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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Debby, do you know her?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Former Stoughton resident wins at international bodybuilding competition<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sun, 12/13/2015 - <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By: Kate Newton <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Photos submitted. Jessica Nelipovich was awarded first place in her class at the competition, and represented both the U.S. and her current home of New Zealand.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jessica Nelipovich and her boyfriend, Shane Blows, recently purchased a gym – aptly named "The Gym" – in Motueka, New Zealand.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Moving overseas, running a business and competing internationally as an athlete each qualify as major lifestyle changes that could satisfy even the healthiest of ambitions.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If that’s the case, former Stoughton resident Jessica Nelipovich is in the best shape of her life – in more ways than one – by accomplishing all three. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The latest of those accomplishments came in 2010, when, after admiring the fitness of friends at her gym who were involved in bodybuilding, Nelipovich told one in passing that she would “love to be the kind of person who could do that.” Her friend responded that, in fact, she could – instilling enough confidence for Nelipovich begin training for what she initially thought would be a one-time thing. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Five years later, she’s not only still competing, but recently won first place in her class at the 2015 National Amateur Body-Builders’ Association (NABBA) International Universe Bodybuilding Championships, held in the Philippines from Nov. 13-16. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Making changes<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>After graduating from Stoughton High School in 1994, Nelipovich worked as a guide dog mobility instructor at the Seeing Eye in New Jersey before exploring job opportunities outside the U.S. She used a method about as 21st century as it gets: Googling her job title with the keyword ‘overseas,’ Nelipovich told the Hub in a phone interview.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The first result was for the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind, and after being offered a job there, Nelipovich moved to New Zealand in July 2007. While she was there initially on a two-year work visa, she chose to make it her permanent home.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And while her journey toward becoming a competitive body-builder is a recent one, Nelipovich said her perspective toward health and fitness changed in her twenties after hearing that the habits formed during a person’s thirties dictate their behavior for the rest of their lives. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>At the time, she had been smoking a pack a day and not eating well, a stark contrast from the healthy and fit lifestyle she had been raised with.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“I remember thinking, I don’t want to go into my thirties and beyond with this lifestyle, this isn’t good! So I’ve been thinking about how I age for the last 15 years, and I think in my twenties all my friends thought I was a bit loopy,” Nelipovich said. “But now as time goes by, I think the biggest credit goes to my parents, who wanted us to see them doing the right things … and looking after their mental health and physical health.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nelipovich’s parents have faced their own significant health challenges: her father experienced a total loss of vision when she was growing up (they had guide dogs at home, which gave her “early exposure” to the industry) and her mother, who still resides in Stoughton, suffered a heart attack last year.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nelipovich returned to the U.S. for five weeks to oversee her mom’s recovery as she did her cardiac rehabilitation at Stoughton Hospital. More than a year later, her mom has no “ongoing complications,” which Nelipovich said she credits both to her mom’s toughness and the “incredible” team that treated her.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“In a small town like Stoughton, to have that level of service available, was really impressive to me,” Nelipovich said, adding that the experience had a “huge impact” on how she pursues a healthy lifestyle. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>While her siblings were immediately supportive (her eldest brother is a non-competitive bodybuilder and former pro-baseball player), Nelipovich said her parents were initially skeptical when she began her training, but have gotten more excited as she’s “progressed over the years.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“Having won at this level, I think it legitimizes it for the rest of my family,” Nelipovich said.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A lifestyle of ‘discipline’<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>After starting to train and compete as an amateur bodybuilder, Nelipovich said she quickly realized that the sport is “shrouded in some mystery and misperception,” the subject of stereotypes that even she was initially wary of.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The notion that her female peers would be “catty and hyper-competitive” was disproved immediately (“Everyone I’ve come in contact with has been nothing but supportive and empowering,” she said) along with the belief that bodybuilders train non-stop and rely on unhealthy eating habits to maintain their fit physiques.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“For most people it’s a huge departure from how they live their day-to-day life, and so I think that’s what most people get caught up in, the discipline that’s required,” she said. “When you approach something with baby steps, which is what I did, it happens gradually and it’s a fairly painless transition.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And if Nelipovich spends a lot of time in the gym, that’s because it has quite literally become her livelihood. She and her boyfriend, Shane Blows, a lifelong athlete and paracyclist who also competes internationally, own their own gym, and while Nelipovich follows a strict diet around the clock, she weight trains just four days a week.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“The reality is, 80 percent of how your body looks on the outside happens in the kitchen. I don’t live in the gym – OK, I spend a lot more time in the gym now because I own one, but usually I’m behind the desk doing paperwork,” she said with a laugh. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The competition<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>At the NABBA international championships last month, Nelipovich traveled to the Philippines as a member of Team New Zealand, but was able to represent the U.S. during the opening ceremony as well.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>She’s competed in the “Figure Tall” class for the past four years, where sheer muscle size is less emphasized and competitors are judged more on their muscle definition and symmetry. And while she had aimed for two years to place first in her class at an international competition, Nelipovich said the win defied all expectations.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“It was amazing just to make the team, and I went into it saying, if I get a top three placing, I’ll be over the moon,” Nelipovich said. “So to actually win my class … I still kind of can’t believe it.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nelipovich plans to compete at the local and regional level in New Zealand next year, and will likely participate in nationals and even the international competition again if she’s eligible and her schedule allows.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And while the goal is always to “get on stage in better condition than the previous time,” Nelipovich is willing to admit that she still has much to learn when it comes to making the best possible choices for her body, and soon will begin studying to become a certified nutritionist.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“I need to know more for me, and the more I learn the more I realize, wow, I really don’t know that much,” Nelipovich said. “And I want to know as much as possible.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Source:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.connectstoughton.com/articles/2015/12/13/former-stoughton-resident-wins-international-bodybuilding-competition">http://www.connectstoughton.com/articles/2015/12/13/former-stoughton-resident-wins-international-bodybuilding-competition</a><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>