Q&A: How I Met My Girlfriend, How Do I Make Money, BodyPower Ireland, My Bucket List

What's up everyone? So where the hell am I? I'm outside. The weather was nice today, it was nice and mild, the lighting's good, so I decided to just take this outside today. And so yeah, that's where we are, and you asked me a ton of questions and now it's time to get to them, so let's go. This is a good question to start off with. Throughout your life, who or what motivated you to strive for success? There's no who or what in particular that motivated me. It's more just the thought of being ordinary, the thought of never doing anything out of the ordinary with your life and just going through life and being average. And then, you know, when you're all old and shit, like looking back and just being like, fuck, I didn't do anything that I'm really proud of. There's literally nothing that like, there's no reason for people to remember me or anything. So yeah, I guess the fear of being average is what motivates me to strive for success, as you said. Where do you see yourself in 5 years, both financially and physique-wise? Well, physique-wise, unless I pop on the gear, I'm not really gonna make that much more gains. I'm pretty near my genetic limit. Like, in the last year or two, I gained like maybe 1, 2, 3 pounds. Actual muscle. So yeah, you know, physique-wise, I guess, you know, it's not gonna be too different, but you know, we'll see how I go. I'd like to get on like the COVID of a magazine or something. Financially, um, as good as I can get, really. Previous or worst jobs you've had before? Um, sandwich maker in Spar. We've all got to start somewhere. And once, actually, on like my first day at a job, someone came in, they're like, Yo, um, I'll have a sandwich please. So I was like, cool, no problem, bro. So I was like, what do you want on it? And he was like, um, I'll have coleslaw. And you know, you're meant to put on gloves, but I was just like, and like, he was just there looking at me like, yo, bare hands clawed some coleslaw on his sandwich and like tried to smooth it down. And like, he was just kind of looking at me like, do you want to use gloves? And I was just like, yes. So yeah, um, That was pretty shit, I was like 16, but hey, we all gotta start somewhere. How did you and your gf first meet? The girlfriend. Yeah, we first met, my friend, it was at my friend's 18th, and there was a girl he was seeing at the time, and he was like my wingman and stuff like that, so he was seeing this girl and she was like, can I bring a friend? And he was like, of course. And then so he was like to me, obviously, you know, hey Rob, will you bail in to the friend? Said no problem. And so yeah, the first time I met Sarah, she actually rejected me. I was like, what? I was like, what is this? But yeah, I guess that's kind of why I took an interest in her. But I got her eventually, didn't I? What's the best pre-workout you've ever taken? Probably, I don't think anything can beat that feeling the first time you ever take Original Jacked. Some of you are gonna be too young to even remember that. These are for the Q&A. Can you please try answer at least one? Does carb backloading work? Have you ever tried it? And yes, I've tried it, but carb backloading, no, it doesn't work, as in there's no magic special benefits to timing your carbs late at night. The reason I did it was just because, you know, when you start your day off with a protein, high protein breakfast, you're not going to feel hungry throughout the day. And you know, some people, when they take carbs first thing in the day, they may get hungry later on, or you know, they may feel feel a bit groggy, especially if they're poor— if they have poor insulin sensitivity. And I was getting late-night cravings at the time, so I moved a lot of my carb intake to nighttime. So I did carb backloading for that reason. I didn't do it for any magical reasons. And the main thing is always just going to be your total daily carbohydrate intake. Eat your carbs when it allows you to personally perform your best. And number 2, how long have you been making videos? You can check my channel, my first video is there. I think it's coming up to, um, 10 months, but I've only me being doing it properly the last 6 months. How old were you when you started lifting weights? I screw around with weights when I was like 15, 16, but only when I left school at like 18, 19 is when I started going to the gym properly. So I guess 18, 19, so that's like 4 years ago. Can lifting weights at a young age stunt your growth? No, just use proper form and don't injure yourself. How you make monies? The vast, vast majority of my income comes from my websites, that's online coaching clients and apparel as well. And then it would be like, you know, sponsorships, YouTube, and any fitness modeling or commercial modeling or promotions I may do as well. And then I got, you know, my fingers in a few different pies too. This one comes from The Lat Bra, the golden one. He's a great channel, if you haven't checked his out, you definitely should. Questions of prosperity and importance. Do you concur that it would be optimal for our joint glories if our pre-workout music was Wolf Tones if we have a session? Yes. Who is your favorite character in Lord of the Rings, in any book or film? It's gonna have to be Gandalf. 5 years ago, whose physique was the one you were aiming for if you had any physique Role models, et cetera. This is actually kind of funny. It was not 5 years ago, 'cause like I said, 5 years ago I wasn't really into lifting. 