Red Bull wakeboard athlete Omeir Saeed finds himself working out between three-five times a week during the holy month as well as being on the water every day. For the second article in his month-long column, Saeed explains the simple exercises you should do to keep your body moving during Ramadan.
Running
Before working out I’ll do some warm-ups to get my blood flowing which includes starting off with five minutes on the treadmill. It’s a good way to loosen up, but you shouldn’t do anything that’s going to tire yourself out completely just do enough so your body feels loose when it comes to the actual work out.
High knees
These are always part of my warm up, which I recommend doing before you even get on the board. You’re prone to injury as a wakeboarder especially if you try a trick and it doesn’t come off when your muscles are cold. Whatever sport you’re into this exercise will benefit you.
Skipping
This is a great way to ease into a workout because you can control the tempo and it’s a really good cardio exercise. The other thing is everyone can do it, even just doing two minutes will get your heart rate racing, and you’ll see quick progress in your rhythm too.
Legs
It’s important as a wakeboarder to have strong knees, so I recommend you do weighted squats to really work your glutes and quads. During Ramadan I’ll focus mainly on legs because when I go to the cable park in the evening all I’m using is my arms, and if I work them hard in the gym beforehand the muscles are already tired.
Abs
Having a strong core is key to being an athlete and so I do sit ups with a heavy ball to work my abdominal muscles. Try and do a regular sit up with the ball above your head as you come up, tap it either side of your body then go down again. I also plank every time I go to the gym.
Stretching
It’s important to do this before and after a workout, I tend to make sure my legs are nice and loose beforehand and make sure to warm down after being on the water. A warm up can be as simple as touching your toes with your leg straight and holding it for a minute, then switch.
Warm down
The foam roller is your best friend after a workout. It’s really important to me to stretch out my body after exercise. I recommend if you work out for 30 minutes you should spend the next 30 minutes really warming down my muscles.
