CHENNAI: It is said that life begins at 40, and nobody could agree more than Kumudam Berkin, who has been on a winning spree the past week. In two games each at the National Deadlift Championship and the South India Powerlifting Championship, the 40-year-old won two gold and two silver medals respectively, all in the 84+ weight class. And it took her only a year and a half of strength training and CrossFit sessions to achieve this feat.
Fitness regimen
Kumudam’s day begins at 4 am, followed by workout from 5.30am-7am, after which she gets her kids ready for school, prepares breakfast and goes to office. “Women are multi-taskers by nature. We can take up multiple things and excel at them, all they need to do is put their mind and heart to it,” she says.
Kumudam’s journey towards deadlifting gold began when she started training with CrossFit, a branded fitness regimen where functional movements are performed at high intensity.
The impetus was the delivery of her second child, after which she felt she needed change. She took up CrossFit along with strength training, and it transformed her physically and mentally. “I’ve always had an affinity towards weights — I was fascinated by it while growing up, and lifting weights got me a different kind of high. Practising CrossFit for one-and-a-half years gave me the strength and the endurance that when this competition came my way, I just went for it,” she adds.
Kumudam credits her victory to the strength training she received from Fionis CrossFit. The CrossFit training includes deadlift, the squat, the back squat and the bench press, all of which helped her perform well in the competition, she says.
But that’s not the only feather in her cap. The commerce graduate with a specialisation in German as a foreign language is a translator and interpreter. “I started learning German when I was in Class 10, and realised I had a flair for languages. I then did all the levels at the Goethe-Institut and all the jobs I’ve taken have had something to do with knowledge of the German language,” she says. Now a content creator, the only gaps in Kumudam’s resume are when she took time off to have her children. But ever since she started working out, she’s never looked back. “Be it rain or sunshine, I’m always there, lifting weights,” she shares.
Aspiring role model
More than her work as translator or content creator, Kumudam likes to be seen as an inspiration to her two daughters and other women, especially Indian women, who wish to break taboos when it comes to weightlifting. “It’s my observation that a lot of women stay away from weights, because of preconceived notions that weightlifting will make them look like a man (chuckles); or else, they’re faced with questions like ‘What if you suffer injuries?
The whole family is dependent on you’, and so on,” she shares, and credits her husband’s supportive stance, taking care of everything on the home front when was away for the competition. “If you have a vision, go for it, don’t worry about what people might say,” she adds.
Will we see a repeat of her feat? “I’m looking forward to participating in the next year as well,” is what Kumudam has to add, her voice still brimming with enthusiasm.