4 years ago I saw a picture of Mark Fit, and he wasn't massive or anything, but he was just very, so aesthetic, good-looking guy. And I was like, you know, that's attainable. He's not massive. That's what I want to get. And I actually met him this year in May at BodyPower, and we're pretty much the same size. So that's awesome. For the Q&A, what's the most fucked up thing you've done whilst drunk? I can't really talk about it on camera. Why did you want to start a YouTube channel on fitness? Um, pretty much like I've been watching YouTube fitness for ages and like I just saw all the cool things they got to do, like, you know, go to expos and, you know, make cool videos and pretty much like go to the gym and record it for a living and You know, I was just like, "Hey, I wanna get on that." And no one else in Ireland was doing it at the time, so that's what motivated me to do it. You know, I love recording videos, I love editing them, like, you know, the whole thing, it's just, I love doing it. I consider it a passion. OG Watcher, man, keep up the good work. Thanks. Just come back from 3 months of traveling with 3 gym sessions in them 3 months, ha! "Uh, what would you recommend doing when I get back? Should I be able to cut and get that muscle memory going for a few weeks?" Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm doing right now. Like, you know, when you de-train, um, you can— you're not making any new gains, but you, you can gain back what, what you had quite easily. So like the past few weeks, it's one of the rare occasions where I can ever gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. And yo, I've even been watching the scales. The scales have been going up while I've been in the mirror. I've been dropping fat significantly, and all my lifts are going back to what they were too. So yeah, muscle memory sorts you out, bro. Great video, man. Where do you think you'll be in a year's time? You know, obviously I just want to keep growing this channel and keep growing my brand, my website, everything. But like I said in my last video, I don't know. Like, a year is just like— a lot can happen in a year. Like, if you asked me last year what I'd be doing now, I wouldn't have said this. So Who knows where I'll be in a year's time. How did you get so well known before your channel, or was the majority YouTube following? I don't think I'm so well known right now. You know, there's obviously so many, so many other people who are more well known than me. But it all started with a Facebook page, a Rob Lipsett Fitness page on Facebook, obviously. But like, so I started that, and then I started kind of, instead of statuses, I'd write like mini articles, like calling out bullshit and stuff. They got a lot of likes, a lot of shares, and you know, I got, I think like over 6, well over 6,000 likes on that page before I started a channel. So when I linked my channel on that page, I already, I automatically had at least 1,000 subscribers. So that was a really good head start for me. But yeah, so it kinda started on Facebook actually. I'm competing in my first show in September, and I'm currently 4 weeks out. Best of luck. I've done a 14-week prep, so I've 10 weeks down. I still love every training session I'm doing, but as expected, my energy levels are starting to drop. I know you competed in your first show last May. I was there. You were in unreal condition. Loved how you enjoyed every minute on stage. That's what it's all about. Thank you. And I'm wondering, have you any advice on how to structure training so it's most efficient now energy and strength is starting to decrease? Thanks, Lynn. This is a good question. This is a good question. Pretty much, you're gonna need to start making sure all the external factors that influence your training are 100% on point. So things like hydration, sleep, supplementation. This is when you might start wanting to add in pre-workouts and BCAAs. And then this time, if you're on, maybe you're, I'm presuming you may have had to drop carbs, you probably wanna position your carbs around your workout. So stuff like that, make sure all your external factors that influence your training are on point. And most of all, it's just gonna be a grind. You're just gonna have to put in the hard yards, simple as. What would you say to someone thinking about competing in the next 1 to 3 years? Okay, so long term, I would say build up a good amount of muscle on your frame so when it does come to cutting down to extremely low levels of body fat, which is competition level body fat, that you know, you won't look like a twig. You know, you'll hold a good bit on your frame. So that's pretty much the best thing you can do. Build as much muscle as you can before you cut down. One, there's 3 questions here from the same guy. One, are you Jesus? Yes. Two, thoughts on Christian Guzman? Yeah, he is right now, he is just like killing it. I say he's probably the most popular person in the fitness industry right now. So yeah, props to him. Huge, huge inspiration. And I think anyone who is achieving success is great. I love seeing a success story. You know, there's two types of people in this world. There's people who see other people, you know, being successful and they get jealous and they hate on it. And then there's people who look at those other people achieving success and they draw motivation from it. There are two types of people in this world. 