The example of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was not to recline while eating.
Eating Positions: The Sunnah
Chapter 6. Eating While Reclining
3262. It was narrated from Abu Juhaifah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “I do not eat while reclining.” (Sahih)
Sunan Ibn Majah – Volume 4 – English Translation by Nasiruddin al-Khattab – Published by Darussalam – First Edition 2007.
Eating Positions: The Science
The Greeks and Romans were known for their “opulent” lifestyles reclining to eat grapes may come to mind. In today’s fast-paced rat race you’ve likely seen the image of a busy office worker running out the door with a slice of toast in mouth flagging down a bus and Sunday afternoon footballers drawing for the half-time fruit and energy drinks.
The posture we hold while eating has an effect on how we digest food because our stomachs empty slower when we lay down as opposed to sitting up but the reason for this is still unknown to researchers and doctors.
Eating Positions: Criterion Fit
The example of our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) comes before any other example and we follow his way. Laying down while eating slows digestion, may increase the chance of choking, leans towards arrogance and shows little gratitude for what one is eating and Allah azza wa jal knows best. Food before the blessing of good taste is for nourishing our bodies so we can worship our creator and work to provide for ourselves and our family. The manners we have with food tell much about our outlook on life so if you’ve been one to lean back while eating it’s time to prop yourself all the way up (the puns keep coming and not on purpose).
Growing up I had a real sweet tooth. I had a sock draw filled with sweets and there was hardly a day in which I wouldn’t buy a load of penny sweets on my journey back home. Most of us can recount our youthful days eating eggs and marshmallows with friends but some of us haven’t outgrown the sweet sugar fix just yet.
In this post, we will look at how you can change negative food habits and begin a healthy fitness lifestyle. My name is Hanif of CriterionFit.com. We help men with fitness goals and coach clients using exercise and trusted nutritional knowledge so they can realise the health and confidence they know to be within. Thank you for taking the time to learn from us and now, what you’ve come for.
Habit changing doesn’t come easy for anyone. Have you ever thought about the specific fruits and veg or snacks you eat, at what times you eat them and the quantities you knock them back in? Habits creep upon us day-by-day and in a subtle fashion so much so that when we look at ourselves with a true reflection we see how much we’ve changed. Habits grow upon us and the change can be noticeable physically in the form of weight gain/loss or internally in how our heart and bodies react to certain stimuli.
When making changes we will often start off so strong that we can’t maintain the momentum we set ourselves. It’s great to have enthusiasm for change but it’s important to build up the momentum over time because the small changes over a prolonged time will be easier upon you and become like second nature as the saying goes.
If one were to set the pace too fast and come to a halt due to the many obstacles that may arise we will remember our failures a lot easier than we remember our successes and this can put a block on us making further changes we know we need to make. There are three basic ways we can go about change as explained by Dr Stephen L. Kopecky (Professor of Medicine – Mayo Clinic) and they are:
Epiphany
Change the environment
Take tiny steps
An epiphany would be a light bulb moment that gives you all the dedication, motivation and knowledge you need to get out of the gate. This sounds great but its hard to maintain as we’ve said. What would be easier and more sustainable would be to change aspects of your environment such as putting your running shoes by the door and bringing your alarm clock closer to bed so when it goes off you’re up and head out for a morning run before your family wake up. It could also mean working in a quiet office room at work rather than with the whole work team as they share biscuits and doughnuts. The third change is the easiest of them all and that would be to take small steps in your habit-changing plan, eating an extra portion of fruit each day and reducing the cups of fizzy drink for example.
Rewarding yourself with healthy food that you like is a great step because you feel satisfied and you do justice to your body which is a trust from Allah azza wa jal. The more you do this the more you change for the better, the more confident you’ll feel and you’ll increase in energy God willing.
Habits stay with us for life. You need to move past bad habits because you can’t break them, you just learn to avoid them. Untangle the knot one at a time and reward yourself regularly until you’ve found yourself to be a changed man.
I hope you’ve found benefit in this article and will share it with someone that really needs to read it. CriterionFit offer online nutrition coaching and kettlebell training sessions for men, we can help you increase your confidence and health so get in contact with us via email or our social media networks.
