ITC PROMOTES HEALTH AND FITNESS IN RAMADAN

Promotional poster for ITC’s second Ramadan SEED online sharing session which took place via ZOOM, starring Coach Bob Harun as guest speaker

PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA, 30 APRIL 2021 – Today, in conjunction with the month of Ramadan 1442H, Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) conducted an online webinar, with emphasis placed on staying fit during this month of fasting, to ensure satiety and optimal physical fitness throughout the month of Ramadan, when the fast is observed.

Entitled “From Sahur to Iftar – Healthy Journey: Keeping Fit”, the session is the second instalment of ITC’s SEED online programme for the month of Ramadan. SEED, an abbreviation for Share, Enrich, Enhance, Develop, bodes well with ITC’s branding, namely, its tagline “Enhancing Ties, Enriching Knowledge”.

The guest speaker for this webinar was Coach Bob Harun, Health & Wellness Coach and a member of the Advisory Panel at the Putrajaya Health Clinic. Coach Bob, fondly known as Coach Daddy, is also a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) and has past experience in conducting health talks, group exercises, online coaching and Train of Trainers (ToT).

The session was moderated by Mr Mazlan Kamaruddin, an ITC Executive from the Industry Development Division, and covered the following topics:

– Distinction between health and wellness

– Overview of the current health scenario in Malaysia

– Eating balanced meals and doing exercise during Ramadan

– Paying attention to endurance during the fast

– Tutorial on calculating the heart rate before, during and after exercise

Islam promotes a healthy mind (rohaniah) and body (jasmaniah) and to this, Coach Bob said: “I have come up with seven pillars of holistic healthy living, which are diet & nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep, social connections, relationships, and taking a break. All of these will relate to your mind, soul and body as far as healthy living is concerned.”

“Physical fitness is multi-dimensional: physiological (e.g. metabolism), health-related (e.g. muscular strength and endurance) and skills-related (e.g. power and coordination). There are five components (lima rukun senaman): flexibility, muscular endurance, muscular strength, cardio-respiratory fitness and body composition,” he explained further as he dived into the subject matter at hand.

He also proceeded to explain the important priorities in living a healthy life: “Firstly, you must ensure you have the right diet. Next, exercise, and proper rest. If you do not have proper rest, you may not be able to see the results of your exercise and you open yourself to health risks. Sleep is the best form of a proper rest.”

Coach Bob advised to practise good diet, exercise, and rest before resorting to supplements or drugs to manage a health issue.

A question was raised by a participant on whether brisk walking with some weights would be a good form of exercise for senior citizens. Coach Bob explained that brisk walking is good for the cardiovascular system, and with weights and squats, it can help to improve flexibility. “If you want to raise the bar, and increase the amount of weights, it will be healthier for the body but a little bit of weight is already good enough,” he clarified.

In reply to the question of whether mass gain can be achieved while on a calorie deficit, Coach Bob is certain that building muscle, in general, requires one to be in calorie supply. “However, what is more important is sufficient protein intake. The recommended protein intake for a sedentary is 0.8 to 1.0 gram per kilogram of body weight. As one starts to exercise, it will rise to 1.2 to 1.5 gram. If one wants to maintain muscle, the value would be 1.6.”

The Director-General of ITC, Dato’ Dr. Mohmed Razip Haji Hasan also participated in the webinar and was grateful to have Coach Bob as guest speaker of this session: “Indeed, health and ibadah are very closely related. A healthy lifestyle improves our ibadah and brings us closer to our Creator. In Islam, it strengthens our relationship with Allah SWT. We must follow the sunnah of the Prophet PBUH – to sleep, eat and exercise right. These are best practices we should emulate in our daily lives.”

Dato’ Dr. Razip also viewed that such practices are equally important where tourism is concerned because travel requires fitness to ensure enjoyment. “This is the reason why we at ITC want to promote it because it is a responsibility to ourselves, family, loved ones, communities, to others, and not forgetting our environment,” he said.

“ITC promotes responsible tourism in many ways. It lays the foundation for us to transform ourselves to become better people. Our body and mind are connected, each must thrive hence nurturing the mind and body are paramount. This will help improve our religious practices, our physical beings and in whatever we pursue,” he stated.

ITC hopes that such initiatives will encourage the public on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle while fasting, and this should be made a priority for all.

For more info on the previous SEED session, check it out here: Link

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Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) is an entity under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia tasked to develop the Islamic tourism segment for Malaysia. It advocates for Muslim-friendly tourism by offering research and market intelligence, training, industry development consultation, Muslim-friendly tourism and hospitality services standards and certification, and information exchange.

Malaysia was named top country in the region in Muslim-friendly tourism sector by the Global Islamic Economy Report (GIER) 2020/2021. The receipt of the award is added motivation for ITC to continue to strengthen its efforts in being a prime mover and leading institution to ensure Malaysia is at the forefront of Muslim-friendly tourism and hospitality (MFTH).

For further details, kindly contact:

Islamic Tourism Centre,
Level 13, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia
No. 2 Tower 1, Jalan P5/6,
Precinct 5, 62200 Putrajaya, Malaysia

Tel: 03-8891 7177 or via email itc@mymuslimtrip.com/v2