Kulsoom Abdullah is the first woman to lift in sanctioned U.S. Olympic-weightlifting competitions while wearing traditional Muslim dress covering the head, arms and legs. In keeping with her religious beliefs, she trains during Ramadan.
Ramadan is a month in which participating Muslims don’t eat, drink, smoke or have sex from sunrise to sunset; it is intended to teach patience, spirituality, humility and submissiveness to God.
“The fasting means you’re not even drinking water. There’s no fluid, no foods, nothing from those times,” says Abdullah, who works out at CrossFit Atlanta.
When Abdullah does met-cons at the start of Ramadan, they are definitely a shock to her system, she says. Thus, she scales and takes breaks as needed.
“Weightlifting is a little bit easier because you get your breaks and you’re not losing as much water,” Abdullah explains.
Still, the beginning is rough.
“I could barely do as much as I could,” she says. “But then when my body got acclimated, I was doing OK.”
When it’s time to eat, Abdullah says she eats protein, fat and sometimes low-carb vegetables.
7min 29sec
HD file size: 305 MB
SD wmv file size: 89.5 MB
SD mov file size: 45 MB
Please note: These files are larger than normal Journal videos. For smoother viewing, please download the entire file to your hard drive before watching it (right-click and choose Save Link As...).
Additional reading: The CrossFit-Oly Hybrid by Bob Takano, published Aug. 8, 2011.