To take anything seriously you have to live and breathe it. You’ve heard it said so many times and it only makes sense, if you want to be the best at Brazilian Jiu-jitsu you need to spend hour upon hour training and studying other top competitors game. If you want to lose weight or gain size you have to learn about food and training, you need to learn from and listen to your body. If you want to learn Arabic in order to learn Islam from the Salaf you need to spend hours learning new words and the rules of the Arabic language as well as listening to the explanations of books from our scholars. Whatever you have passion for it will take time away from your daily schedule if you truly take the pursuit seriously.
In this post, I’d like to talk to you about the power of writing your journey down and how you can realise your potential faster by writing. My name is Hanif of CriterionFit.com, we help men achieve fitness goals and increase motivation and confidence in other aspects of life through fitness training. I currently study personal training and practise Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as a white belt. Islam is a focal point in my life and as a husband and father training in the gym and learning about nutrition have helped me better my health and that of my family. The Islamic approach to health, medicine and diet are aspects of daily living many people in the West are unaware of and I hope to share some of that knowledge with you as I continue to study the religion of Islam.
Every journey starts with a single step
As I said, we will discuss how writing can benefit your fitness goals and it may sound like a time waste for many men but it works if you trust the process. Journaling and logging your training will help you to clearly define your short, medium and long-term goals. When you know the goal you can plan to achieve it within a suitable and realistic amount of time. It’s said if you fail to plan you plan to fail which probably has been written in gold somewhere. Setting targets can be very motivational and as you return and review your goals you will notice how close you are to the goal. It will also show you how far you have to go which can also be motivating once you learn to enjoy the training process since small steps lead to great places.
As a BJJ beginner, I hope to be training for a long time and starting journaling at such an early stage is me planting seeds I hope to benefit from in years to come. The sessions are hard and humbling, being submitted isn’t inevitable, meeting and making friends with the young and older the experience is worth writing down. The same goes for gym training! Hitting personal records, increasing endurance by running to that town you’ve not reached before and the like of that are all motivational and memorable.
When you look into and reflect upon what you have written down, over time, you will notice your strengths and weaknesses. It may be that you find cardio training hard at the incline and pace you’ve been going at or your bench press progress is weaker than your leg training progress. Noticing these things will help you to pick apart your training and rectify the issues so you keep on progressing. You may lack people around you that can keep you accountable and so writing your thoughts and achievements down will keep you on your toes to keep pushing, growing and learning.
When you fall upon hard sessions or lack that motivation your writings can become a source of focus so be mindful and truthful in what you write down, taking time to figure out what the last session made you feel. Looking back on your journaling will help you confront any weakness and bring about strength as you track your growth and change. Planning new goals and crossing off old ones is a great feeling and reflecting upon yourself is something we should all do to grow and understand ourselves, relationships and to help us in our purpose in existence.
You don’t need a fancy book to write in. Grab a piece of paper and let the notes take shape over time or use your mobile phone notes or voice recorder. Using a social media site like Twitter may also be the way for you and will surely keep you motivated as the world can also follow along as you progress. Try writing for a month and see if it benefits you, maybe you’ll warm to it and make it a regular habit just like most habits are formed, through repetition.
If you’re into Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and want to give journaling a go I’ve designed a book just for you [HERE]. 33 years into your training you’ll likely wish you started writing down your journey on the mat. The memories we have can become vague as we age but writing down has been the way of mankind for thousands of years so pick up a pen and chart your wins a day at a time.
Healthy food options don’t mean boring. Check out these 9 foods and meal ideas.
You may have noticed an increase in your weight over the last couple of years as many men have and you may be trying to figure out what you can do to get back to lean status. There are options from increased exercise (physical activity), fasting, reducing calories from food and drink or a combination of all of these. What you eat is a major part of the struggle and our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as well as his companions and those after them would give the advice to be careful of how one fills his stomach.
