So Ramadan will be here in two days. How are you preparing for it?
I have two main goals this Ramadan. One is spiritual, the other is physical.
First, I decided I am going to learn to pray Fajr on time. I do pray Fajr, right before I go to work, which usually happens to be long way after sunrise for 7 months of the year.
Once someone asked me if I pray Fajr on time. "Um," I replied, "for like 3 months of year, yes. You know, when the sun rises at 8 in the morning..."
"Ah," the other person had replied before a shake of the head in the "oh-you-are-so-lost" kind of way. "You wait for winter to pray on time!"
So the spiritual goal of this Ramadan is to pray Fajr on time. Now to the non-spiritual part.
I am going to build some upper body muscle.
Um, what has that got to do with Ramadan? Well, everything!
A good muslim is physically fit - a lesson that seems to be lost nowadays. I was listening to some lecture series, where one of the sheikhs was giving a physical description of the Prophet. His chest, the Prophet's wives are supposed to have commented, was like a folded shirt - a way of saying "six pack" in those times. Wrestling was apparently a sunnah (holy WWF!) and our Messenger was apparently in tip top physical shape.
Yet today you see all those mullahs with a spare tire bigger than the Dome of the Rock lecturing on the Sunnah of eating with three fingers.
Thus I have begun to learn the game of squash - apparently the fastest burner of calories from the indoor sports - and Mousehunter has been giving me some tips.
So today I went to the gym at 5. Then I spent 30 minutes on the stair master and treadmill. Sweating buckets, I then went to the squash court. For an hour I practiced forward drop shots and backhand volleys. Then I did 30 minutes of weights. And THEN I went swimming for 10 laps around the 25 m pool.
Yes! Finally when I was home, at 8, I felt relaxed. Tired, but nothing like a good work out. Oh I could just feel the calories melting away, the muscles in the upper body taking shape, the ...
Then I saw mom had cooked biryani.
16 comments:
I'm going to copy your spiritual goal :)
In Ramadan I always pray Fajr on time but throughout the whole year I always pray it late. This year inshallah I want to continue praying it on time afterwards...
Ramadan mubarak Mezba!
Ramadhan kareem to your and your family. I hope Ramadhan also *jump-starts* my metabolism and I continue to be healthy inshallah. Btw, after all that work out, were you able to wake up the next day???(no tense/achy muscles) My husband's last year's *resolution* was to play soccer in summber, well, summer came and went and I saw no soccer being played :)sf
sorry for all the spelling mistakes, baby was trying to *shake* the keyboard. sf
sf - funny about your hubby! and mezba, I think I'm joining you as well!! very good plan. we likely won't have time to play squash during ramadan but i think i'll have to make use of my trampoline that i insisted i had to get and then used for like 1 month.
Ramadan Mubarak!
Wow, you did all that in one session?!!? If you keep up at that rate, you'll hurt yourself, luckily you didn't have a Haleem moment...hehe.
Ramadan Kareem to you, your mum and dad, brother and sisters, oh and the cats!
Keep fit! That's good. My Aly has made a resolution to finally wake up for suhoor rather than have me offer him something in bed! But he's been making this resolution for 10 years!
I CANT BELIEVE how much you worked out. THAT IS SICK.
And here I was about to not sign up for a gym membership until Ramadan was over....
now I feel lame :)
Did you eat the biryani then?
wow, good luck trying to keep up with all that workout during ramadan though! i mean, if u were to do it in the daylight, u'd be too tired to ...work. And if u were to do that after iftar.... u'd feel too bloated!
if u can find a good medium, let me know!
Ramadan mubarak! Wow - isn't it like mother's to spoil it all with their great cooking? lol
ramadan kareem!
how can anyone not pray fajr on time in ramadan? i mean most of us are hogging or drinking water till the last sec, lol.
Woah, thats hardcore man. I definitely want to play you squash...but in ramadan...i don't know...let me see how it goes for a week first.
Also do share these tips from mousehunter! Maybe we can all meetup for a game.
Ramadan Mubarak all.
Liya: hope you can make the Fajr prayer too! I have so far managed to have a 100 percent record. It's not that hard now.
Sf: lol about your husband. Maybe you can drop *subtle* hints about him getting a larger pant size! Oh I slept like a baby the next day.
Shaz: trampoline eh? did you read the new research about how unsafe they were (really). It's too cold for jogging now though :-(
Mousehunter: No, "fat" chance of me having a Haleem moment.
Suroor: oh my, Aly is lucky, we all need a wife like you then!
Azmaaish: ya I couldn't believe it either. Now of course I can't swim as I don't know if it will invalidate my fast if I take in water!
Anon: of course!
Isheeta: ha well! I think these tasty iftars are ruining my plan.
Anon: lol.
YM: Ya, I am usually drinking up until the last minute too.
Geeki: maybe we should meet up, definitely after Ramadan, iA!
I need to lose some weight too, so the *subtle* hints might just backfire and a war could be started, now we don't want that,do we? ;) sf
Sf: haha on second thoughts a strategic ceasefire is the way to go!
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