What Taking First in the #IWANTABZ Contest Means To Me

by Alfonso Traina, 1st Place of the 2025 #IWANTABZ Contest

What Taking First in #IWANTABZ Means To Me

I first started lifting weights when I was 13 years old. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with strength training and fitness. Later in life, that obsession expanded to include nutrition, longevity, and all the verticals that align with those topics.

Like most people, I’ve faced a ton of adversity in life—and my physical training has always been what I leaned into. It grounded me and helped me move forward, no matter what was happening externally. Training was always something I could control. And by sticking with it consistently, not only did it strengthen my physical body, it also callused my mind and prepared me for the next obstacle.

My favorite movies of all time are the Rocky series. I’ve been watching them for as long as I can remember and always revisit them when I need strength in tough times. Rocky III and Rocky IV are my favorites. Before this contest started, I watched them both and made a decision—I was going to get Rocky III lean. That’s why I wore the Apollo shorts in my pictures. In Rocky III, he has to do things he’s never done before in order to become a version of himself he couldn’t have reached without Apollo’s help.

The hurricane that took my house, my cars, and all of my family’s material possessions… that became my Apollo. I seriously thought about skipping the contest to get my life back in order. But then I thought—screw that. I’m doing this contest in spite of it. I’m going to a place in my mind and body that I’ve never been before—and that I once thought was impossible.

The rest is now history.

I’ve never been the most talented or the smartest. I never had the best genetics. In everything I’ve pursued—business, school, fitness, sports—I’ve always felt like I had to work harder than everyone else. For years, I wondered why nothing ever came easy or naturally for me. Early in life, that really bothered me. But as I’ve grown older—and especially through this contest—I now know, with 100% certainty, that it had to be that way for me to realize my full potential.

Winning I Want Abs 2025 is one of the most significant wins of my life—something I’ve unknowingly been working toward since I was 13.

Looking back now, at 41 years old, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is this:
Everything that has caused me despair, depression, sadness, or regret never came from outside circumstances—it came from me breaking promises I made to myself.

We all do it.
We say we’ll eat right.
We’ll stop drinking.
We’ll start waking up earlier.
We’ll spend more time with our families.
And then we break those promises—over and over again.

Discipline is the highest form of self-love. And that means keeping the promises you make to yourself—not just during a contest, but all the time.

Do I still break promises to myself? Of course—I’m human.
But now, when I do, I’m immediately aware of it, and I fix it right away.

I believe the number one thing anyone can do to change the trajectory of their life is to start keeping those small promises—every single one. Only you know what they are.

So I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes from Rocky Balboa:

“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit—it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit—and not point fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that—and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”