Introduction:
According to the following hadith (saying) of the Prophet Mohammed (SAW), as Muslims we are to strive to be strong and moderate in faith, strong and perceptive in mind, and strong and healthy in body.
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| Source: http://sunnah.com/urn/2118440 |
Alas! Many a Muslim, myself included, deviated from some of these basics precepts of our Deen (Faith.)
Objectives:
In this post, I would like to address what I undertook to try to address the lack of strength and unhealthy shape of my body. Hoping to encourage the reader to take up on a workout regime that would enable her/him to get their bod out of their uncool rut.
Background:
After my most recent health exam it became obvious that, as a Muslim, I have not been taking good care of my body the way I should. Especially, it dawned on me that if I got lucky and were able to go to Mecca to perform Hajj I would be in such a bad shape to be able to perform all my obligations with strength and stamina. Being strong in 'ibada is as extremely important as the above hadith clearly attests even if the intent of hadith is addressing strength in spiritual aspects.
So, I started looking for a regime of workouts I can adopt that would be reasonable and palatable for me, my physique, and my taste. I hate running and jogging in general but I still searched for possible workouts that help in that regard. To my luck, I stumbled upon a BBC article "Can three minutes of exercise a week help make you fit?" whose describes the HIT (High Intensity Training) type of exercise using an exercise bike. I made a variation on this exercise but involving running/jogging for I do not have an exercise bike yet.
Implementation:
Here is the workout that I have started doing since. I call it the Nadji Intensive Cardiovascular Workout (ICV Workout.) You are welcome to try it but please, as is the case with most newly implemented health/fitness programs make sure you check with your doctor or workout trainer before you embark on such a task.
Nadji ICV Workout Described:
1) Jog for 2 minutes
2) Catch your breath and walk for about 20 steps or so
3) Sprint for 20 seconds
4) Catch your breath and walk for about 20 steps or so
5) Repeat steps 1-4 three more times
6) Walk for about 200 meters et voila!
7) As a bonus to yourself (which I have been doing also) do a five to seven minute muscle strengthening workout.
Results & Reflections:
I have timed myself doing the six steps described above and the whole ICV workout tended to last about 29 minutes. Following are the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly aspects of this regime.
The Good:
- ICV is short, quick, and reasonable time-wise.
- ICV uses minimal equipment; I only had to buy a pair of running shoes.
- I chose my ICV workout over the HIT for I wanted to implement some running and jogging in my regime thinking of the rites of Haj that involve quite a bit of jogging around the Ka'ba and the Sa'y between Safa and Marwa.
- ICV seems to make me sweat and raises my pulse rate but I have to wait and seem how effective it is as a workout once I do another physical.
- I used the jogging time as a Hamd (thankfulness) and Istighfar (asking forgiveness) time for with each step I made Hamd or Istighfar alternatively to add a little religious spice to the activity as a spiritual booster.
The Bad:
- ICV still involves running, which is not my most favorite thing to do, a fact that I am not alone in espousing (check the New Scientist article "Humans are endurance champs – why do we hate exercise?".)
- ICV does cause thigh cramps for me but I am guessing this is due to the fact that I am still out-of-shape. So, hopefully this would get diminished as time goes by and I am back to a ship-shape condition.
- The jury is still out on the validity of my ICV as a genuine viable workout for I did not test it scientifically nor check its health benefits yet.
The Ugly:
- The realization that I had been such an inactive person for this long. But, it is never too late to rectify things and get one's body back in shape.
I hope the above gives you some encouragement to start your own version of HIT or my ICV.
Good luck and please share your thoughts once you adopt something of your own version of the above workouts that would work for you and help you become a healthy person. Thank you
