrogant. I believe the adjective they should be using is confident. I am very confident now. I went from an abysmally awful time in my life to an incredibly exciting time where I am doing exciting things because I’m fit. I climbed Mt. Washington this past December. I plan on solo climbing it in February (climbing MT. Washington solo in the winter can be very dangerous). I’m continually looking for ways to challenge and push myself physically and mentally. With every fitness goal that I set and achieve my confidence level increases. I’m learning how to rock climb with the intentions of doing it solo (another dangerous endeavor). At some point I’m going to climb 14,400 ft. Mt. Rainier.  How can one possibly mistake my confidence for arrogance?

I’ll finish this piece by using a pop culture reference; it sums up exactly how I feel. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what movie it’s from:

I know you’re out there. I can feel you now. I know that you’re afraid… you’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin. I’m going to hang up this phone, and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.

I particularly enjoy writing about fights when I personally know the fighters. This weekend Charlie Brenneman and Jim Miller are fighting on the same card. My son Chris Wing trains with both of them at AMA Fight Club in Whippany N.J. I’ve had the opportunity to watch Chris train with both.

One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was when Chris had his first session at AMA against Charlie Brenneman. To say that Charlie laid a beating on Chris of nearly Biblical proportions would be an understatement. Why do I think it was funny? Easy…Chris was curled up in the fetal position on the mat while Charlie relentlessly tee’d off on him. There was no mercy in Charlie that day. Since then Chris and Charlie have become friends and train together regularly.

Chris has also trained on a regular basis with Jim Miller as well. Jim has given Chris his share of ass whoopings too. It’s all good though because training with these battle tested fighters will only improve Chris as a fighter.

That is the back story of how I know both Miller and Brenneman. Now on to fight prognostication.

Charlie Brenneman (14-3) VS. Daniel Roberts (12-3). Record wise both match up relatively evenly. Brennemans only three losses are to Anthony Johnson, Johnny Hendricks and John Howard. Roberts has lost to Richard Attonito, Claude Patrick and John Howard.

Charlie will win this fight by a decisive decision. Brenneman has a quality that cannot be coached into a fighter it’s called “instinct”. Charlie’s decision making ability during a fight is exceptionally fast and he has the ability to execute flawlessly without hesitation. Most people don’t know it but Charlie won the show “Pro’s VS. Joes”. The fact that he won that show speaks volumes about the athletic ability of “The Spaniard”. Brenneman wins 30-27 on the cards of all three judges.

Jim Miller is another hyper athletic fighter. I think one of the best pugilistic qualities that Miller has is his ability to remain calm during his fights. He has a very methodical and purposeful fighting style and likes to press forward the entire time. Miller’s ground game is very good and is probably his strongest asset.

Guillard is an exceptionally fast and athletic fighter with tons of experience. His wrestling is questionable and this may be problematic for him in his fight with Miller. The first sixty seconds of this fight is when Guillard will be the most dangerous because of his explosive ability. Once Miller can set the pace of the fight and draw Guillard into his game things will go his way. Miller wins this fight by rear naked choke sometime in the second or third round.