It will take a lifetime to complete any goal, unless you actively work on it.
I did not seriously begin on my body building goal until I was almost 60.
DON-ALAN REKOW
Body builder at 63
2023 Summer 1st Phorm Challenge
From the Workout Bench of Don-Alan Rekow:
My TransPHORMation
This was me...
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I weighed about 225 lbs. (The BMI scale said I was obese at 30+% fat).
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My feet hurt when I walked
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I started to have health problems, kidney stones, swollen prostate, and various injuries that hindered my health journey.
This was me in 2007 at my heaviest weight ever.
For the next 12 years, even though I did make some changes in diet and did some exercise like walking, there were several accidents that hindered progress and made the overall objective even harder to accomplish.
This is me now...
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My workout is structured and consistent.
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Results have been over a longer period of time. (This is important.) Quick results would have created a feeling of completion and I probably would have quit. Understanding that muscle takes time to build has kept me in the chase and give me the needed hope that sooner or later I will get there. Over 3 years I have documented growth.
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Staying in the chase for first place in Masters 60+ Bodybuilding has kept me in the gym for a couple hours daily 5 or 6 days each week. This is my motivation.
These pictures document my progress from the beginning of 2020 until May of 2023. Each year on 30 of May I will continue to add an updated photo.
It was my daughter Stefanie who challenged me at the beginning of 2020 to do something like competing in body building since I was going to turn 60 during the year. In October I had my first competition.
Here I competed in the Idaho Cup with Stefanie competing in the Women's classes as well.
Last year (2022) I competed in the Idaho Cup as well, much bigger but not as confident and my confidence messed with my performance. It was another lesson I had to learn. Confidence plays an important role in how you place. Notice in this next picture how my head is lowered depicting the state of mind as I went into this competition,
I placed 4th here when I could have done better. (Me on left end)
Here is an individual pose from 2020 and 2022.
Even though the change doesn't look like much there is about 1200 hours of hard work and a ton of disciplined eating to get to this point.
The first year was losing about 50 pounds of fat and gaining 20 pounds of muscle. Second year was maintaining below 10% body fat while working to get below 7% at show times while still putting on muscle. A lot was learned about my own body and how it reacts to different levels of food intake. Most important was learning about macros and how foods are structured and being able to control the macros through food tracking.
Every journey is full of obstacles
When I began this journey of TransPHORMation at the beginning of 2020, I did not start with a clean slate. I had several problems that I had to overcome because of injuries up to this point. I had to relearn to eat, properly, understanding macros and the value of food components. I began using Tracking Apps like the free version of My Fitness Pal then upgrading to a paid more comprehensive version. When I hired a coach I then began using a custom app unique to his gym where I could be in constant contact through the app with him. As I out grew my coach and his ability to work with me I branched out on my own and fiddled with the idea of creating my own app when I became acquainted with 1st Phorm. Lo and behold they had an app that actually allowed me to use their app and not only communicate with my new coach but as I would begin to coach I could keep in touch with those people I worked with. Plus they had many advantages of being able to offer 1st Phorm supplements and products to my own clients as I built my own brand. Now this was awesome because it allowed me to do what I wanted without a heavy investment in product development.
What does this have to do with the journey that others may take?
Tracking has been essential in my journey and I wouldn't do it again without it. If you track it, you control it. (And if you don't it is hard to know how to make changes for progress.)
Tracking also included my weight, my activity, my macros, my steps, my sleep, my mistakes and any important information that could affect my overall health. I highly advise to get and use a tracker, here is mine.
Handicaps in the beginning
Up until 2020 I had gone through several incidents that caused me problems and for a non-motivated person could have bee a good excuse not to even start.
In 2005, while on a dance floor with my wife I tried to do a dance move that really looked cool in my mind, but in the execution it ended up doing the splits much further than anticipated and on the way to the floor I tore the hamstring in my right leg. Ouch, that hurt and took some time to recuperate. The next year, at work, a companion ask me to turn a crate so that he could get the forklift under it. I told him ok, but to wait to move the forklift for just a moment. As I set my foot to twist the crate, I soon felt the extreme pressure of the solid back wheel beginning to crush my ankle, Luckily, I was able to get my foot out of the way but not without receiving some very serious soft tissue damage that took 10 months to heal.
In 2018 while helping do a re- roof I stepped on a piece of plywood that was on another piece of plywood and it slipped causing me to do the splits again tearing the hamstring in my right leg. It was very difficult to get off the roof as there was no one else around. This continued to cause my right leg to decrease in size.
Right leg hamstring injury...
Additional Problems Along the Journey
In my struggle to make changes, it was suggested that I check my testosterone levels and do something to raise them. Well the doctor told me that I could start using Clomid instead of doing a TRT option. At first it shot my T-levels super high, but after a couple months they started to drop off. Doc doubled the dose but that still did not help and the T-levels continued to drop. 6 months in to the treatment I began to have pain in my right testicle. August 17th, 2021 I was diagnosed with testicle cancer and had an orchiectomy August 20th. That cut my testosterone producing equipment in half to lose one of "my boys" and it has been a struggle to keep the testosterone up since then. But that has not kept me from moving forward.
Regardless of injuries, problems, and circumstances, you can overcome them and accomplish your goals.
Be bold,
Don-Alan Rekow
I share my transphormation journey in a book entitled "Becoming a Buff Grandpa - How to Make a Total Lifestyle Change After 60" where I share the complete story and how to do it yourself and the principles I used to achieve it in Body Mastery Principles.
