March 2012 updates, training & inspiration

Language Translations & Subtitling:

If anyone out there can help me translate my website content into different languages, please let me know. Google translate is improving, but the result is not always accurate or easy to read. I am using this free wordpress plugin: http://www.qianqin.de/qtranslate/

With the help of kind and awesome people, I have gotten translations for the Crossfit Journal video “Lifting Boundaries” and created subtitles files for Youtube. Currently, Arabic (عربی by Tarek Eid) & Farsi (فارسی by Maryam Abbasi) are available, and other languages are pending.  Link to the video with captions flags on. If that does not work, go to the Youtube video and can click on the CC box, and you will see the option to select Arabic, Farsi/Persian and other languages as I get them up there. Then when the video plays, you will see them.

News links:

• Amira Elghawaby interviewed me for Muslim Link a newspaper based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, (Thank you!) http://www.muslimlink.ca/life/leisure/in-conversation-with-hijabi-weightlifter-kulsoom-abdullah
• I got a mention in this article about the Beren Academy’s boys basketball team who are headed to the Texas state championship as now it won’t conflict with the Sabbath. http://hosted2.ap.org/txdam/Article/Article_2012-03-02/id-75baf2a818544f4c9445484e6ecd2283/recordType-Spot%20Development
• Good News – FIFA has now allowed the headscarf for Muslim women players & will be testing specially designed headscarves for the next four months. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-dorsey/iran-womens-soccer-hijab_b_1318549.html

 

Competitions:

Georgia open competition & USA Nationals
I recently competed at the 2012 War Eagle Open held February 11, 2012 at Chestatee High School, Gainesville, Georgia, USA. This competition was after my shoulder healed, so I think I did OK considering that, but of course I wanted to do better. I did not go to USA Nationals which was March 2, 2012 in Columbus. Ohio, USA (held during the Arnold Sports Festival). I needed a qualifying total of 100kg. Currently, I have a 98kg total for valid lifts (no press outs). Because of my shoulder recovery, I decided not to try to compete before the deadline to make a qualifying 100kg total. Finally, for financial reasons, as traveling to Ohio would require a flight, plus all of the travel and accommodation costs, I thought it was not in my best interest to compete. I hope I can next year. Currently, I am planning and training for the Asian Championships.

Asian Games sponsorship

I still need help to cover the financial cost of traveling and competing at the games. Please contact me for more detailed information.

Dr. Susan Kaiser, a Professor in Women and Gender Studies at the University of California in Davis has donated $100. She is writing a book: Fashion and Cultural Studies, to be published by Berg in London in late 2012 or early 2013. It will contain a picture of me competing and will include my story, as she explains “as a brief case study of the interplay between identity/agency and cultural regulation — and how individual agency and identity issues can successfully challenge cultural regulation of style-fashion-dress.”

My good friend from high school, Mary Lewis (http://www.maryjanelewis.com/) has donated $25. She owns a business; Just Bead It! which specializes in handcrafted beaded jewelry and hair accessories. I also received a gift of $27 from a brother who wishes to remain anonymous.

Pakistan Weightlifting T-shirts I need to make a few for my next competition. I decided I will open this up to orders and hopefully be able to raise some funds. (I might include hoodies with a zipper as another option for purchase.) This will not be large scale due to my very busy schedule and limitations. I will need payment for the shirts in advance and I will not be ordering any extra for later purchases. Additionally, I will only use USPS Priority mail shipping which will cost about $7 (several shirts can fit into the flat rate piece). The other option will be to pick up at Crossfit Atlanta. I am in process of finding out the cost from vendors but wanted to post this now as I will only have a 1 week or less time window in which I will advertise and collect payment for shirts before submitting the order. Most likely I will be using these graphics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105707183241970393017/PakistanWLTShirt?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Inspiration

Dr. Karyn Marhsall

CLICK READ MORE to see the rest of this post.