My name is Hanif of CriterionFit.com. I help men discover their own healthy lifestyle and fitness goals. I’m a Gym Instructor and Nutritional Coach currently studying in the field of Personal Training. You’ll find great content on the issue of health and fitness in the articles and audio I post so subscribe to my posts and email list to support what we do here. Exercise should be a part of all of our lives no matter age, sex, physical ability and so on. Eating well and knowing the differences between macronutrients is also important, which we’ll dip into today so follow along and get your next shopping list ready.
Below are 9 foods that are in line with your weight-loss goals that taste amazing and will keep hunger at bay. Starting with Carbohydrates, we all love carbs in their various forms, easy to eat and even faster to finish. If you like crips you may want to try eating the vegetable Kale which can be put in the oven for 10 minutes or so to be eaten as Kale crisps. Containing vitamin A which is good for your eyesight, Vitamins K, B6, Calcium for healthy bones Potassium just to name a few, Kale is a great food to eat also beneficial as an antioxidant.
Sweet potatoes can also be cut into Chips and Crisps and have many benefits to your eyesight. They are rich in complex carbohydrates like many other vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes. Sweet potatoes are a good source of fibre which will keep you feeling fuller for longer and makes a good meal choice after a session of exercise. The best way to eat them is by boiling since this will have less impact on your blood sugar level, a healthy blood sugar level reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes.
You like a burger now and then right? Have you tried a vegetable burger recently? As more people test out vegetarian and vegan options the variety of foods opens up further. Chickpea is a key ingredient in many foods of this type. The Arabian and Asian world have been using Chickpeas in Falafels, Houmous, Salad and closer to home, Wraps and Burgers. Also a good source of protein, chickpeas contain fibre, manganese and folate which is important in red blood cell formation as well as healthy cell growth and function. As it relates to fitness, the combination of fibre and protein will help you feel fuller for longer.
What’s better than a Sourdough bread, avocado and Tuna sandwich and coffee to start your day? Avocado is a healthy fruit and source of fat that may lower cholesterol. It can be squished into guacamole as a topping on rice and other meals but contain more calories as compared to carbohydrates and protein so this should be noted. Fats are very satiating in comparison to carbohydrates and as they contain vitamins C, E, K, niacin, folate, potassium and omega-3 fatty acids just to name a few, but not all, avocados make a great addition to every post-workout meal.
Coconut Oil is very popular these days for its use in cooking, primarily in place of cooking oils and the like that can be detrimental to the lifestyle of health-conscious people. Scientific research into medium-chain triglycerides (a type of saturated fat) has in cases shown coconut oils ability to increase the number of calories your body burns, promoting weight loss.
Dark Chocolate is a really nice option for those that like sweet treats. Yes, it’s nuttier and at 70%+ coco you’ll notice the absence of milk but dark chocolate will help you in cravings for treats and strengthen your body too so you need not feel guilty. Antioxidants fight off free radical cell damage and dark chocolate is king in doing this. It may also improve blood flow around the body lowering your blood pressure. Dark chocolate also raises HDL and lowers LDL (bad cholesterol).
You may be a man’s man and only eat bison because you’re so alpha but salmon is a fish you should already know you need to be eating once or twice a week if possible. Pescetarians will tell you how light they feel and how their skin improves but there’s much more to fish such as salmon and a special reason why salmon is the crowned fish of choice. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids that we cannot create internally so we need to consume them by way of food or supplement. Salmon is a great source of these fatty acids. Salmon is meatier than many other types of fish which makes it more enjoyable and can be found in sandwiches, rice dishes and potato dishes.
Greek Yogurt with berries is a great snack meal that I’d encourage you to try instead of that lunchtime sandwich, crisps and drinks combination you’ve been used to for so long. Good for weight loss and being that greek yoghurt is a protein you’ll be unlikely to feel hungry any time soon. A source of vitamin B12, calcium and selenium this dairy meal will support healthy bones.
Raw Milk is unpasteurised which means everything the cow that produced the milk ate and digested that goes to the production of milk will be in this milk. Raw milk hasn’t lost any of the properties that make raw milk so beneficial to human existence. You may think that drinking full-fat milk would mean you’ll gain weight but in reality, people will likely feel fuller sooner and some studies have shown full-fat milk is linked to lower body weight. As a drink on its own or with breakfast milk is a blessing and tastes great.
