Exercise advice during Ramadan

Abu Dhabi: Should I exercise during Ramadan or should I not? When and for how long? Should I change my exercise regime? With this year’s Ramadan marking some of the longest fasting hours, these are some of the most common questions people ponder over when fasting.

Gulf News sought advice from Peter Pastijn, co-owner of Room Abu Dhabi, one of capital’s trendiest fitness and lifestyle centres.

“Timing, sleep, food and hydration. Those are the four main elements that have to be considered when you exercise,” said Pastijn.

With over 20 years experience in the field of spin and cardiovascular training, his experience includes helping people lose weight, training athletes for an Iron Man (a long-distance triathlon), to providing fitness and wellness advice to pregnant women.

One of his main concerns about exercise during Ramadan is dehydration. “The food (not eating) is not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is water, water, water.”

“If you dehydrate, your blood thickens. If your blood thickens, oxygen and nutrients don’t transport through the body,” he explained.

He pointed out that the body can handle itself without food for days and the lack of nutrients will not cause any major issues although it is not ideal to exercise on an empty stomach. However, lack of water “will shut down a lot of stuff in your body” and is a cause for concern.

To avoid unhealthy fitness practices that can cause dehydration and other health risks during this period, Pastijn provides advice on exercise times and regimes.

Best times for exercise

“Morning is always a great time to work out, it is great on both hormonal and sports science levels,” said Pastijn.

“You can train very early in the morning (before sunrise). Have a few dates or a little food, (followed by) light exercise, have suhour [and begin the fast],” said Pastijn. He emphasised the importance of eating a date or two or fruit before exercising as he does not advise working out on an empty stomach.

Pastijn said the reason pre-sunrise workout is the number one choice for a work out is because it allows for some food and plenty of water after the exercise. “You could do this three times a week.”

However, not everyone is a morning person and family obligations or other commitments may not be suitable for many for early morning workouts. For these people, Pastijn offers alternatives.

1) Exercising around an hour before iftar: Pastijn witnessed people successfully attend light exercise classes that start around 5.30pm or 6.30pm, when iftar is a little after 7pm. He reiterates the importance of a light workout and nothing too intense. Pastijn said there are people who end their fast with a couple of dates and water during the exercise session.

“This (exercising before iftar) could be six times a week, depending on the fitness level of the individual.”

He also highlights that the exercise room should have the right temperature so as not to increase the body temperature and cause dehydration.

Exercising after ending the fast is an option but he does not recommend it on a full stomach.

“You can have something light, fibreless food, maybe a couple of dates or something that doesn’t activate your intestines and stomach too much. So you can still do some light training, [before dinner].”

Post-iftar, late-night training

According to Pastijn, late-night workouts (two to three hours before sleeping) should be avoided as it will effect sleep, which will in turn effect health and fitness.

“The main reason why late-night training is more challenging is because of the quality of sleep you will have if you do hard workout, hard physical workout … it has similar effects to caffeine on your sleep. You get hormonal reaction, get an adrenal reaction and it creates some cortisol, a stress hormone.

“You end up looking at the ceiling because you can’t fall asleep. That is a hormonal reaction stimulated from hard work (intense exercise).”

However, he points out that if you opt for a mellow workout, then you can still exercise in the evening.

“They (mellow workouts) don’t create as much adrenalin and other stress hormones. If you can do sports at night without creating and triggering the very high adrenalin reaction then you are fine.”

Type of exercise

“Do a gentle workout, not an exhausting one. Throughout (Ramadan), I would avoid, unless you are a competitor, high anaerobic workouts.”

“High-intensity workout will pump a lot of energy out of your body during the sun hours.”

For the pre-sunrise workout he recommends, “Nothing too major, not an-hour-and-a-half. Around 40 minutes … (before) suhour (with plenty of water) then begin fasting.”

Although he is not keen on workouts during daytime in Ramadan, because of the dangers of dehydration, he offers suggestions based on his years in fitness.

“What I have seen to be successful for people who workout during the day is a gentle aerobic workout or gentle endurance strengthening.”

“Instead of doing heavy weights, do a pump class with fairly light weights but with a lot of repetitions. Instead of doing a bench press with a 100kg five times, take a bar of 20kg and do 30 to 40 repeats.”

“Light aerobic means, if you have a maximum heart rate of 180bpm (beats per minute) and you have a tipping point where you run out of breath, of say 160bpm, then you workout at about 120bpm to 140bpm. You stay well below that number and in the duration you don’t go over 40 minutes.”

However, he urges caution and to not cause your body to dehydrate if exercising during the day.

He also highlights that there is nothing wrong with taking a break from your normal exercise routine during Ramadan if you lead a healthy lifestyle.

“Eat healthy, sleep healthy, you fast and you decide … You can limit yourself to mobilisation or stretching or soft yoga practices.”

“Anything that doesn’t activate dehydration. A restorative yoga even in the middle of the day should be OK because you are not getting sweaty. You might not feel very energised but even if you are a competitive athlete, it will help with your mobility and flexibility.”