Tips & Insights Regarding Ramadhan Fast page

[pdjesson]

Greetings, all.

Right now, we're about a month away from the month of Ramadhan (obligatory 29/30 day fast, from dawn 'til dusk, that Muslims undertake annually.) This year the Month falls at the height of the Northern Hemisphere Summer, so the fast will be approximately 19 hours per day (when nothing should pass the lips, to the stomach), this is by and large non-negotiable. Having been training, in a variety of disciplines for 30 years and being a practicing Muslim for 13 years I have become well aware, in a general manner, of training in a fasted state. Of course, up until fairly recently my experience has been a highly subjective one that flew in the face of conventional wisdom and thus my approach was fairly hit and miss. Now with the increasing growth in evidence for the benefits of fasting and training in a fasted state I'm seeking a more involved approach. So, any tips, suggestions and/or insights would be most welcome. Thank you!

*The specific format of the fast would consist of a pre-dawn breakfast and a post dawn meal.

peace

[pdjesson]

Hi.

To add a little context and perhaps get the ball rolling; I'm reasonably content with my levels of conditioning and shape, though there is always room for more muscle mass and definition.

Would it be reasonable to aim for a ketosis in the early part of the Month and increase my carb intake over time? ...

[Neckhammer]

I really don't have anything to add except that IF has been shown to improve a variety of health markers without negative effect on body comp. So enjoy your religiously imposed IF and just mash your normal daily caloric load into those 1-2 meals you were talking about would be my advice.

[Alex Good]

Dehydration might be a bit of a bother on the hotter days.

[zizou]

Cool thread, it applies to me too being a Muslim.

I have been debating it in my head how to approach the fast. Forunately being in Australia ours is practically during winter

I would assume, a high fat and protein breakfast and breaking fast with carb+protein meal.

All the best bro and i'll monitor this thread

[texas.grok]

I'm not Muslim but I'm in Egypt and I usually fast along with my Muslim friends. Tough thing right now is that the sun is coming up at 4.30 am or so, the time between sundown and sunrise is pretty short. Going to be tough here. The main thing that I have noticed is that when they do have iftar (breaking the fast), man do they load up on carbs! And I have been invited to several iftars so far, and the carbs are going to be difficult for me to avoid. I really enjoy the evening socializing, coffee and shesha during Ramadan. What a wonderful way to spend the evernings with friends! We spend laid back evenings together year round but there is something special about evening social gatherings during Ramadan here.

During past Ramadans, the fasting was not so much a problem for my friends and I as far as the food was concerned but doing outside work here in Egypt without being able to stay hydrated is difficult and dangerous. We usually try and structure our outdoor operations so the hard work takes place after sundown and iftar.

Best of luck and I'll also monitor this thread and let y'all know how our Ramadan goes. Going to be interesting and a good practice in self-control. I'll pass on anything tips that I come up with.

[pdjesson]

Hi, all.

Not a lot of action(?) I have just found and started reading Pklopp's explanation on IF, on the boards. He links to a number of scientific studies on metabolism of those fasting Ramadhan.

I'm thinking of keeping a tracking my progress and keeping a journal for the Month.

peace

[pdjesson]

Can anybody who's not involved imagine how eagerly anticipated 29/30 days of dawn to dusk fasting is?

[pklopp]

Hi, all.

Not a lot of action(?) I have just found and started reading Pklopp's explanation on IF, on the boards. He links to a number of scientific studies on metabolism of those fasting Ramadhan.

I'm thinking of keeping a tracking my progress and keeping a journal for the Month.

peace

I think your biggest challenge will be maintaining hydration. The studies that I referenced had Olympic lifters as subjects, and I expect that they were training in a climate controlled facility. Their workouts probably did not entail a large degree of metabolic conditioning work, essentially focusing more on technique and power, which is to say that they were most likely consciously avoiding dehydrating activities. If you are engaging in endurance type training that will take place outside, I would say try to do that as close as possible to sundown to be able to rehydrate as soon as training ends.

If this is not possible, then I would attempt to minimize evaporative losses due to perspiration. The way to do this is to dampen / wet your skin and workout clothes with a spray bottle to cool yourself. Note that there is little you can do with respect to respiratory losses, so, any prolonged activity that causes you to breathe more heavily will increase your water losses.

-PK

[pdjesson]

I think your biggest challenge will be maintaining hydration. The studies that I referenced had Olympic lifters as subjects, and I expect that they were training in a climate controlled facility. Their workouts probably did not entail a large degree of metabolic conditioning work, essentially focusing more on technique and power, which is to say that they were most likely consciously avoiding dehydrating activities. If you are engaging in endurance type training that will take place outside, I would say try to do that as close as possible to sundown to be able to rehydrate as soon as training ends.

If this is not possible, then I would attempt to minimize evaporative losses due to perspiration. The way to do this is to dampen / wet your skin and workout clothes with a spray bottle to cool yourself. Note that there is little you can do with respect to respiratory losses, so, any prolonged activity that causes you to breathe more heavily will increase your water losses.

-PK

Thanks, pklopp. I usually do my training pre-sunset and pre-sunrise, but, you are correct, keeping hydrated will be an issue being that one doesn't like to eat on top of food. I don't know how those who don't recognise the importance of hydration get through?

I intended to make a point on your IF series of posts. Apart from them being very beneficial, I wanted to ask did any of the studies mention eating breakfast (as in our present definition of the term as a morning (pre-dawn) meal); being that suhur is a strongly emphasised non-essential part of the fast? If so, how has the research accounted for this and why are IF practitioners strongly encouraged to skip breakfast?

I also wanted to ask about encouraging a ketogenic metabolism? I ask, for I would like to take the opportunity to try this in order that I may be called upon to advise others.