9 foods, super healthy and sure to aid you in any weight loss goals you have. Building a shopping list isn’t like it used to be, there are so many food options and places to shop for food depending on your budget. All of these foods are sure to be accessible at a price that you can meet. Salmon can be bought frozen, you can order raw milk online and have it posted to your doorstep, there’s no reason why you can’t strive and surpass the goals you have.
However, if you need some coaching to learn more about macronutrients, calories, managing to control your hunger for treats you could try ‘The Old Medicine’ programme. We go into the above and much more with weekly consultations to get you in great shape. CriterionFit.com can also provide you with exercise programmes and we have digital products ready for you to use today. Whatever you do don’t settle for the same or anything less than the best.
Message Hanif [Here] for a free consultation to see how we can help you.
Kettlebell Training is the perfect way to calm mental ill-health and get life back on track.
Even long before the emergence of Covid19, there’s been a major issue in the mental health of our youth in this country. Not only the youth but men and women of all ages have been experiencing depression and many other illnesses that come under the mental health umbrella. The stability of homes and domestic abuse, drug use and the programming of minds through social and traditional media have in part caused the situation of mental imbalance within society. You’ll likely have friends and/or family members that have had to gather the strength and determination to overcome mental ill-health. The economic cost of Mental ill-health in 2020 was estimated to be in the region of £105 billion each year which is money that could be put into better health services if health, nutrition and fitness were generally given more of a role and appreciation in society. What we put into our bodies determines to a great degree our level of health and standing within society, eat well be well.
There are many ways people, men in particular go about battling mental ill-health. Some of the options open to you my dear reader are:
Deny the issue
Take drugs and intoxicants to numb the pain
Take prescription medications that seem to have no end
Talk to those people you trust and build a healthy network
Exercise on a regular basis
Gain control over the food you eat
Join a fitness or sports club
Exercise can really have a remarkable effect on your mental health, I’m not just talking to waste your time. You’ll probably know this all too well already, the times you’ve gone for a run around your local park and gotten exceptionally good sleep the same night or taking the stair up to your level of the estate block due to faulty lifts and noticing how toned your legs are getting and better breathing! The benefits of regular exercise (physical activity) cannot be denied.
I know firsthand just how bad times can be for a man with mental health issues. You can feel isolated, misunderstood, scared and hopeless all at the same time but no one can get you out of the situation you’re in unless you make positive steps toward change. That may mean giving up alcohol, building a new network of friends, working on unstable relationships, spending money on new foods that benefit mental health, buying new clothes and equipment for your fitness lifestyle and yes getting yourself some Kettlebells.
At CriterionFit we help clients utilise the gym equipment of kings; kettlebells, the one-piece gym that gives you a true workout when used in the correct way! We will take an inexperienced man and over a period of time coach him into being a perficient kettlebell user with a number of movements mastered to perfection. We love Kettlebells because they are inexpensive, convenient to keep at home, aid strength training goals and can be used as a way of losing weight. Above all, they offer a fun way to train and get regular exercise in, be it in a gym or at home if the gym environment isn’t your scene.
We conduct weekly one-2-one online kettlebell sessions with flexible times to suit your lifestyle and training goals. We design personal sessions that will aid you in achieving your fitness goals and changing your lifestyle and mental outlook. With the lived experience of mental illness, I can relate to your struggles and as a man that’s increased further. If you have a group of friends that would also like to train alongside you we can arrange group training.
We at Criterion Fit take our clients to be athletes and as such, they need to eat well. We have level 3 certification in Nutrition and Weight Management so we are well placed to help you attain the balanced health you require and shredded physique to suit. Kettlebell training looks intimidating to the most capable of gym users but with our coaching, you’ll gain a new skill, more confidence and the ability to walk into any gym knowing you’re skilled up to get some real training in. Helping men with mental and other health issues gives us pleasure because we know the power of a man that’s been down isn’t the same as a man that hasn’t seen what the former man has seen. He’s a different beast if he only gives himself the chance to rise up once again; we’ll help you all the way.
