Fat Burning Sprint Workout

Surviving a 16 Hour Fast While Improving Focus, Health, Energy, and Fitness

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is how can I workout and eat properly while I am fasting?  Most people see the blessed month of Ramadan as a time when they will surely lose strength and or lean muscle mass and some people think they can only “maintain” during this month (ironically, many women actually gain weight during Ramadan). However; this concept of diminished physical ability cannot be further from the truth. In fact, if you use some of the strategies I am about to share with you, you can make some of your best gains during this month! It’s all about maximizing nutrient uptake, maintaining proper hydration, and modifying key fat burning/muscle building hormones in your favor during this month. And of course PREPARATION—If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail! Plus, how can you truly maximize this month spiritually if your body is sick, tired, and your mind isn’t sharp?

This year the fasting will be long – to the tune of around 16 hot and humid hours a day. So you must be more vigilant about hydration and the food you eat. First of all, let’s look at what happens to your body during Ramadan.  While you are fasting, obviously you become more dehydrated at rest – but actually less than if you had exercised aerobically for over an hour (so exercise causes greater dehydration for that time period versus fasting).  Your main metabolic fuel source for bodily function during fasting is mainly fat, which is a good thing.  So the goals during Ramadan are to maximize metabolism (even though your metabolism will slow down due to less frequent meals), preserve and enhance as much lean muscle mass as possible (which will inherently increase metabolic rate and allow you to burn more calories at rest), and maximize your workout (both cardio and weight training).

During Ramadan, depending on your goals, I really recommend that you limit cardio to 2 days a week at the most.

Articles 20VN | Spot Reducing - What's the Truth? | Spot reduce ...

Ever notice the first place we gain weight seems like the last place we lose it? Let's be honest, we all have that one (okay) two spots we'd like to lose while the rest is pretty much okay. Billions of dollars have been spent on such remedies as: gels, wraps, abdominal blasters, pills, potions, etc. only to find that they don't work. Still, some people think, if it's on T.V. it must be real, there goes more $$$.

Savvy exercise enthusiast and trainers are well aware of the error in this line of reasoning. All the crunches in the world aren't going to make your abs flat, plastic wraps aren't going to make your hips smaller, and oatmeal baths and deep tissue massage isn't ridding you of cellulite just because the spa lady said it would. Lies, lies, lies.

Popular belief among real trainers is that if you want to shrink your gut, you have to lose weight all over; your body taking it from where it will, according to your genetics. If you want a smaller waist you're going to get better results from doing cardio than from spending the time doing abdominal exercises. It's a simple case of calories in versus calories spent.

I recommend my clients follow a protocol of resistance training to build muscle to enhance metabolism, cardio to burn calories now and a 90/10 diet (healthy 90%, cheat 10%) to control intake. Bottom line, it's what works.

Here's where the new comes in. A study was conducted in Australia at NSW University to test the efficacy of sprint training on fat loss. The subjects were broken into two cycling groups, one exercised for 40 minutes at a constant pace 3x's a week while the second group followed a protocol of 8 second sprints followed by 12 second rest periods. They performed this for 20 minutes 3x's a week. At the end of the study the sprint group lost 3 times as much overall weight, but the real kicker is that the fat loss was most significant in the thighs and legs area. Abdominal fat was also greatly reduced.

This is just one study pointing to a possibility of spot reduction, but a pretty good one. We can extrapolate that a similar effect would also work for running or skating sprints.

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