As a disclosure, I should declare that this post is (again) based on what @erikarlebang tweeted. What I did is rearranging the whole tweets and makes this a nice-to-read blog post for you.
As for me, I know folks who think fasting is a perfect excuse NOT to work out or exercise in Ramadan. But that sounds pitifully misleading an assumption because in my opinion, a decent amount of physical workout when timed and done appropriately can help revitalize the overly-clogged system over 11 months.
When it comes to exercising in Ramadan, Erikar said it’s all about adapting to the changes. This especially holds true for those who don’t make money or earn a living as a professional athlete. Indeed, you don’t have to make yourself dying of hunger or thirst even before reaching the end of the day.
Why still work out in Ramadan?
With an apt method, fasting month is the best time for the body to detox itself. In terms of detoxification, lymphatic glands play a key role. Lymphatic glands resemble blood vessels, but it has no ‘generator’ (a group of muscles to pump the fluid just like the heart muscles) so it heavily depends on how active we move throughout the day. Physical workout really helps the performance of lymphatic glands so the detoxification occurs way better.
So here’s the DOs and DON’Ts list.
DOs
- Work out 1-2 hours prior to eating iftar. You don’t have to suffer from dehydration for too long a time. As soon as you’re done with the exercise, you can drink.
- As the sun sets (maghrib comes), end the workput and slowly take a sip of one or two glasses of room-temp water (Erikar said ‘cool’ -sejuk- but I guess he refers to a type of fresh, previously boiled water that is neither cold nor hot).
- Eat easily digested foods.
- If you want to resume your workout after that, please do but try to add some natural honey to your water.
DON’Ts
- Morning workout is just NOT a wise idea. Rather, it ‘kills’ us. Dehydration or fatigue risk is, I suppose, the best, most logical explanation. Instead of draining your energy (calories) and most importantly your water supply in the beginning of the day, try move your workout to afternoon hours.
- Drinking high-caffeine beverages dehydrates you. Coffee or tea may be your favorite early breakfast drink but you’ll soon find yourself urinating quite a lot, because caffeine provides dieuretic effect to the urinary system. In other words, it drains your water supply. Unlike tea or coffee or alcoholic drinks, fresh water can do us good.
That’s all folks! 🙂
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