Matthew Chin
Reporter
matthew.chin@guardian.co.tt
Karin Singh stands at just four feet ten inches, sports a blonde mohawk, and has tattoos along her arms. But don’t let her height fool you. The strength of the petite athlete hails from outside the confines of your judgements.
Singh’s authentic self is achieved through weightlifting, and she admitted that her way of life demands hard work, discipline, and determination.
The 32-year-old woman from Chaguanas can lift an impressive 55 kilos (121 lbs) while listening to a diverse range of music, with one of her favourites being Buss Head by Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin.
“My music tastes vacillate wildly between heavy metal, soca, punk, rock, and industrial. Not even including the days I do listen to show tunes or opera while I train,” she said.
Singh, nicknamed Spike, who participated in the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, placed tenth in the 49kg women’s category. Looking back on the experience, she said it was fantastic.
“It was fantastic. I went into the game intending to hit all six of my lifts. Between 2019 and August last year, I had a few setbacks in terms of injuries, and we all had to live through COVID-19; I went from working for someone else to opening my own dog grooming company,” Singh said.
However, although she did not win at the Pan American Games, this did not prove enough to derail her from preparing for the 2028 Olympics. Beginning her weightlifting journey in early 2018, she recounted her passion being sparked by cross-fit workouts.
“Cross-fit is what introduced me to these lifts in the first place. Weightlifting is part of what you do when doing cross-fit workouts—you would have the snatch, and the clean and jerk. However, cross-fit doesn’t go into the intricacies of how to really do those lifts and compete in them,” Singh said.
Although it falls within a niche category in T&T, Singh is not the first Trinidadian to represent her country in weightlifting internationally.
The first local Olympian, weightlifter Rodney Wilkes, aka “The Mighty Midget”, copped the silver medal at the 1948 Olympics. Following in Wilkes’ footsteps, Singh said that her performance at the Pan Am Games last year showed that T&T was acknowledged by the regional weightlifting community.
“I wanted to showcase at the [Pan American Games] that we have good weightlifters in Trinidad,” Singh said.
Diet, training, and recovery
Singh can lift weights that some men can’t even lift, and you would assume that a strict diet would be necessary to maintain the discipline needed to reach her fitness goal. But when asked about the secret of a weightlifter’s diet, she laughed and said, “I don’t cut anything out of my diet. A lot of people think you must be very strict, but the truth is, everything in moderation.
“Right now I’m not in competition, so I sit at between about 50 and 51 kilos of body weight. I will eat my rice, roti, bread, chocolate, all of those things.” However, in taking care of her muscles, vegetables and meats are needed for protein.
“When in competition mode, I bring in the portions to what they need to be to ensure that I make weight. I compete as a 49-kilos athlete, meaning on competition day I have to stand up on that scale two hours before my competition time and weigh less than 49 kilos. If you don’t make weight, you can’t compete,” Singh said.
Training every day alone in her personal gym at home requires discipline. At the time of meeting Singh, she admitted to still working through injuries, namely wrist and shoulder pain, which she linked to the repetitive striking in her days as a martial artist. Singh has a blue belt in jujitsu.
“My left shoulder just got better, but now my right shoulder is starting to act up. For weightlifting, I have to spend more time doing warm-ups. I’m also hypermobile,” Singh said. “But, for the most part, I’m good.”
In addition to stretching to ensure she is well mobilised and utilising a massage gun for her muscles, she goes for weekly massages, especially when preparing for a competition. She also fancies ice baths, considering they’re good for a person’s overall health.
“I had a little pool as my ice bath, but that broke. I’m bringing down a new ice bath; it’s fantastic for recovery and general health; there are so many benefits despite it being a nasty way to start the morning,” Singh said.
Ignorant comments
Despite drinking water, minding her own business, and setting eyes on the 2028 Olympics, she has been the recipient of negative comments about her physical appearance from both men and women.
“I’ve had all sorts of comments from men and women, commenting on how much I train, my hair ... Even before I started weightlifting, I was getting comments. From a young age I had to sit down and ask myself, does this bother me? And the only time it really bothered me was when I’d been forcibly ejected from women’s bathrooms because of people being convinced I was a boy,” Singh said. “Those people don’t know me, they don’t know what work I’m putting in.”
To women worried about getting comments on appearances while working out, she reassured them that they wouldn’t become “super-masculine”.
Advice to aspiring athletes
For T&T’s aspiring athletes, males and females, Singh advised that weightlifting, or any other sport, won’t be easy to do, but she urged them not to let the fear of that be a deciding factor in their pursuit. Excelling in any sport requires immense discipline for the development of muscle, she noted.
“People try to find a quick fix to make (success) happen now. Anything that you ever come across that tells you you’re going to burn an amount of weight in a week, it’s never going to last,” Singh said.
And for women daring to test their hand specifically in weightlifting, she paused before answering, “It’s lonely at the top. But, if you love it, go and do it. That’s something I’ve lived ... I’ve trained in this space for years. When you get to stand on that platform to represent your club, your country, and your family, all of that struggle is worth it. It’s lonely at the top, but guess what? Only a few of us get to experience that high,” Singh said, smiling.
For those seriously interested, Singh recommended they seek out an expert in the field and, most importantly, to have fun.
Singh is engaged to her fiancé, Joshua Lee, and runs her own pet business, Creams Paws Services, for dogs needing training, grooming, and other kinds of treatment.