How to maintain muscle mass during ramadan?

Plan your nutrition and exercise to maintain your muscle mass during the fasting month of Ramadan. Here are some tips to guide you!

Building muscle mass during Ramadan can be difficult, but maintaining your gains is not impossible.

All you need is a PLAN and motivation, and you will not lose that hard-earned progress!

With the right plan and supplementation, you could actually see results for your body and fitness.

Nutrition is key

Don't lose control of your diet

Even while fasting for long hours without food and water, it is very easy to overeat during the month of Ramadan. This is due to the large variety of high calorie foods that will be around us.

So, instead of succumbing to that delicious pot of Beef Rendang or Sayur Lodeh, try to maintain the same diet you had before Ramadan. This ensures that you are able to get back to your regime and diet easily once Ramadan is over.

Take your supplements

Your body could use that extra help

In addition to having a good diet, your body requires supplements to help in lean muscle building.

BCAA is known to maintain a positive nitrogen level in the body, which in turn helps with maintaining muscle mass. It also helps in the formation of muscle while you are in a fasted state.

Take BCAA during and after your workout and you will maintain those gains!

Plan your workout

Go lighter and higher reps

Reduce your weights by 10-20% and increase your reps, as you will most likely be working out at night. Though you'll probably see a slight reduction in your muscle size, but you'll definitely keep your strength!

Do note that training with lighter weights will not give you an opportunity to introduce new exercises to your regime, but you could take this as a golden opportunity to experiment with different movements and master your technique!

Stop running

Reduce cardio workouts

Your daily calorie intake is going to significantly reduce during the month of Ramadan. Therefore, be smart with your workouts. Reduce high intensity cardio workouts and focus your energy on strength training.

Keep your calorie deficit as low as possible to prevent any further elevation of calorie need and ultimately reducing muscle loss

Don't forget to hydrate

Refrain from dehydration

Just like your eating window, your drinking window reduces during Ramadan too. Especially, in a hot and humid country like Singapore, we tend to lose a lot water (sweat) and we can get dehydrated easily.

Therefore, we highly suggest sipping water and hydrating yourself with electrolytes as soon as the sun sets. Keep hydrating yourself throughout the night.

And finally, have about 500-700ml of water right before dawn breaks to ensure you stay hydrated throughout the day.

Though we know that it is not as easy as it seems, we hope these small tips will help you with your continuous journey in bodybuilding.

Till next time, Selamat Menyambut Bulan Ramadhan!