3. Thoughts on— thoughts and opinions on teenage bodybuilding. It's great to hit the gym when you're a teenager. There's definitely a lot of worse things you can be doing. Are you going to the Irish Fit Expo? If so, with Machine Fitness or what brand? I presume you mean BodyPower. Of course I'm going to BodyPower. I've been emailing the directors and CEOs, just having the chats pretty much. And yeah, with Machine Fitness, they are all coming over and we're getting like a videographer shooting a big cool session. But they won't have a stand there, so at the moment, you know, I'm not actually going to be at a stand with any brand. But I'll be bopping around. Do you go to gym every day? My split is a 6-day split, but there's some days where I get to my rest day and I just rewind on the cycle and just don't take a rest day. I think the longest I went was like 15 or 16 days without a rest day. But yeah, no, I should take a rest day. Q&A: Do you have a bucket list for places you'd like to visit and things you'd like to experience before you are 30? Hell yeah, definitely. You know, I want to see as much of the world as possible. I'd like to go back to Thailand, actually. That could be the next spot. But yes, as I said, South America. I'm gonna do everything. Q&A questions from Prince Romeo: Who's your all-time favorite WWE wrestler? Gotta be Stone Cold Steve Steve Austin. And funny fact, he is actually also a client of Al Larragon, so he obviously likes Fitness Macros. But number 2, who would you like to see winning the Mr. O this year? It may not happen because of politics, probably won't happen because of politics, but I'd love to see Big Ramy. He is just like a circus freak, but you know, he's so big, but he manages to keep that waist small, which is unbelievable. You know, I think those big pregnant bellies are killing bodybuilding. But he's managing to keep a tight waist. Which songs give you an extra push in the gym? Any old Eminem songs? Favorite quick meal? Come on, man, burrito bowl. Any well-established YouTubers that you'd like to collaborate with sometime in the future? Yeah, there are like 2 or 3 big UK fitness YouTubers that I need to drop an email to, and I would really love for a time, take time off and go around America for a few months collabing with loads of other fitness YouTubers, because obviously America is where the majority of them are. Did you always have good eating habits, or did you start when you joined the gym? You know, rice bowls, steaks, like, you know, lean cuts of meat, you know, potatoes, pastas. You know, I've always been into kind of whole foods and savory foods. So yeah, I guess that's just, that's just the food I like. Question from Tren Balone, strong username. Why did you change your split? No particular reason, just out of interest and just kind of change things up. Kind of like getting a new car, it's exciting. Getting a new split is fun too. This is a good question. What would you be doing if you weren't doing anything fitness related? You know, what would be your second choice of career? Oh, and Kadabra. Gotta love the psychic Pokémon, especially one with spoons. Eh, sorry, that wasn't meant to include that. So what choice of career would I be in? It would probably be something like to do with public relations, you know, PR. I'm good at talking to people, you know, confident and outgoing. It's just kind of like my personality. So yeah, I'm a people's person, so probably something in PR or maybe marketing. Which holiday was better, Croatia with your mates or Marbella with the girlfriend? Next question: I've noticed in your full day of eating videos you tend to favor or just eat more vegetables than fruit. Are the micros from veg particularly better than fruit in general, or is there a different reason why you have more veg than fruit, just preference? The reason for this, first of all, there's nothing wrong with fruit. Fruit is great. Tasty, you know, micros, all that, you know, fruit's great. But you know, if you eat too much fruit, you may go over your daily carb intake. So yeah, the reason I eat more veg is because veg is so low in calories, it's high in fiber, it's very filling. And so yeah, like I said, if you eat too much fruit, like especially kind of sugary fruits, you may find yourself going over your carbohydrate intake. But you know, of course there's nothing wrong with fruit, and I recommend about 2 pieces of fruit a day, if not more. Q&A: Would you hope to build up the LF brand up enough to a point where you will actually hire people to work for you, i.e., CG style? As one of, if not the top, Irish fitness YouTubers, it's definitely something I could see in the future. Just wondering if you see that as a possibility. Thanks, bro, appreciate that. And yeah, well, it's actually funny you mention that. There's actually been days when like there's been some big orders coming in where I've paid Sarah to work for the day. So, um, But yeah, in terms of growing my brand, of course, that's always like mission number one. And you know, I've got some really, really cool stuff coming in in the next like week or two, so stay tuned for that. But you know, of course, that would be a dream come true. And you know, that's also one of the reasons why I don't write like Lifts and Fitness or anything on that. Like I just keep the LF logo so it's kind of appealing to everyone. Well, that wraps up this Q&A. It's probably gonna be a long one, but let me know if you like these style of videos. I always really appreciate your feedback. Please leave a comment, give the video a like, helps the channel grow. And of course, I will see you next time. Keep it real.