Contents:
- Medical Video: Intermittent Fasting & When Do I Exercise
- When is the right time to exercise when fasting?
- To maintain fitness and health of the body
- To maintain muscle strength
- To increase muscle strength and mass
- Things that need to be considered before doing sports in the fasting month
Medical Video: Intermittent Fasting & When Do I Exercise
In the month of Ramadan, many people reduce physical activities such as by not exercising during fasting, because exercise can make us thirsty due to loss of fluids, which results in disrupting fasting. In fact, physical activity during fasting has an important impact on the health of the body. A study conducted by Tunisian researchers from Sfax University and CHU Habib Bourguiba showed that physical activity had good health effects for the body during fasting activities. This can be seen from the parameters of body composition, hematology, and biochemistry in participants who exercise activities experience better changes, namely weight loss, reduced body fat percentage, and increasing endurance.
With the positive impact given, regular exercise during the fasting month is good for health. However, so that exercise does not interfere with our fasting, these things need to be considered before we exercise.
When is the right time to exercise when fasting?
Determine whether exercise should be done before or after opening, depending on the purpose of the sport itself. For example, is your exercise goal is to maintain fitness, or increase and maintain muscle mass? In addition, it should be noted also the intensity of the exercise performed, as well as the condition of the body during exercise, as quoted by detikHealth:
To maintain fitness and health of the body
If your exercise goal is to maintain fitness and health, exercise should be done in the morning after dawn. This is because in the morning, the air temperature is still in a fresh condition so it will not cause excessive thirst when doing sports activities. The recommended sports composition is 70 percent cardio and 30 percent lift weights.
To maintain muscle strength
If the goal is to maintain muscle, it should be done in the afternoon around 1.5 hours to 2 hours before breaking the fast. If after doing this exercise you feel tired and thirsty, there is no need to worry because it is done near the time of breaking the fast so that if dehydration occurs, the lost fluid can be normalized again when breaking. The recommended sports composition is 50 percent cardio and 50 percent lift weights.
To increase muscle strength and mass
If you want to increase the strength and ability of muscle mass, the level of exercise performed is higher than other exercises. Therefore, exercise should be done after breaking the fast because this exercise is felt quite heavy. Tired and thirsty for carrying out the exercise will not be too influential because the person can still drink immediately as usual. The recommended sports composition is 30 percent cardio and 70 percent lift weights.
Things that need to be considered before doing sports in the fasting month
Sports can be carried out with a duration of 30 minutes up to a maximum of 60 minutes with regard to the following:
- Perform mild cardiovascular exercises such as walking or cycling. This can burn calories and increase stamina, increase flexibility and detoxification, and stretch the muscles that work. Or do simple muscle training activities like muscle exercises, push-ups, and sit ups.
- Drink plenty of water before exercising. Water drinks like coconut water can increase electrolytes in the body, which can help function the heart, nerves and muscles.
- Don't do excessive high-intensity exercises like running, stepper, or lifting weights because it can cause joint or muscle injury and cause complications such as low blood pressure, hypoglycemia, and dizziness.
- Do not continue exercise if you feel weak, dizzy or sick even though you have reduced the intensity of the exercise.
- Avoid fried foods with excess oil or fatty foods if you want your exercise to succeed.
Everyone has a different medical history. If you are in medical care or have a history of chronic illness. You should first consult physical activity with your doctor before starting exercise when fasting.
