Ather’s medal collection
He changes the subject, talking about other positive things. “My retiring from competitions doesn’t mean that I have stopped practising. I still train and, with my limited resources, I am also extending training and coaching to others. I have some fine students who are now also competing at the national level and winning too. Powerlifting training is not that simple. We train for five days a week and leave two days to rest and recover from our little injuries, such as pulled muscles here and there,” he says.
“But we still have a long way to go. Powerlifting is still not a professional sport here. The weights we train with are also not precise. When I went abroad to compete in England for the first time, that was where I saw things such as the belt and knee sleeves. Many of these basic things, which enhance performance, were not even available in Pakistan and we were still winning without them, within our mere resources,” he says. He adds that he and his trainees now get the belts made from Sialkot, and the other stuff they order online from abroad, provided they can afford it.
How does he compare powerlifters in Pakistan with the powerlifters of other countries? Butt says that, in countries such as England and Australia, there is support for the athletes from the private sector in the form of sponsors and endorsements. “They are also invited to speak at seminars and give lectures. England and Australia have a great infrastructure in place right from the school, college and university level. Here we don’t even have proper gym facilities. Even though my trip to Kazakhstan was sponsored, I noticed how their government sponsored training and paid team allowances,” he adds.
So how does he then support himself and manage to train his students too? Butt says that he is a qualified sports trainer who also extends his services for training other trainers at private sports facilities and gyms. “My company Kinetix, in fact, is a consultancy with a team of qualified trainers providing fitness training to the corporate or private sector,” he answers.
Sometimes, the only one you can rely on to pull your weight is yourself.
The writer is a member of staff
She tweets @HasanShazia
Published in Dawn, EOS, January 19th, 2020