Leading a fitness lifestyle sounds great to most men but when it comes to the hard work of actualising that lifestyle we can fall flat on our faces. Figuring out how to reduce the foods we enjoy eating is difficult, waking up early to prepare meals feels like torture, getting into a routine of exercise is some self-inflicted punishment and on and on. The key is to set goals that fit your lifestyle.
In this post, we will help you set a foundation to work on so you can enjoy a fitness lifestyle that works for you. Hello, my name is Hanif of Criterion Fit; we help men in the UK and worldwide get the balance of fitness lifestyle right. With nutritional coaching and exercise training, you can achieve the vitality, body image and mental focus you’ve been dreaming of.
Know your goal
The first thing in attaining your goal will be deciding what exactly you want to achieve. Is it to reduce body fat, increase muscle mass, increase strength, move and feel better in yourself, attain a better quality of life, get better sleep, lifestyle change, look better aesthetically and so on. Once you know what you want out of exercise and your diet you can move on to the next step of setting a target.
Targets
You need a target date to achieve your goal that is realistic. To say “I want to lose 10lbs in 10 weeks” is realistic and attainable once you adapt your diet and exercise to facilitate this. This is also a specific amount of weight which is also important because if you stick with “I want to lose weight” alone, you’ll find yourself without a clear vision of when you’ve achieved your goal.
Be Conscious
Now you have a clear goal and set amount of time to achieve the goal the next step is to look at your levels of exercise along with the food you eat. Are you exercising enough, are you physically active, should you join a fitness club to get things going? You need to be conscious of the food you eat, how it’s prepared, how much you eat and plan out when you’ll eat. Putting on or reducing your size doesn’t come all in one go. It will take methodical work, structured and planned eating to get where you want to be.
Forming Habits
Increasing healthy habits such as drinking more water and snacking on fruit and vegetables aid you in living a fitness lifestyle. Setting a schedule to fit in your new healthy habits will help you ingrain them into your everyday life. Using your phone calendar for example is a great way to be reminded to stretch and do your core exercise in the mornings or go for a 30-minute walk during your lunch hour. All these habits will accumulate to transform your lifestyle before your eyes.
Employ A Trainer
Finally, I recommend you don’t go it alone. Seeking the help of a fitness trainer to help you get a handle on exercise will get you to point B in a structured way. The internet will throw up many opinions and ideas. A fitness coach will help you decipher the truth from falsehood and be a motivation to you when times get tough.
Conclusion
Every fitness journey is unique, looking at other people work is motivation but it’s important to get into the lane that works for you. I’ve been helping men with fitness goals since 2017 and have found that the men that achieve their goals and maintain them are those that make the fitness lifestyle a common part of their lives. As a Muslim my lifestyle is Islam but a fitness/healthy lifestyle was found with Islam long before modern science came about, long before the Carnivor diet was thought up and long before I proposed you lead a fitness lifestyle. Fitness is a part of or should I say should be a part of all our lives.
To get to the goal takes knowledge and action. Planning is an essential phase for anyone with fitness goals. I can help you with these goals so get in touch with me by hitting the contact button and we can arrange a free consultation to help you get to the goal you want to achieve.
Kettlebells are great fitness kit that store away conveniently at home or in the office. What makes them even better is how a greater training session can come from just one bell, from cardio and endurance training to strength gains, kettlebells can help you achieve whatever your goals call for. The days where you’d find it hard to get kettlebells are long gone. You’ll find many brands, shapes and sizes in today’s kettlebell ranges. Have an affinity for Gorillas? You’ll even find kettlebells in their form, want some pink kettlebells for wifey – you’ll find them too. In this post I will direct you to some of the best kettlebells you’ll find in the United Kingdom and online depending on your budget.
How’s it going? My name is Hanif of criterionfit.com. We help Men in the UK and worldwide level up fitness and achieve the goals they set themselves. Kettlebell training is fun and challenging, we love to use Kettlebells to help clients with health issues including obesity. Check out our online kettlebell training programme with varied amounts of sessions per week depending on your goals; get into the best shape of your life and kick into hyperdrive for 2022.
