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Bodybuilding in Pakistan: Masoom Butt's Records

Posted on May 25, 2007
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Photo of the Day, Society, Sports
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""Adil Najam

I saw this picture of Mr. Hazara on Flickr and it reminded me of bodybuilding.

Body-building used to be a big thing amongst young men of a certain age when I was growing up. At least in parts of central Punjab it was. It seemed to be specially big in small and medium-size towns and body-builders were like local celebrities.

At least they thought they were.



That is what I seemed to remember. In college, I remember a number of colleagues who were into bodybuilding ‘big time.’ As a sports reporter at The Muslim I remember many stories and pictures about bodybuilding and bodybuilders. Indeed, this was one sport where ‘local’ (city, district, etc.) tournaments were always a big thing, as were the provincial and national meets. Sometimes one even heard of Pakistani bodybuilders winning big in international competitions.

And traveling through Pakistan – especially small town Pakistan – one regularly found many posters and large billboards (like the one in the second photograph) celebrating bodybuilders and advertising gyms where you too could ‘craft’ and ‘shape’ your muscles.


"Your

""Gym, by the way, was a place you went to build bodies for spectacular displays and not a place where you went simply to get on a stationary bike to loose a few inches off your waist.

I, unfortunately, was never into any of this. But I did hang out with many wonderful people who were.

Unfortunately, I no longer do. So I am no longer sure what has happened to bodybuilding in Pakistan.

When I was in Pakistan a few weeks ago, and again traveling through small towns in the Punjab, I did see a few signs for bodybuilding gyms. But not as many as I recalled from the ‘old days.’ Maybe its just my memory playing tricks. Or, maybe, Nintendo took the bodybuilders down. I do not know. If you do, let me know please.

Coming back to Boston, I did the one thing I am now good at – I Googled for bodybuilding in Pakistan.

I found at least one site dedicated to bodybuilding in Pakistan. But the pictures on the front page seem not to be of Pakistani bodybuilders. I found (very) short newspaper reports of the Mr. Pakistan bodybuilding contests (here, here, here, etc.). But, then, I also found this news item that seems to be fresh and refreshing.

Pakistan bodybuilder wins five titles in England

A Pakistani bodybuilder has set a new record by winning five titles in England in the competitions organised by the National Amateur Bodybuilding Association (NABA). "Top musclemen from Europe and other countries participated in these events held in various parts of England from April 21 to May 13 this year," bodybuilder Masoom Butt told reporters during a press conference here Wednesday.

The titles won by Masoom included Mr International, Pro-Am Oscars, Mr Titan Show, Sci-Mentor Pro-AN Classic and Caledonian Pro Am Classic. "No Pakistani has ever won that number of titles before and it is a great honour for me and my country," he added. Masoom said he won the Mr Asia title at the age of 21 in 1993 in Singapore and in the same year he finished fourth in the World Championship.

He said he gave up bodybuilding in 1995 owing to financial constraints as this sport involved huge finances for diet and preparations. "In 2003 I again started bodybuilding and did training abroad on and off and it was the result of sheer hard work that finally I was able to win a record number of five titles," he said. Masoom said he was now preparing to compete in Mr Universe competition which would be held later this year in England. 34-year-old Masoom said his ultimate dream was to win the title of Mr Olympia in next three to four years’ time.

I should confess, I have no idea who Mr. Masoom Butt is (although the Punjab Police website lists him proudly as someone who has been with the Punjab Police and been a ‘Mr. Asia.’). Nor do I know just how big, or how important this particular competition or these titles are. But the news report seemed interesting. A little more snooping and I actually found a video from the Mr. Titan competition that Mr. Butt has won:

WPvideo 1.10

I am not sure how many of our readers are into this sort of thing. Frankly, I am myself am not much into it; but his body sculpturing seems impressive here.

This post started as a nostalgic comment, but thanks to Google I have gotten more interested in this. What are we doing to promote this sport? I think we should. I remember that it was a healthy ‘obsession’ for those who were serious about it. More positive, I think, than many other alternatives available to our young men. And anything that becomes a healthy source of local pride (without become either arrogance or animosity against others) has to be good.

I plan to keep track of Mr. Masoom Butt. If you hear anything, let me know.

P.S. Both pictures from Flickr.com. Please click on pictures to see details.

Great white sharks hunt just like Hannibal Lecter

AP Online June 22, 2009 | SETH BORENSTEIN Great white sharks have some things in common with human serial killers, a new study says: They don’t attack at random, but stalk specific victims, lurking out of sight.

The sharks hang back and observe from a not-too-close, not-too-far base, hunt strategically, and learn from previous attempts, according to a study being published online Monday in the Journal of Zoology. Researchers used a serial killer profiling method to figure out just how the fearsome ocean predator hunts, something that’s been hard to observe beneath the surface.

“There’s some strategy going on,” said study co-author Neil Hammerschlag, a shark researcher at the University of Miami who observed 340 great white shark attacks on seals off an island in South Africa. “It’s more than sharks lurking at the water waiting to go after them.” The sharks feeding at Seal Island could have just hovered right where the seals congregated if they were random killers-of-opportunity, Hammerschlag said. But they weren’t. here great white sharks

The sharks had a distinct M.O.