As stated on the Crossfit Journal page for her interview:

Female weightlifters couldn’t compete in the Olympics until 2000, but that didn’t stop Karyn Marshall from setting a Guinness Book of World Records standard by being the first woman to clean and jerk 300 lb. In 2011, she was inducted into the USAW Hall of Fame by none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Marshall, a former Wall Street financial analyst who is now a chiropractor, found the sport of fitness at CrossFit Shrewsbury, and in 2011 she finished sixth in the 55-60 Masters Division of the Reebok CrossFit Games. Shortly after, she found a lump in her breast. Marshall finished chemotherapy in the middle of January 2012, and when she’s asked what kept her spirits up during her treatment, she smiles and says, “Thinking about CrossFit.” She started training for the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games Open on Jan. 31, and while she isn’t where she wants to be, she’s determined to do her very best throughout the five weeks of competition. “I’m going to try,” she says. “I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to do what I can do. And if every week I’m stronger, then every week I’m going to be moving up that leaderboard.”

Her goal: to make it back to the Reebok CrossFit Games.
After Open Event 1, Marshall was in 224th place, and she’ll be looking to climb the leaderboard for the next four events.

Here is another video of her from the 2011 Crossfit Games:

I am looking forward to being in touch with her, especially for advice on motivation and challenges on my path.

Also competing in the Crossfit Games Open for the Asia region: Amna Al Haddad from the UAE, all the best and good luck! Check out her blog at http://www.999fitness.ae/

Training Updates

I got a chance to visit Coach Don McCauley in Savannah, Georgia USA at his gym Crossfit Savannah. I spoke with him at the American Open this past December 2011, where he gave me some feedback and invited me to visit and workout at his gym for Olympic Lifting. He worked with me, gave me some other queues to help me fix issues I have been working on. Click the image on the left to see the entire album or go to the Picasa album page link.

One example is sweeping the bar in, which applies to both the Clean and the Snatch. I have been working on it more so with the Snatch, such as the No Hook Grip No Feet drill I mentioned in my previous blog post (you also have to get under the bar quickly for that drill). Here is a video of Coach Don teaching the sweep in drill:

You can check out the other videos on his channel for other helpful drills. The other issue for me is staying on the heels, not letting myself go forward on the toes, then retracting back after extension. For the split jerk, we focused on me staying on the heels better, thinking about using the hamstring for the dip and drive, then for receiving the bar, again landing on the back of the front foot, and landing as low as I need to land. I also have a tendency for my back and chest to droop forward on the drive, so we went over a wall drill where you keep your shoulder blades back, and maintain contact the entire time with the hips and shoulders, to make sure the dip and drive stay in a straight line.

Here are some pictures of him helping me to get better extension and staying back, after bringing in the bar completely for the snatch:

Bar is coming in but I don’t have as much extension back as I could. The last picture shows him giving me the queue of making sure I face the clock when I finish, which above my eye level. The following pictures show me trying a rep again with that queue where I do have more extension back.

I have been working on incorporating these drills and working on my weaknesses in my training with Travis. In my next post, I will put some more recent training videos up to show the differences.

About the London Olympics 2012

People want to know if I am going there to represent Pakistan. I do not know. Currently, Pakistan does not have any slots. How and how many slots does a country get for the Olympics? Here is a link to an official document from the IWF about Olympic slot qualifications:
http://www.iwf.net/london2012/london2012qualifications/

The Olympic Qualifying events are the 2011 and 2012 World Championships and the Continental Qualification Event 2011 and 2012 (Asian championships for Pakistan). Currently, for someone to represent Pakistan at the Olympics for Weightlifting, Pakistan will need a wildcard slot or invitation. There is more information about that in the above document. A copy/paste from the document:

10 Tripartite Commission Invitation Places are made available for eligible NOCs. On 1 November 2011, the International Olympic Committee will contact all those NOCs who are eligible to apply for Tripartite Commission Invitation Places. The deadline for NOCs to submit their requests for Tripartite Commission Invitation Places is 16 January 2012. In relation to the end of the qualification period, the Tripartite Commission will confirm, in writing, the allocation of invitation places to the respective NOCs between 1 May and 9 July 2012. Detailed information on Tripartite Invitation places is contained in the – Tripartite Commission Invitation Places – Information Paper for NOCs – which is included in the Games of the XXX Olympiad, London 2012 Qualification and Participation Criteria.

My other “hats”

I make and sell nut butters (like peanut butter but using other nuts, like pecan, cashew, macadamia etc. http://kbanutbutters.com/
Here is my academic website: kulsoom.net

Thanks for reading. Till my next post, take care. Kulsoom