Blk Box
The first brand of kettlebells we’ll look at are from Blk Box Fitness, straight out of Newtownabbey, Ireland. This brand is bubbling like Irish Stew on Instagram which is where I believe I first found them during the lockdown. I was looking for kettlebells before I popped a blood vessel at home and they had some in stock, “swoosh.” BB is doing a lot, they have all you need for a home gym and they kit out team gyms (football, rugby etc) so you better believe they know about long-lasting materials.
Blk Box Fitness
If you need social proof to buy kettlebells even after reading this you’ll find a lot on their website but let me help you pick what you need bro. Cast Iron is the material of traditional kettlebells so the weight of the kettlebell may be off a little for a set bought on the same day but the idea I’m sure is to use them for home or office training. I’d recommend you take care as some textured handles can be a bit rough on the hands (generally) so you may want to get out some sandpaper or something.
The next option still with Blx Box is their brushed steel competition kettlebells. These come in a standard size, unlike the cast iron kettlebells that just get bigger and bigger as weight increases. If you plan to train in this way long-term it’s a good investment and a bit more costly than cast iron but the price is made up for in quality and smoothness, going up to 40kg for both types. If price is no issue and you don’t mind kettlebells being seen too much I’d recommend the competition kettlebells. But if you’re a husband and/or father with family around while you train at home or you’ll be keeping them under your desk at work stick to 12-16kg cast iron kettlebells. They look great powder-coated, don’t cost the world and have good quality production skills, Blk Box is worth checking out.
Yes, we already know “Billi Billi” Jeff Bazos is getting his hands into a lot of pies. If you want some kettlebells fast and out for a real deal you should have a look at the current savings possible on amazon.co.uk. At under £28 for a single 16kg kettlebell, you can’t go wrong. The extended horns and handle of this corrosion protected kettlebell may take getting used to and make some techniques harder to master, especially with slippery sweaty hands but you’ll find them long-lasting, especially if you forget them in the garden for a while.
Amazon Basics
The quality and price can’t be denied or played down although they don’t look as appealing as some of the kettlebells you’ll find on the website. The large array of kettlebells on sale just in the basic price range makes amazon a good place to start and as you progress with your training improve the quality you purchase. Amazon does not make competition kettlebells since the company fulfils the needs of the everyday consumer, if you want competition kettlebells you’ll want to head over to Blk Box.
You’ll find many reviews on this kettlebell, on the amazon website all pointing to the fact that they are good value for money. Not cool but clean, practical, convenient and you could have them in your home today!
Amazon £27.29 current price (single 16kg cast-iron kettlebell).
TRX
I won’t go into the brand of TRX and how it came about, (check my post “Road to PT’ing: Certified Suspension Trainer”) we’ll get into these durable and rubber-coated kettlebells. Working out at home, outside, in the park or office should be no issue with a powder-coated handle found on these smooth looking kettlebells. They are expensive but that would be expected just off the brand name.
TRX
Set to standard sizes these are for everyday use and not as competition kettlebells, they start from 4kg and stop at 24kg which may limit the user that focuses on this style of resistance training regularly. But it’s all 5-star reviews on the TRX website and 125+ thousand followers in the UK and Ireland, TRX knows how to design durable products.
The price being no issue, looking for style with bankable quality you’ll win with a pair of these kettlebells if you stay between 12-20kg weight. If you move past that you’ll eventually have to find a new supplier if you want to progress your strength and/or size while resistance training. The Cyber Monday deal for these kettlebells ends soon so hit the website and get a win if these are your fit.
There are many brands to choose from all offering variety which is good. Finding the kettlebells that suit your living or working environment is important to keeping training. What you pick will say only a little about the person you are, it’s the hard work and training that you get in with them that will speak louder and longer, I presume. Kettlebell training is fun and can be a group experience if you so choose; It takes time to get good so pick something you like!
Our Kettlebell training programmes run for 3 months at a time. You’ll get comfortable with their use and have a great experience. If group training is your thing look out for our Online Group Kettlebell sessions streaming live, weekly. Send me a message for more details – contact details in the main menu.
