Ramadan has uncountable benefits on psychological, physical and medical fronts, however as we all know if we do not deal with our diet protocols properly, it may interfere with our bodybuilding goals. But if we deal with it right, we can still have the benefits of this holy month on both our spiritual soul and body !!! Here’s how you can stick to your bodybuilding goals while fasting during Ramadan.

TRAINING:

The most important suggestion that I could give at the beginning: “DO NOT STOP WORKING OUT”. Your body maintains muscle mass as long as it feels it is needed and when you stop exercising, will slowly lose back what it feels is unnecessary luggage that costs extra energy.

Even though you may or may not make gains in muscle mass during Ramadan, you can at least preserve what you have, if you keep your schedule up and protocol geared in.

During Ramadan you shouldn’t unnecessarily exaggerate training periods longer than actually required say 45 minutes to 90 minutes at the max.

You should lower your number of sets and your volume of exercises while focusing on preserving your strength. Focus on heavy compound movements that hit every muscle nice and quick. Intensity is key and not high volume, as high volume training requires lots of food, water and rest which is not a luxury you have during Ramadan. Remember you are not trying to build muscle and train like a bulking bodybuilder for hypertrophy. In Ramadan you are trying to preserve everything through a quick shot of time with compound movements. Hit it hard, do it with intensity, get it done and get out. Intensity is a Key.

I strongly urge everyone against cardio during Ramadan as you are already fasting and burning calories with weights. If you really must do a cardio workout and your heart is set on it, limit it to twice a week of 15 to 20 minutes of high intensity cardio. HIIT cardio will stimulate hormones and chemicals that in turn will help with fat burning and muscle building/preservation. Unless you want to look as weak and frail as a marathon runner, NO crazy cardio. Cardio will also further dehydrate you which is the last thing you want during summer Ramadan.

NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENTATION:

You must eat the same. This means keeping your caloric consumption the same as your regular consumption levels when it is not Ramadan. This means that if your consumption level was 2,500 calories per day prior to Ramadan, it should remain at 2,500 calories per day during Ramadan. Because Ramadan is just a calendar month when compared to other 11 months of the year, and in order to achieve this, avoid extra calories from junk foods and the typical Ramadan festive meals.

BREAKING FAST- “IFTAAR”:

I know you really want to eat something here, cause you haven’t eaten ALL DAY, but you can really fit in.

When breaking your fast, quickly absorbing proteins (such as Isolate whey, egg whites) and carbohydrates (such as dextrose, waxy maize, fruit juices, dates) are ideal especially when you plan to work out. You are depleted so whatever you eat will be quickly absorbed due to the heightened insulin sensitivity and your depleted state. It’s the same way as when eating post workout.

INTRA-WORKOUT-

There can be along unending list of supplements to help us cope up with Ramadan effects, since there is a very short time to get all the nutrition from sunset to sunrise. You can rely on the protein shake and meal replacement shakes to help you with that as they are fast digesting without any bloating effects.

As an intra workout, I usually prefer mixing some BCAA, Glutamine and Electrolyte Powder with Simple Carbs from VITARGO, because this drink doesn’t need much of digestion and helps me replenish muscles with glycogen and amino acids.

POST WORKOUT-

Usually my meal post workout is the same as while breaking the fast. Fast digesting protein such as isolate whey with some simple carbs such as white rice and white potatoes or even a portion of fruits can be added. Post workout should consist of a high protein and high carbs meal, to replenish glycogen in the muscles and liver, and fill the muscles with amino acids needed for growth and maintenance. Just avoid any extra calories from junk foods, Sweets etc, as it becomes a common practice during Ramadan for the gym goers to relish on the festive sweets in the market.

BEFORE BED-

Just have a full rounded meal before bed… Don’t be worried about carbs going to fat or some nonsense that is promoted on the gym floor, you pre bed meal should be a nice meal containing protein, carbs and fat, with the emphasis on SLOW releasing!!

SEHRI – Last meal; an hour before Sunrise

Have a massive meal… Make sure this meal has lots of complex carbs, lots of good fats, and lots of whole protein (i.e. no isolate whey shakes, rather prefer Casein Protein Shakes)… Then back to bed with a nice full belly.

Source of carbs (Rice, oatmeal, baked Sweet potato) and high protein (preferably slow digestive such as casein, fish ) with some fibers and healthy fat (peanut butter), the goal is to keep nutrition flow in your body as long as possible.

Drinking a lot of water during non fasting time is very important as well, especially in hot weathers, the body gets dehydrated during the fasting and you will need lots of water to compensate, make sure to drink at least 3 to 4 liters of water daily. Take a 2 litres water bottle to your workout and try to finish it by the end of the workout.

REST:

Working out 4 to 5 days a week max will be all you will need to maintain muscles during Ramadan. The rest days will be crucial to help recuperate and recover from the workouts and the fast.

GET ENOUGH SLEEP: Last and the most important

Energy levels will be low due to a lack of food, so you’ll need to leverage the energy you can get from sleep. This can then help drive your workouts. sleep at least 7-8 hours daily.

I honestly think, it is very much possible to lose weight, or maintain or even gain muscle with a plan like this.

The human body is pretty amazing ! Wish you all the happiest Ramadan !

In case you need a detailed diet protocol and customized workout schedules as per your targets, requirements and parameters for the month of Ramadan.

