During the Holy Month of Ramadan it is vitaal to keep your body fit and healthy, Nick Mitchell, Ultimate Performance’ founder, reveals how this is done. UP Fitness, dubbed ‘the Goldman Sachs’ of personal training, is the world’s most sought-after body transformation service. It works with hundreds of busy CEOs and executives across the globe to ensure they are in peak condition at all times through their team of elite personal trainers. ‘

NO EXCUSES

1.  Don’t use Ramadan as an excuse to not exercise. This may seem like an obvious recommendation but it is important to keep the body active over Ramadan as without it, and in the absence of a regular eating pattern it becomes very easy to undo all the hard-earned progress that has been made.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

1. 2.The best time to hit the gym during Ramadan is either early in the morning, after your first meal of the day, or after your first meal post-fasting as it allows you to exercise when you have optimum energy.

FAST & FURIOUS

1. 3. Keep your workout duration tight. Get in and out of the gym in under one hour – preferably aim for 45 minutes of hard work. This timefraame still allows a hard work out but without pushing your body to an extreme.

HYDRATION, HYDRATION, HYDRATION!

1. 4.  Once Iftar commences it is extremely important to hydrate the body before and after working out. A good goal for a 200lb man should be to try to down 3 litres of water between sunset and dawn.

PLAN AHEAD

1. 5.  Don’t panic about losing any momentum in your body goals. Consuming four to five balanced meals between Iftar and Suhoor is very possible, and this alone should be enough for maintenance. For example, one could eat a large pre-Ramadan fast meal at 5.00am, then break the Ramadan fast at 8:30pm, eat again at 10:00pm, and finally have a supper at 11.30pm. Nevertheless, if minimizing fat accumulation (or fat loss for the super ambitious) is your goal the mainstay of my macronutrients would be from protein and “good fats” (think unprocessed, natural fats and you won’t go far wrong).

Nick Mitchell, the founder of UP Fitness holds an extensive background in health and fitness across the globe. Nick has written two books and has also become an Amazon bestseller, and is a frequent columnist in Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Fitness and Men’s Health. Celebrated by Men’s Fitness as ‘The Goldman Sachs, the Real Madrid and the Apple of personal training’, UP’s cutting-edge body transformation, fat loss and strength and conditioning methods have been perfected over 20 years. All trainers hold at least one certification from a leading training organisation such as the National Strength and Conditioning Association of America.