You wake up tired and early, with the plan to get a beastly training session in. You contemplate another 30 minutes of sleep but you know the gains won’t come by bench-pressing your pillow. We all go through it, so if you’re just starting your fitness lifestyle journey, welcome to the Zoo and it’s time to leave the cage.
We all need a pick-me-up from time to time, that juice that has you jumping off the walls like the gummy bears. We’re going to review 3 drinks you can consume to get a killer workout session in, be it in the gym, on the road or at home. These 3 antidotes to wake up your system will go in order of how close they are to nature, free of any additives, preservatives and pesticides and generally more healthy.
But before we get into it let me introduce myself. My name is Hanif, I’m a Fitness Instructor and Nutritional Advisor for CriterionFit.com where I help Men in the U.K., Europe and around the world tip the balance of fitness and good health in their favour. I don’t make bold claims, how I work is based on authentic Islamic knowledge, Sunnah and the lifestyle of the Salaf as well as established proofs found with modern health & science. Helping Men with health issues including mental health, depression and obesity is what we have passion for; I can go on and on, so let’s talk about these drinks! Oh, and don’t forget to like, subscribe and share this post with that friend or family member getting into their fitness lifestyle.
Beetroot
We’ll start with the healthiest of pre-workout drinks and work our way to the mad hatter concoctions that have you up all night. So, first up is Beetroot Juice. Beetroot Juice is from the beetroot vegetable. You may be thinking hows a vegetable going to get me charged up for my training session but no, no, no, no, don’t look down on the creation of Allah ta’ala for a minute my friend. Beetroot and its raw juice are high in nitrates, which become nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide has the effect of relaxing blood vessels which helps the flow of blood around your body so you get that rush to your muscles; increasing your stamina, which is ideal for cycling or running sessions.
Healthline.com released an online article that reported that a study took place that found that, trained cyclists who drank 2 cups of beetroot juice daily improved their 10K time trial by approximately 12 seconds. So it seems that you can’t beat beetroot when you need that extra kick for performance. Try drinking beetroot juice 15 – 30 minutes before your session to give time for the drink to reach your bloodstream.
Espresso Coffee as a pre-workout drink.
Coffee
If you’ve never experienced the almost instant effect of coffee, come join the roastery! Coffee has a deep history and connection to the Muslim world but is now found all around the world. Arabica and Robusta are the two main types and popular varieties in the western world. It’s the Coffee beans Caffeine content that gives it that amazing kick, blocking adenosine in the brain to make you feel alert and about to jump out the window! It really does give you that level of fight-or-flight response as it also triggers off the release of adrenaline. The more consistently you drink the roasted wonder drink the less its effects have on you so it’s advisable to drink coffee infrequently and when you really need that boost like today.
You should drink Coffee 30 minutes or more before your training session as recommended by registered dietician Katey Davidson for Healthline.
Pre-workout
Here comes the next Caffeine hookup mixed in with a bunch of other ingredients depending on your source. Pre-workout powders come in all varieties so what you buy will vary, even varying between the country you purchase the product in. Caffeine is often a key ingredient in pre-workout powders because of the benefits gained that we previously discussed.
Another key ingredient you’ll likely find is L-Citrulline, a popular non-essential amino acid. When consumed some Citrulline will be turned into Arginine which is another amino acid, arginine is then converted into nitric oxide which widens blood vessels just like what occurs with Beetroot Juice.
Endurance and strength training sessions both benefit from Pre-workout powders but there are downsides to these powders and drinks such as jitters, dry mouth, dehydration, headaches, stomach issues and itchiness. Doses of pre-workouts shouldn’t be played around with. You’re unlikely to have issues with anything more than you will with powders so stick to the instructions and recommendations on your pre-workout product. Drinking your pre-workout 30 minutes before your session should be sufficient time to get the most out of the beverage.
If you ask me it is hard to pick one of these drinks over the others, I use them all and like them all but I’d probably say Coffee wins them over due to its social factor. You’re not going to fall ill drinking Beetroot Juice (I hope), it also contains antioxidants but I love me an Americano and I don’t mean anything to do with Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Whatever you chose to drink lean towards moderation and tip the balance of good health and fitness in your favour.
Criterion Fit 