For all those who need a detailed diet protocol and customized workout schedules as per your targets, requirements and parameters for the month of Ramadan. You can reach me @

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Iqbal Sayed

Iqbal Sayed is a silver medallist in Amateur Olympia, Aisa – 2017. Iqbal is a professional trainer and a transformation specialist who has successfully trained many clients. Iqbal has been recommended by his clients for not only being a great coach but also a person with self discipline and determination who can inspire and motivate his clients to bring the best out of them.

• Mr Mumbai 2017 – Bronze
• Mr India 2017 – Silver
• Mr Asia  2017- 4th
• Amateur Olympia 2016 – Silver

The post Guidelines for Bodybuilding when observing fast during Ramadan appeared first on IBB - Indian Bodybuilding.

1. What period is considered as the Off-season?

The couple of months and/or week, before an athlete or a bodybuilder starts his contest preparation could be termed as their Off-Season period. The period between his two successive contests, scheduled months apart would also provisionally mean an off season.  off-season is the time to make improvements to your lagging body parts for the next contest.

2. What are the changes your body is supposed to go through during the off-season and why?

During an off season, usually a body builder would subject himself to a high calorie diet with a high protein and massive carbohydrate intakes and heavier weight lifting exercises. So, the hypertrophy of the muscle fibers and the hyperplasia of the muscle cells are the most common body science that an athlete’s body would experience, provided an intellectual protocol for the diet and training in combination is implemented.

And I believe, it is essentially required, as an off season is the period to make improvements to our own physique in terms of muscle increase and adding symmetry and proportions to the body, if lagging.

3. What are the differences in diet requirements during the season and off-season?

During an off season, let’s be honest: For a lot of people, an offseason diet plan is usually nothing more than an all-you-can-eat “bulking” period. Athletes would be seen in most of their favourite ice cream parlours or burger joints. I say, we must limit them fortnightly or once in 10 days. In fact, preference should always be given to fresh and clean food items.

The major differences in diet requirements during the on and off seasons is that while you are off season, the carbohydrate intake is way too high with the intention of more muscle mass gains.

4. What are the common mistakes regarding diet intake during the off-season?

The most common mistakes that athletes would generally do or most of them actually do are:

• An athlete would take an offseason diet plan as usually nothing more than an all-you-can-eat “bulking” period.
• It is well agreed upon fact that the carbohydrate intake should be way higher with the intention of gaining more muscle mass, but most of the times, an athlete would fail in making the appropriate choice between the type of carbs, which carb is to be loaded at what time, misses the protein proportion to the carbohydrate.
• With the intention of gaining, they may load sugar or sugar based food items.
• Cheat meals are the part of an intellectual diet protocol if they are well calculated, planned and scheduled. But cheat meals are considered as the indulgence meals by the athletes during the off season period and hence go more than the number of times actually required.
• With intention of loading more protein and carbs, most of us fail to incorporate the vegetables in our diet. We must ensure the array of vegetables in our diet as we get most of the anti free radicals and micro nutrients from the vegetables.

5. What should be a typical diet plan during the off-season?

Let us make this point very clear at the first, that a diet plan is individual specific and hence no second person can copy and implement your diet.

To understand how many calories you need, we must be able to arrive at the calorie requirement depending upon the several body parameters, workout intensity and most importantly our goals.

In the process of this calculation, one should also make sure to load sufficient vegetables. I take around 5 to 6 servings of greens in a day. Dietary Fibers, enzymes and multi vitamins should be given equal importance in the diet. Well, Supplements are the supplementary part of your diet but are inevitable and hence they need to be scheduled very intelligently during the day as a part of your diet

6. What is the importance of diet during the off-season?

The importance of the diet during an off season can never be dodged at all. The better you gain in off season, the better and more defined you shred in contest prep. I would say the base of the body structure you would desire on the stage, is built during an off season and is only carved to the definitions during the contest prep period.

7. What is the impact of poor diet during the off-season?

The gains, in general, are experienced during the off-season period. The amount of lean muscle mass gained during this period is also a function of diet and the synthetic hormones and supplements we take. A bad diet would hinder the progress by non-proportionating the lean muscle to fat gains.

8. What should be your diet and training goals during the off-season

I always mention, Bodybuilding is still a long road under discovery. The best thing an athlete can do is experience the results and do the body analysis with the different diets he has tried in past. Depending upon these, an athlete himself is the best person to gauge the quantity of food and feeding times.

My goals during the off season is always to make more lean muscle gains. In order to do that I increase the protein and carbohydrates intake. The challenge lies in choosing the type of carbohydrates and when to take them. I prefer simple carbs like white rice and white potatoes immediately after my workout. As a pre workout, an hour before, I prefer complex carbs like sweet potatoes. As an intra workout, I prefer loading carbohydrate in liquid form say VITARGO.

Same is the challenge with choice of protein. When I wake up in the morning and the body is in the most catabolic state, I prefer loading one or two scoops of Isolate whey protein with water as the first serving of the day. While going to bed, I may load some casein protein. Also immediately post my workout, I load isolate whey protein.

That’s Iqbal Sayed sharing knowledge which brought him victory at Amateur Olympia. With such meaningful insights coming from an expert, it’s time you take a look at your diet regime and understand how important it is to not lose focus even after the competition is over. So even if you are in your off-season do what’s right for your body.  Above all, bodybuilding is a lifestyle that calls for dedication at all times, irrespective of whether or not you are preparing for a competition.

The post Do’s And Don’ts Of Diet During Off-Season By Iqbal Sayed appeared first on IBB - Indian Bodybuilding.