Maintaining Explosive Power Through Motor Imagery Training During Ramadan Fasting

For athletes, the body is a machine that requires fuel, rest, and consistent practice to perform at its peak. When any of these elements are disrupted, performance often slips. One of the most significant disruptions an athlete can face is the month-long practice of Ramadan fasting, observed by Muslims around the world. During this time, practitioners abstain from all food and drink from sunrise until sunset. Depending on where they live and the time of year, this period of abstinence can last nearly nineteen hours a day. This extended break from eating and drinking creates a unique set of challenges: the body must manage lower energy levels, potential dehydration, and shifts in sleep patterns as meals are moved to the night and early morning. For sports that rely on sudden, powerful bursts of energy—like sprinting, jumping, or throwing—these physiological changes can be particularly difficult to overcome. The question for scientists and coaches has long been whether there is a way to keep an athlete's explosive power sharp even when their physical training must be scaled back to accommodate these fasting conditions.

Researchers recently set out to answer this question by looking at a specific mental tool known as motor imagery. This is not daydreaming or simple visualization in the vague sense; it is a structured practice where an athlete mentally rehearses a physical action with intense focus, simulating the movement without actually moving their muscles. Studies have shown that this mental rehearsal activates many of the same parts of the brain used during real physical movement, essentially keeping the neural pathways for those skills active. The researchers wondered if this mental training could act as a shield, protecting an athlete's explosive strength during the physically demanding month of Ramadan. To find out, they designed a study involving twenty-seven young male tennis players, all around seventeen years old, who were already committed to regular training.

The study took place over four weeks, covering the duration of the Ramadan fasting month. The young athletes were split into two groups. One group, the control group, continued with their standard tennis practice but did not receive any special mental training. The other group, the experimental group, followed the exact same physical training schedule but added a specific motor imagery routine three times a week. Immediately after their regular two-hour tennis practice, these athletes spent fifteen minutes in a quiet room. They watched short videos of expert players performing powerful moves, such as serving or sprinting to the ball, and then mentally rehearsed those same actions. They were instructed to imagine the movement from two perspectives: first, watching themselves on a screen like a spectator, and second, feeling the movement from inside their own bodies, sensing the muscle contractions and the force of their joints. This dual approach was designed to strengthen the connection between the mind and the muscles.

Throughout the month, the researchers measured the players' explosive power at four different stages: before Ramadan began, at the start of the fast, in the middle, and at the end. They tested lower-body power by having the players jump as high as possible from a standing position, and they tested upper-body power by having them throw a three-kilogram medicine ball as far as they could. The researchers also carefully tracked what the athletes ate and drank, as well as their body weight, to ensure that any changes in performance were due to the fasting and the mental training, rather than differences in diet or hydration. The data showed that the fasting month did indeed take a toll on everyone. Both groups saw a drop in their jumping height and throwing distance as the weeks progressed. This confirmed that the combination of reduced food intake, altered sleep, and potential dehydration naturally reduces the ability to generate explosive force.

However, the story changed when looking at the group that practiced motor imagery. While their performance did decline, it did not drop as sharply as the group that only did physical training. By the middle and the end of the month, the athletes who had been doing the mental rehearsal were significantly stronger in their jumps and throws than their counterparts in the control group. The mental training did not completely stop the decline caused by fasting, but it acted as a buffer, preserving a much larger portion of their explosive power. The researchers noted that the athletes in the mental training group maintained better coordination and force production, suggesting that keeping the brain's motor circuits active helped compensate for the reduced physical load and the stress of fasting.

The study concludes that while the month of Ramadan presents real physiological hurdles for athletes, it is possible to mitigate the loss of explosive power through structured mental practice. For coaches and athletes, this offers a practical strategy that requires no special equipment and adds very little fatigue to an already demanding schedule. By integrating short sessions of focused mental rehearsal into their routine, athletes can help maintain the neural connections needed for high-speed, high-power movements. This approach does not replace the need for proper nutrition, hydration, and sleep, but it provides a scientifically supported method to keep the mind and muscles ready for competition even when the body is under the unique stress of fasting. The findings suggest that in the world of sports, training the mind can be just as vital as training the body, especially when the body is being asked to do more with less.