Fasting won't come in the way of training

When Ramadan came a few days ago, most of us ditched our daily norms, from eating, drinking, swearing, not listening to music and whatnot. Still some of us still had the strength to exercise through Ramadan.

Reading this article reported in The National about the the 21-year-old Emirati brings joy to my face and I very much relate to him. I may not be an athlete - well, yet anyway - but weight training is a must-do in my life and missing a session drives me to my wits.

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As Mr Khalid said: 

“If I relax and just start eating, I will get a big stomach. I can’t just have huge meals all month and sleep and eat until the end of the month,” 

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The  sames goes for me, too. If I stop training, all my hard work will go with no avail and that is such a depressing thought. Still, finding a way to tiptoe between the aspect of fasting and exercise is not an easy as it takes a lot of effort.


If you have ditched your training - I assure you there is a way to get back to it, despite the hurdles. Put your sports shoe on and give it a run ;)

Article one: What is Exercise?

You've probably heard it a million times. Tried doing it a million times - but you've failed doing it quite often. It's exercise. You know you need it - but something always gets in the way, right? Wrong.

The What:

Any activity that works out your muscles or pumps up your heart - from walking up the stairs or to carrying a heavy box - it's considered as exercise. The problem relies with the fact that these are done less frequently by most of us, contributing to our bad health. According to an article by Gulf News, 60% of Emiratis (UAE Nationals) are facing obesity and overweight issues.

The How much:

There are so many programs, suggestions and recommendations out there about how much you need to exercise. A thumb of rule would be to incorporate five days a week participating in any physical activity that you like, other than walking away and back to your car. Do you like playing football? Do you like dancing in your room when no one is there? Do you like taking walks outdoors? There you go.

Generally speaking cardio can be done in many ways from mild to vigorous, of which all affects how much you need to do these (that's for another article.)

If you can put in 30 minutes of physical activity five days a week, while incorporating both cardiovascular and weight training, then you're in the right path.

The Types:

There are three types of exercising:

1) Aerobics: Those include running, brisk walking, swimming, and they increase your overall fitness and endurance levels. 3-5 times a week.

2) Anaerobic (aka weight training): Those include push ups, squats, deadlifts, sit-ups - anything that requires a push or pull movement. Weight training helps in strengthening the muscles and adds a lot of benefits to your health. There are so many ways and methods to do those, but a thumb of rule, never weight train the same muscle group two days in a row - as they require time to rebuild themselves.

3) Flexibility exercise: Those include yoga, tai chi, and pilates, and they help in toning and improving your overall range motion of muscles. And give you a peace of mind.

Personal note:

I strongly believe that you can always find a way to exercise no matter how busy your weekly schedule. It's very much do-able. You just have to really want it.

Fun Fact: I like the second type.

More to come....soon!

Until then,

Amna Al Haddad