First, Ramadan Mubark all. May Allah accept your good deeds and forgive all your sins by the end of it.
Almost all of us aren't accustomed to fasting around the year, we fast mostly in Ramadan only so it is a big change for our bodies, but the main change is for our biological clock and spirit and prayer.
Now I don't stop going to the gym when Ramadan comes but you gotta know when to go based on your goal.
Nutrition:
-Body building:
First you gotta know that your carbs and calories are low during the day so you need to eat some high nutritious food, not just protein intake but everything. The trick is that you have more meals throughout the free hours to eat, you wanna focus on breakfast (Iftar) on the carbs and protein and fat, the rest of the meals can be more focused on protein as you have calories enough to workout now, carbs to burn, and protein for fast recovery.
-Cardio:
It is not the same but almost for the first meal, you need to have the your minimum intake of carbs, calories, and protein after working out and for the rest of the meal, low fat and low carbs and a lot of fibers to keep a healthy balanced body.
*You need to drink water, minimum of two liters (which you drink half of it at breakfast meal lol) and keep hydrated.
*Now the Sahour meal should be good, I recommend after it to eat some mixed nuts with raisins (Non salted ones) it will give you good energy throughout the whole day, a banana would be great with that after Sahour too.
*Applies to both diets
Workout:
-Body building
Now is a good chance to lose some fat, shred those muscles, and get lean. Last Ramadan I lost fat and gained a bit of muscle too so it is not impossible to do, just focus on your aim. But you should consider that your nutrition is less intense than before so you might want to shorten your workout length and make it more intense, four days a week is good. 40-60 minutes workout, now you need to step up your game. Don't just rest for one minute, you gotta hustle and push yourself for that extra mile, 12*3 rep is a good to change the rhythm, but your round should be 60 seconds which means you have to concentrate on slowing down while the muscles are contracting so one workout would take 3 rounds and 1 and a half minute of rest so you can do 10 different workouts in 45 minutes which is more than enough to train two muscle groups (Big and small). It's best to do the workout one hour after eating your breakfast (Iftar).
-Cardio
Now if your aim is to lose body fat, you are at an advantage because while fasting you are hypocaloric almost for 14-16 hours (depending on how long you are fasting). It is best to workout two hours before breaking your fast. You might feel weak and you find it harder to train but you are just burning so much fat at that time you will feel much lighter after finishing the workout. 40-60 minutes is recommended ,but nothing extreme though, spinning or something you like is preferred, better not to use heavy weights if you have a weight training class.
If you will have free exercise then you make sure you get on that stair master and climb those steps and watch the sweat pouring out of your body. One hour after finishing your workout you will be at home just in time to break your fast, try to go easy on the food.
-Now this is my personal schedule. I have made it up with the consult of my trainer, feel free to use it.
My status is that I was building muscles and losing fat. 3 days of weight lifting and one day of cardio lost me 3 Kgs in two weeks while keeping my muscle mass going up (Not by much though ), now I have body fat percentage of maybe 17% or close to it, I look good but not as good as I want to so I gotta lose some more fat.
-Nutrition
I try to balance it but I eat normally as my family. I focus more on salads and protein, I take my carbs and everything I need to keep my muscle mass gain. So just eat whatever is cooked, but try not to go nuts on bread and carbs.
-Workout
Two days of weight lifting (I know it is a four day cycle but two weeks for one full body cycle now)
Two days of Cardio, my favorite two :
-Spartan class which you kick some butt and also do some weight training to keep your core strong and your gains of muscle good
-Spinning class, because I would sweat like crazy and still have a smile while riding that bike.
There you have it, in the end Ramadan is not a month to waste your time. It is the opposite.
It is the month were you should do twice the effort while having less amount of energy to do so.
Have faith in yourself and be clever and do what is right, you will come out of this month healthier and shaped better and most importantly if Allah will, without any sins and forgiven.
May Allah Bless You All <3
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