Ramadan mubarak! I've been too tired and busy to update this recently. The holy month of Ramadan began on August 1st 2011. During this month, muslims fast from dawn 'til dusk, abstaining from any food, drink, medicine, smoking or sex.
My training has been going fairly well up until now - I hit a few personal bests in the last weeks of July. I was not sure what to do during Ramadan. My gym is insanely busy in the evenings which is why I normally train before work. There was no way that I was going to be able to train and then not refuel on food or water until the evening!
Several people on the interweb had suggestions such as Nick Mitchell:
http://www.nickmitchellblog.com/ramadan-nutrition-supplements-exercise/
Unfortunately, his advice is not very useful for me. He suggests eating at 545am and breaking the fast at 730pm. Either he has no clue what he's talking about, or perhaps those are the timings for the USA. In the UK this year, fasting has been starting around 330am and ending close to 9pm. In theory I could train in the gym around 8pm and break fast straight after, but my gym is too busy at that time to get anything meaningful done. Also, I would prefer to be at home, break my fast with my family and perform the sunset Maghrib prayers, than be stuck at the gym.
Similar advice from another US trainer, which is again not applicable because I don't at the moment go to a 24hr gym
http://www.suhaibwebb.com/personaldvlpt/worship/fasting-ramadan/the-ramadan-nutrition-and-workout-plan-for-success-by-rehan-jalali-the-protein-shaikh/
Mehdi off stronglifts seems to think fasting is similar to intermittent fasting, but I'm guessing IF people usually pick their 8 hour feed window to be something convenient like 12-8pm, not 9pm-3am. Honestly, you don't have a clue!
http://stronglifts.com/ramadan-weight-lifting-training-build-muscle-lose-fat/
So my solution? Try to eat as best I can, and train once a week on sunday afternoons. I've noticed about 20% drop in strength already. I'm hoping that's just glycogen depletion and dehydration and not all genuine strength loss. Hopefully I can pick up again in September and not be too far off where I started.
There are threads on bodybuilding.com where several muslims seem to be carrying on training just fine. Maybe because they're mostly American and the fasts are shorter there in the US, or they're students and not working full time, or *whispers* most people on there are roid junkies!
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=136878153
In any case, I think for a month it's more important to devote yourself body and soul to God, and come back to the mundane when it's over.
Showing posts with label ramadan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ramadan. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Ramadhan - half way finished
Whew. We're now past the halfway mark on the holy month of Ramadhan. Each year, muslims spend a month fasting, abstaining from food, drink, smoking or intake of anything else during the sunlit hours of the day. This year the fasts have roughly been around 3am - 8pm. Tough, but not impossible. It's more the disrupted sleeping routine thats wearing me down than the food and water ban. Trying to finish my phd is not helping matters. Tomorrow is my last day of major lab work. After that, its just writing and rewriting. My thesis is actually taking shape, its unbelievable. I never thought I'd see this day.
THe downside is that so much time at work = no time spent in contemplation. Muslims typically spend much of Ramadhan in prayer, especially at the mosque in extended evening prayers called taraweeh. Unfortunately I've only been twice so far. I have really neglected my spiritual needs, but soon my thesis will be handed in, and I can reclaim my life and make up for it.
THe downside is that so much time at work = no time spent in contemplation. Muslims typically spend much of Ramadhan in prayer, especially at the mosque in extended evening prayers called taraweeh. Unfortunately I've only been twice so far. I have really neglected my spiritual needs, but soon my thesis will be handed in, and I can reclaim my life and make up for it.
Monday, 24 August 2009
Ramadhan Mubarak!
Well today was the third day of fasting for Ramadhan, I was speaking to a non Muslim about it on a forum, and he exclaimed that giving up food and drink for the daylight hours for a month was far too difficult, that he couldn't even imagine trying it. Does it really sound that daunting to people? No food or drink for just over 16 hours. Yes it's hard work, but a billion people are managing just fine. Many poor people around the world manage to survive on little food for the entire year.
Why do muslims fast, I've been asked several times. Well the most direct answer would be because God told us to!
O who believe, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you; perchance you will guard yourselves The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was sent down, a guidance for the people, and clear verses of guidance and criterion.)[Quran 2:183]
Previous religious communities have fasted, and this tradition is carried on in Islam. Fasting teaches us to be grateful for what we have, and to feel pity for those who go without day after day, and increases our self control. The resulting state of ketosis also induces a more spiritual frame of mind.
Well as usual, the third day has hit me pretty hard, I;m tired and worn out. Tomorrow will prob be bad too. After that, it tends to get easier as you settle into the new routine of less sleep, food and drink.
I haven't quite settled into the more spiritual aspect. So far have only been to the mosque once for the additional taraweeh prayers, during which they recite 1/30th of the Qur'an per night, thus reciting the entire scripture over the month. I am doing the dawn and sunset prayers at the start and end of each fast, but haven't really gotten into the swing of achieving more of the Five daily prayers which are required throughout the year. Let's just say it's a work in progress.
I am missing the gym already. I tried some of the mobility exercises instead from Eric Cressey's Magnificent Mobility DVD. I think I need some serious work on some dynamic stretches.
