A strong relationship

Published 10:52 am Thursday, February 28, 2008

MILL CREEK — It’s a rare day indeed when champion all-natural bodybuilder Mark Thacker breaks training rules.

And while Thacker won’t be found shoveling down cake and ice cream on his 44th birthday, he did plan to enjoy a helping of his mother’s authentic Italian cooking.

It’s a special treat the veteran Everett Police officer probably will good-naturedly deny his mixed pairs partner — and younger sister — Renee Ummel.

Even if Thacker slips off his regimented diet for a few hours, he’s not about to give Ummel a pasta pass.

He playfully claims Ummel’s a little off her training schedule — an assertion not obvious to the untrained observer — and with the National Physique Committee’s Washington Ironman Championships a scant 11 weeks away, it’s time to get serious.

“She’s on my diet now,” Thacker said with a laugh during a recent workout at Gold’s Gym in Mill Creek.

When you’re committed to all-natural bodybuilding, your diet makes little allowance for processed foods of any type. That means small servings of fish, chicken, turkey and maybe a little extra-lean beef. Carbohydrates come from fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains. Crackers, cookies, white bread and rice — the staff of life for most of us — are out.

“It’s excruciating,” said Ummel, 40, a teacher at Voyager Middle School in Mukilteo. “I’m a growing lady, I need more food than this. I’m already cranky.”

To hear Thacker tell it, Ummel has only herself to blame.

“She’s the culprit behind all of this,” Thacker said with a smile.

After lifting weights for about three years, Ummel took up competitive bodybuilding a little over two years ago, placing first in the novice division at a show in Olympia. She promptly launched an all-out campaign to get her weightlifter brother involved in the sport.

“I was just thrilled that she had the guts to do that first show because I certainly never did,” Thacker said.

Thacker had been pumping iron for more than 20 years, but at first he had no interest in becoming a competitive bodybuilder. After a few months of Ummel leaving training videos and diet plans at his front door, Thacker finally relented.

“It’s pretty unusual to find a brother and sister who pair up in a bodybuilding show,” Thacker said. “I just thought about what great memories it would be for us.”

Said Ummel: “I thought it was a good idea to be on stage with someone. … It made me more comfortable.”

But, the October 2001 Washington Ironman Championship was just eight weeks away.

“You can’t do anything in eight weeks other than diet down,” said Thacker, who stands 5-foot-6 and competes at 146 pounds.

That proved to be enough. He and Ummel won first place in the mixed-pairs competition and each placed third in their respective over-35 Masters Division.

Thacker was pleased with the outcome, but realized that with a dedicated program of proper nutrition and training, he could do even better.

He didn’t compete again for 19 months. Instead he hit the weights, the books and the training videos in the pursuit of the perfect physique — without the use of steroids or other performance-enhancing substances.

“After much study and research he took the information and implemented it,” Ummel said.

The results were stunning.

Thacker returned to competition at two Oregon shows in May. In Lincoln City on May 17, he swept first place in the novice men’s lightweight and masters divisions. He was also declared the overall champion in the novice and masters class.

Ummel placed sixth in the women’s master’s class and together they finished fifth in the mixed pairs.

Two weeks later, Thacker entered the open division at a show in Corvallis, hoping to perhaps crack the top five. He placed first in the lightweight division and earned overall champion in the men’s open division.

“It’s just been a crazy, wild ride,” Thacker said.

As close as Thacker and Ummel are now, it’s hard to believe they grew up as archenemies in a family of five children.

“I can’t tell you how many times I chased her down the hall and she locked herself in the bathroom,” Thacker said.

“Oh yeah, we were bitter enemies,” Ummel agreed.

That all changed when Ummel was 17. Her parents were away from the family home when Ummel’s right arm was severely burned in a kitchen fire. Thacker, then 20 and home on a break from Washington State University, provided emergency first aid and rushed Ummel to the emergency room.

Ummel was hospitalized for 12 days. Extensive skin grafts were required to repair the damage from third-degree burns. It was a traumatic ordeal that served to heal their combative relationship.

“That was the deal that really got us tight,” Thacker said.

Now they work out together as often as six times a week, looking to chisel, mold and sculpt their bodies, while at the same time showing few, if any signs of giving in to the effects of aging.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that age does not matter,” said Ummel, the mother of two teenagers. “All of these masters competitors are just incredible.”

Ummel said her children are proud of her and students think having a teacher with large biceps and a “six-pack” of abdominal muscles is phenomenal.

The siblings’ lifting routines include using free weights and machine weights to improve one body part every day of the week. They sometimes speak a peculiar language, punctuated by talk of lats, traps, carb-loading, carb-depleting, toning up and leaning out.

“It’s a science,” Thacker said. “But, we just have fun doing this together.”

In preparation for the Ironman competition in Bellevue in October, Thacker and Ummel will compete at the Evergreen State Bodybuilding Championship in Wenatchee on Sept. 13.

The Wenatchee show is a so-called “non-tested event” that’s open to all bodybuilders, including those who use performance-enhancing substances. It’s hard to compete with that crowd, Thacker and Ummel said, but they are undeterred.

“Wenatchee is a warm-up for the Ironman,” Ummel said. “Our real goal is October.”

Bob Mortenson writes for The Herald in Everett.