Ramadan – a month-long holy time for Muslims – is starting soon. This article will help those of you who practice Ramadan fasting (or actually, just about any intermittent fasting) understand how your eating, lifting, and cardio should be adjusted.
Important Note #1: I am not Muslim, so am not qualified to discuss the spiritual aspects of Ramadan. If I get something wrong, please forgive my ignorance.
Important Note #2: I’m commenting here about body composition goals: muscle building and/or fat loss. I am not commenting on athletic performance or competition. (A short summary of Ramadan fasting and sports performance is here and here but there are many studies on soccer/football performance impacts of Ramadan fasting if you search PubMed.)
What Is Ramadan Fasting?
From Wikipedia, on Ramadan:
The most prominent event of this month is fasting. Every day during the month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world get up before dawn to eat Sahur or Sehri or Sahari (meaning “something we eat at Sahar”), then they perform the fajr (or Sobh) prayer. They have to stop eating and drinking before the call for prayer starts until the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib. Muslims break their fast at Maghrib (at sunset) prayer time with a meal called Iftar. Muslims may continue to eat and drink after the sun has set until the next morning’s fajr prayer call. Then the process starts all over.
For those of you non-Muslims, this sounds an awful lot like intermittent fasting, or semi-fasting. Except for one important thing: the timing is reversed.
When I’ve written about semi-fasted cardio and lifting, I’ve assumed (more…)
Join the forum discussion on this article, or comment below.Continue reading about Ramadan and Working Out – Lifting, Cardio, Fasting
Part 2 of 4
If you missed Part 1, click here.
Muscle Tone is somewhat of a myth - lift heavy, eat right to build muscle and lose fat
The Myth Of Muscle Tone
Most women will say they want to
- Lose weight, and
- Improve muscle tone
Notice that these are not in the Ultimate Fitness Goals (UFG) list! Why not?
Because you don’t want to lose weight. You want to shed fat. You could lose weight by losing muscle. Or by cutting off your left arm. What you really want is less fat.
And there is no such thing as “muscle tone”. There’s muscle size and there’s the amount of fat surrounding it. Those two qualities are the only things you control to give birth to the visual impact of your body that some people call “definition”. (There’s also the genetic traits you have for body shape, bone-length & width, muscle insertion points, body part proportions, etc. but you don’t control those.)
Super-High Reps? No
The muscle tone myth leads to the misguided workouts of super high repetitions. You know, going for (more…)
Continue reading about Should Women Lift Like Men – Muscle Tone Myth
- Should women lift like men?
Women often find that they can keep their weight about the same over many years by just eating sensibly and light cardio. But often, in their mid thirties or forties, they start getting “soft”. By only looking at the scale they don’t notice it. But what has happened is that they have slowly lost muscle and slowly gained fat. Their shirts and pants still fit (for the most part) but their body composition is far less attractive. And equally (or more) importantly, they are on a track to become helpless in their older age. Muscle loss is equated to functional loss – and functional loss is a loss in quality of life. Muscle loss in your 30s and 40s is slow enough to not be noticed but once you get to your 60s and 70s and 80s, you may be no longer to lift a milk gallon over your head. Let’s make sure you never get that weak ok?
Should Women Lift Like Men?
This site is geared towards men. After all, I am one.
But we all have women in our lives – wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, etc.
So whether you are a woman, or know one, or just play one on TV, this post is for you.
Part 1 of 4
So Should Women Really Workout Like Men?
For the past few years, all the “experts” keep saying how a woman should lift like a man. But is it true?
The answer is yes and no. I’ll boil it down to one (long) sentence for you:
Women can and should do nearly the same exercises as men, but because women have different goals and different chemistry, the ideal program will usually be different than what a man would use.
I’m going to break this series down into 4 parts. And if you post an intelligent comment to any of these, then afterward shoot me an email at support@worldfitnessnetwork.com and I’ll send you (more…)
Join the forum discussion on this article, or comment below.
Today’s article comes from guest author Cameron Stache. If you are paying attention to the free WorldFitnessNetwork forums, you have no doubt gotten familiar with Cameron. But what you might not know is that Cameron currently works as a Fitness Coach/ Assistant Fitness Manager at the Rush Fitness Complex in Greensboro, NC. He’s pursuing his Exercise Science degree and plans to use this degree to either work at a large college and be a strength and conditioning coach, or go into ergonomics. If you are interested in brands Cameron supports, check out http://cstache.qhealthzone.com .
- Practice good gym etiquette and you’ll avoid the Bad Manners Nanny
We all have to share. Sometimes it’s time, sometimes it’s money, and other times it’s just plain space. It’s for this reason we have rules; although, occasionally they go by another fancy word… “etiquette.” There are many different types of etiquette; restaurant etiquette, workplace etiquette, and yes there is workout etiquette.
Hey, I’m not going to lie to you, I like our Geico friends “The Cavemen.” Sometimes it’s even fun to act like one myself. Society, however, doesn’t feel so kindly about my friends for the most part. Etiquette ensures that we don’t strangle each other with our socks.
If you read the super fine print on the back of your gym contract then you probably saw some of the common rules on the back. Most of them aren’t a big secret and are listed on every home page of every bodybuilding/gym website known to man. There are however, a few little known rules that even the most active gym goer may not know about. Not only do I work out in a gym but I work and manage at a gym and train people – I know what it’s like, from multiple angles, when people don’t follow these basic rules. The term “basic” implies that the rule will be found in pretty much every gym. Some aren’t as clear-cut. Planet Fitness for example has a “no grunting” policy. I personally think if you aren’t grunting you aren’t working hard enough. Whereas in a football training facility, for example, you hear screams. In that scenario it just depends on location; not quite a “basic” rule then.
I have taken the liberty of enlightening you with most of these rules but, I need to state a few things first. Not everyone has always been a member of a gym, so I will assume that you are a brand new, first day member of a health club. Also, I am aware that if you looked you WILL be able to find more things than I point out. I’m not trying to write a book, just an article. So if you’ve got some more to add, jump into the Comments section. And lastly, I know what it’s like to just be told “what” and not “why” so I will give you the point-of-view I have with some of these too. I understand your reasons, I’ve been there. Just please don’t take anything personal if you are the person I am describing. There is no hostility being thrown, so don’t take it as such. Furthermore, if I DO offend you, it’s probably because you needed to hear it anyways…
Cameron’s Basic Gym Etiquette Rules
(If you see a “more” link, click it to read the rest.) (more…)