Why do muslims fast, I've been asked several times. Well the most direct answer would be because God told us to!
O who believe, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you; perchance you will guard yourselves The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was sent down, a guidance for the people, and clear verses of guidance and criterion.)[Quran 2:183]
Previous religious communities have fasted, and this tradition is carried on in Islam. Fasting teaches us to be grateful for what we have, and to feel pity for those who go without day after day, and increases our self control. The resulting state of ketosis also induces a more spiritual frame of mind.
Well as usual, the third day has hit me pretty hard, I;m tired and worn out. Tomorrow will prob be bad too. After that, it tends to get easier as you settle into the new routine of less sleep, food and drink.
I haven't quite settled into the more spiritual aspect. So far have only been to the mosque once for the additional taraweeh prayers, during which they recite 1/30th of the Qur'an per night, thus reciting the entire scripture over the month. I am doing the dawn and sunset prayers at the start and end of each fast, but haven't really gotten into the swing of achieving more of the Five daily prayers which are required throughout the year. Let's just say it's a work in progress.
I am missing the gym already. I tried some of the mobility exercises instead from Eric Cressey's Magnificent Mobility DVD. I think I need some serious work on some dynamic stretches.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Training on hiatus
Since the fasting month of Ramadhan is approaching,I have decided to put training on hold for now. Since the muslim lunar calendar is 11 days shorter than the solar year, the dates for Ramadhan move backwards relative to the common Western calendar, so fasting will be during the long hot days of summer. With that and work pressure, I've decided training would be counter productive. I just hope I don't go stir crazy in the meantime!
I first started thinking about weight lifting when I was about 17 and bought my first issue of the UK edition of Mens Health. Before that, I probably had not really considered worrying about my general bodyshape or physique all that much. That changed. Thankfully I have never become overly concerned or neurotic about it. In those days, MH magazine was of a much better standard than it is now, with better articles on training, and fewer ridiculous claims like "Get ripped in 7 days while eating pizza!"
or the like. I decided to go buy a set of weights with dumbells and barbells from Argos. I didn't even bother thinking about how I was going to get 40kg of weights home. Cue me struggling, dragging it from the shop for 5m, stopping to rest, drag another 5m, rest..... I bumped into a friend who took pity, and called a taxi for me. Used the weights for a while to train in my bedroom, but with no bench, training was limited.
I truly regret not learning more at the time, and wasting the years that followed. While at Uni, I trained only intermittently at the gym, with no real progress, and no clue as to what I was doing. Diet was not even considered at all. At 5'8'', I weighed 57kg.
It went on like that in the years that followed. I did make some progress during 2006, getting my weight up from 57 to 67kg. It wasn't until I signed up to http://www.mansized.co.uk/talk, and read up on training, that I finally started to learn something. In February 2008 I finally moved from machines to more free weights style, and actually saw some real progress. Finding the stronglifts program (http://www.stronglifts.com) made the biggest change, I went from 67 to 75kg. Improving my diet went a ways too.
SInce then, various pressures (usually work) have kept me from going much further. At the moment, my personal bests are
Bench 60kg
Squat 95kg
Deadlift 120kg
I am still learning, and I hope that after Ramadan is over, I can get back into training with purpose anew, and eat, train and sleep properly to achieve my best. There are various programs I want to try out, will probably have a go at Eric Cressey's book Maximum Strength,
I first started thinking about weight lifting when I was about 17 and bought my first issue of the UK edition of Mens Health. Before that, I probably had not really considered worrying about my general bodyshape or physique all that much. That changed. Thankfully I have never become overly concerned or neurotic about it. In those days, MH magazine was of a much better standard than it is now, with better articles on training, and fewer ridiculous claims like "Get ripped in 7 days while eating pizza!"
or the like. I decided to go buy a set of weights with dumbells and barbells from Argos. I didn't even bother thinking about how I was going to get 40kg of weights home. Cue me struggling, dragging it from the shop for 5m, stopping to rest, drag another 5m, rest..... I bumped into a friend who took pity, and called a taxi for me. Used the weights for a while to train in my bedroom, but with no bench, training was limited.
I truly regret not learning more at the time, and wasting the years that followed. While at Uni, I trained only intermittently at the gym, with no real progress, and no clue as to what I was doing. Diet was not even considered at all. At 5'8'', I weighed 57kg.
It went on like that in the years that followed. I did make some progress during 2006, getting my weight up from 57 to 67kg. It wasn't until I signed up to http://www.mansized.co.uk/talk, and read up on training, that I finally started to learn something. In February 2008 I finally moved from machines to more free weights style, and actually saw some real progress. Finding the stronglifts program (http://www.stronglifts.com) made the biggest change, I went from 67 to 75kg. Improving my diet went a ways too.
SInce then, various pressures (usually work) have kept me from going much further. At the moment, my personal bests are
Bench 60kg
Squat 95kg
Deadlift 120kg
I am still learning, and I hope that after Ramadan is over, I can get back into training with purpose anew, and eat, train and sleep properly to achieve my best. There are various programs I want to try out, will probably have a go at Eric Cressey's book Maximum Strength,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)