They were focused. They stalked from a usual base of operations, 100 yards from their victims. It was close enough to see their prey, but not close enough to be seen and scare off their victims. They attacked when the lights were low. They liked their victims young and alone. They tried to attack when no other sharks were around to compete. They learned from previous kills.

And they attacked from below, unseen.

There’s a big difference between great white sharks and serial killers and it comes down to that old gumshoe standard: motive. The great whites attack to eat and survive, not for thrills. And great whites are majestic creatures that should be saved, Hammerschlag said.

“They both have the same objective, which is to find a target or prey or victim,” said study co-author D. Kim Rossmo, a professor of criminal justice at Texas State University-San Marcos. “They have to lurk. They want to be efficient in their search.” The human criminal has to worry about being caught by police and thus is even more careful, said Rossmo, who was a police officer for more than 21 years in Vancouver, British Columbia. website great white sharks

The entire shark-serial killer connection is something right out of a crime novel.

R. Aidan Martin, a Canadian shark researcher who has since died, was reading a whodunit that detailed the relatively new field of geographic profiling, which tries to find criminals by looking for patterns in where they strike. He connected with Rossmo, a pioneer in that criminal field, and they applied the work of tracking down criminals to sleuthing shark strategy.

Martin and Hammerschlag watched sharks from sunrise to sunset, applied the “fancy math” of geographic profiling and came out with plots that showed there was some real stalking going on, Hammerschlag said. Older sharks did better and were more stealthy than younger, smaller sharks, demonstrating that learning was occurring, he said.

The study focused on just one location, but the same principles are likely to be applied to other shark hunting grounds. They can’t really apply to shark attacks on people because those are so infrequent, Hammerschlag said. But if you could figure out the base of operations for the great whites, it would give you a good idea of places to avoid if you were worried about shark attacks, he said.

Other animals, such as lions, also reveal strategies in their hunting, Hammerschlag said. Land animals have been observed more easily from the air or elsewhere on the ground.

University of Florida shark attack researcher George Burgess, who had no role in the study, said the researchers simply used a new tool to show what scientists pretty much knew all ready: “Sharks are like many other predators that have developed patterns to their attacking that are obviously beneficial as a species.” ___ On the Net:

SETH BORENSTEIN

87 comments posted

Comment Pages: « 11 10 9 8 7 6 [5] 4 3 2 1 » Show All

  1. AFFZAL BUTT says:
    December 13th, 2007 11:58 pm

    I AM PROUD OF U BECOZ U ARE PAKISTANI PROUD TO BE A PAKISTAN I WANT UR PIC

  2. sajid says:
    December 6th, 2007 1:15 pm

    i am 19 years old & my height is 5 “4″ .i am very fond of body building.i am also taking exercise but i need a instructor for better result.can you send the complete detail(how build up chest ,arms etc) for getting a good muscular body.
    THANX.

  3. Aftab says:
    November 29th, 2007 9:02 am

    salaam to everyone

    Just wanted to congratulate masoom butt once again as the first time it was at the nabba show in the midlands, where my friend Mohammed Amir also competed in the first timers title, he also won and became Mr Midlands first timers and since then he has competed again on the 19th november 2007 which he won again and is know Mr britain first timers he is 27 and inshallah wants to do mr world in 3 yrs time. He is also from Pakistan Gujrawala and me and all his other friends are very proud of him and inshallah Masoom butt and Mohammed Amir will achieve their Goals if you want his pics just email me.

    regards
    aftab

  4. Rafay Kashmiri says:
    November 9th, 2007 4:32 am

    Mystic,

    Not necesarily in Body building, but also active in other
    sports, Butts are very old Kashmiri descendants in Punjab.
    My cousin was Mr. Balouchistan in early 70s and a Prof in
    Balouchistan University, I remember even the cats and
    dogs use to run away up on seeing his glips. I was shocked,
    (being a Karachiit) to see his sister starting building up,
    that was the last I saw of them.

  5. Rafay Kashmiri says:
    November 9th, 2007 3:41 am

    Bhaijaan,

    “tan saaz” has two meanings

    the one who “tunes” something like a melody. The other
    means ” Body maker or builder” can be a truck, lorry,
    tram, ship, F 16 and Pakistani Transport.

    BTW can you show us some pictures of Pakistani
    ladies body-builders, ?? hope nobody minds it, when
    we can be proud having ladies Generals in the Army,
    Ladies Fighter Pilots, State Banks Director, Govt.
    spokewoman, etc etc .

  6. Imran Ali says:
    November 9th, 2007 12:35 am

    yaar u r kmaaal

  7. Asim Butt says:
    November 2nd, 2007 1:34 pm

    wel, i would love you pass over pics of Masoom Butt & soon u gonna have his website as wel …still working on that.

    Thx for all ur comments guyz!!!

    Regards

    Asim Butt

  8. abdul qayoom larik says:
    October 26th, 2007 4:22 am

    my name is abdul qayoom larik from TANDOJAM HYDERABAD. My personal club in Tandojam, we have not experence instractor, if you dont mind then you give me detail for excersise

Comment Pages: « 11 10 9 8 7 6 [5] 4 3 2 1 » Show All



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