Tips for staying fit during Ramadan

A recent conversation got me thinking about people that completely lose out on their workouts because they are fasting to observe Ramadan. Some go as far as hoping to lose weight purely from the lack of food during that period.

If you are one of the 1.57 billion people observing Ramadan right now then this one’s for you, especially if you were already on a fitness program that’s seemingly getting derailed. Here is how to observe Ramadan without losing momentum and compromising your fitness goals!
Don’t stop working out

The first and most important tip comes right at the beginning: don’t stop working out. Your body maintains muscle mass as long as it feels it’s needed. When you stop exercising, it will slowly build back what it feels is unnecessary luggage costing extra energy. Even though you may not make gains in muscle mass during Ramadan, you can at least preserve what you have if you keep your schedule up.

Adjust intensity
In your regular schedule, you are able to do huge amounts of weight when you do bench presses. 90 lbs curls you handle without batting an eye. But if you usually do your workouts in the late afternoons and then try the same intensity during Ramadan it won’t work. On a typical Ramadan day you have fasted for 8 to 10 hours and a busy day is behind you. Under those circumstances pulling off your usual intensity is very hard to do.

There is nothing wrong with you here: your carbohydrate reserves are depleted and carbohydrates are what let you work out with intensity. So go a bit lower with your intensity. What you want to do is either adjust the weights you are using or the number of reps. If you want to stay with the weights you normally train with, allow for doing fewer repetitions and lower the weight if you fail to reach your normal number of minimum repetitions. If you want to lower the weight right from the beginning, then pick one that under the circumstances of the fast allows you a maximum of 12-15 reps.

Protein timing
If you normally follow the rule of having several small doses of protein over the day, you of course can’t do that during Ramadan. But if you manage to have a meal in the mornings, before fajr, and of course the larger ones in the evening and have some protein in both, you will at least somewhat make up for it: protein in food is absorbed much slower than protein from powders and will stay with you quite a bit of time.
If you want to use a powder at all, then it should be one based on casein, and not on the “fast” whey.

Have carbohydrates in the mornings
Another reason for a morning meal is that you can not only have some protein at that time, but also carbohydrates. And as carbs let you work out with intensity, as we said above, loading up some of them in the mornings should counter a lack of carbs during the day. If you are used to having a pre-workout meal, this won’t make up entirely for it, but it at least should help tide you over.

Adjust workout times
This should work especially well if you can adjust to having your workouts within a couple of hours of the morning meal, as your carbohydrate reserves will then be quite high. If your workouts take place after a long day of fasting, you might feel rather drained.

Work out when it feels best
However, many people of course can’t simply go and do their workouts when they would be most beneficial, especially during Ramadan. A bit of flexibility might help: Instead of doing your workouts at your normal times, during Ramadan do them when you have time and feel the most energetic. A workout done when you feel you have the energy and can do it with intensity is better than a workout you squeeze in and do hurriedly, just because in theory your energy reserves would be better.

Get enough fluids
When talking about nutrition, we also shouldn’t forget about getting enough fluids. Thirst is a good indicator for when you have to drink. However, during Ramadan you can’t drink when you are thirsty. Therefore Ramadan is one of the few times where my advice is to load up on fluids preemptively, before thirst takes place. Especially if you live in hot climate, this is rather important; even more so, when you want to do a workout during the day.

Don’t go all out in the evenings
Strangely enough, despite Ramadan being a month of fasting, I know a good number of Muslims who actually gain weight during that month. Because what in many families is then served in the evenings more than makes up for what was lacking during the day. Of course, it’s rather easy to overeat when you went without food for 10, 12 or even 14 hours, but do exercise some self-control. In the evenings, get that protein we talked about, but keep an eye on the calories you consume.
Good luck. Ramadan Mubarak!