To achieve any fitness goal, having a well-drawn plan is the key. But if you’re fasting during Ramadan, it gets a bit crucial. Aimlessly training without a plan can be dangerous and also put your results on the back burner. The holy month should not be when you give up on your fitness goals. Rather, make Ramadan a time to recharge so you can hit the gym strong after these four weeks, keeping yourself fit at core and just maintaining enough stamina to increase your metabolism. Consuming large quantities of food or an unbalanced diet for Iftar – mostly fried food, can often lead to upset stomach or in most cases over-eating. Ramadan is the time when one cannot really count on the intake of calories, often leading to weight gain and obesity as well. But, this Ramadan, Bia Feroz, aspirational athlete, speaks to Community and instructs the right way of doing some beginner exercises at home, before Iftar. These exercises do not require some external equipment, but internal strength of perseverance and belief of keeping one’s mind and body healthy.
“Exercising and fasting can go together, there’s absolutely no harm in it. Exercise while fasting may actually keep your brain active and healthy. When we exercise during fasting, it essentially forces our body to shed fat, as our body’s fat burning processes are controlled by sympathetic nervous system, which in turn is activated by exercise and lack of food,” says Bia.
The best timing for indulging in these exercises? Bia says, “After the Taraweeh prayers at the night and an hour before Iftar. Exercising an hour before breaking the fast rejuvenates the body immediately.”
Since high intensity exercises that throw the pulse rate to above 150 per minute are advised to be avoided during fasting in Ramadan, slow and moderate exercises are preferred. Here are three exercises Bia Feroz suggests for more sustainability and strength of the core.
Air Squats:
Stand with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart, your toes turned out slightly and your arms resting at your sides. Engage your abdominal muscles and broaden across your chest by gently pulling your shoulder blades in towards each other. Bend your knees slowly, pushing your butt and hips out and down behind you as if you are sitting down into a chair. Keep your head and shoulders aligned over your knees and your knees aligned over your ankles. Tense your abs like someone is about to punch you.
Planks:
Start on the floor on your hands and knees. Lower your forearms to the floor with elbows positioned under your shoulders and your hands shoulder-width apart, forming 90 degree angle from the side. Step your feet back, one at a time. Maintain a straight line from heels through the top of your head, looking down at the floor, with gaze slightly in front of your face.
Burpees:
Bend over or squat down and place your hands on the floor in front of you, just outside of your feet. Jump both feet back so that you’re now in plank position. Drop to a push-up, your chest should touch the floor. You can also drop to your knees here, which makes the impending push-up easier. Push up to return to plank position. Jump the feet back in toward the hands and explosively jump into the air, reaching your arms straight overhead.
Planks
