The main results of this study revealed that if strength-power training is performed regularly and daily food intake, body fluid balance and daily sleeping time are maintained as before Ramadan, Ramadan fasting will not have adverse effects on body composition, anaerobic power and capacity, and LA metabolism during and after high intensity exercise in power athletes.

Fasting during the 30 days of Ramadan is abstention from food and fluid from dawn to sunset. Remarkable changes were reported in the number and time of meals. The number of meals decreased to two times each day, after sunset and just before dawn (Bahammam, 2005; Finch et al., 1998; Taoudi Benchekroun et al., 1999). Decrease in physical activity (Ben Salama et al., 1993) and changes in sleeping time were also reported in this month (Margolis and Reed, 2004; Taoudi Benchekroun et al., 1999). In the present study BW, BMI, FFM and BF% of regularly trained athletes measured at End-RF were not significantly different from Pre-RF, and After-RF (Table 1). The variability of BW and FFM were within below 1 kg throughout the study. The results dealing with the effects of Ramadan fasting on anthropometric variables were inconsistent in the previous studies conducted on sedentary subjects. According to Beltaifa et. al. (2002), Ramadan (2002) and Ramadan and Barac-Nieto, 2000, there was no significant change on anthropometric variables during the Ramadan. In contrast, Sweileh et al., 1992 and Ziaee et al., 2006 observed significant decrease in BW, BMI and BF%. Moreover Frost and Pirani, 1987 reported that Ramadan fasting caused significant increase in BW. However the DCI was increased gradually by time, it was not statistically significant (Table 1). In contrast to the present study, several studies conducted on healthy sedentary subjects demonstrated that DCI had significantly increased during the Ramadan (Frost and Pirani, 1987; Gharbi et al., 2003). Whereas in the present study the difference was not significant, DST was higher in End-RF compared to Pre-RF, and After-RF (Table 1). The results of the previous studies in sedentary people were similar to the results of the current study. While sleeping and awake times of the healthy sedentary people had been changed, there was no significant change in the total daily sleeping time during Ramadan (Bahammam, 2005; Margolis and Reed, 2004; Taoudi Benchekroun et al., 1999). UD obtained at End-RF was similar with Pre-RF, but it was significantly higher than After-RF. Besides, TBW measured in Pre-RF, End-RF and After-RF were similar to each other. These results showed that power athletes' water retention mechanism might protect their total body water balance in this phase. The body water balance observed may be at least in part due to adaptation by the kidneys. The findings of the present study were consistent with the results of Ramadan et al., 1999 and Sweileh et al., 1992. Sweileh et al., 1992 which reported that dehydratation existed during the first week of Ramadan and returned to the pre-fasting levels during the last week. Similarly, Ramadan et al., 1999 noted significant increase in osmolarity in sedentary, but not in active subjects during Ramadan. This shows that body fluid balance was maintained in active subjects similar to the results in the present study.

Absolute and relative PP and MP values determined in this study were found similar with the values of combat athletes (Kocak and Karli, 2003) and sprinters (Watson and Sargeant, 1986), but lower than speed skaters (Van Ingen Schenau et al., 1992). The results of the present study showed that in contrast to MP, significant increase was indicated in absolute and relative PP values during Ramadan (Table 2). Relative PP values measured at End-RF and After-RF were 4.9% and 7.7% higher than Pre-RF respectively. In addition a smaller improvement (2.9%) was also recorded in relative PP values from End-RF to After-RF. The regular strength-power training sessions maintained as before Ramadan might be the possible reason for the progressive increase in the PP values in this study. It appears that if strength-power training is performed regularly during Ramadan, long duration intermittent fasting (Ramadan Fasting) will not have detrimental effects on anaerobic performance. Previous studies dealing with the regular sprint and anaerobic training-induced adaptations in athletes and sedentary subjects have provided inconsistent results. Several studies indicated that the improvement of metabolic capacity of muscle caused by training was combined with the significant changes in short-term power output (Cadefau et al., 1990; Costill et al., 1979; Linossier, et al., 1993; MacDougall et al., 1998; Roberts, et al., 1982). However, in some other studies, even significant increase was observed in short-term power output, no remarkable differences were reported in creatine phosphate, glycogen stores and glycolytic enzyme activity (Barnett et al., 2004; Dawson et al., 1998).

LA values during Pre-RF, End-RF, and After-RF were similar (Table 1). This similarity in LA values under resting states may indicate that the subjects may have tested under similar metabolic and hormonal conditions. On the contrary, significant differences were observed in resting HR values (Table 3). In the literature, it is reported that resting HR values may exhibit wide range of variation due to the various factors (Lamberts et al., 2004; Lemmink et al., 2004). On the other hand, similarity among peak HR values at Pre-RF, End-RF and After-RF (Table 3) demonstrated that cardiovascular stress caused by supramaximal exercise was not affected by Ramadan fasting. Peak LA values measured following supramaximal exercise in the current study (Table 3) were similar with the values (10.6 - 14.7 mmol.L^-1) of athletes and active subjects examined in other studies (Dotan et al., 2003; Hubner-Wozniak et al., 2004; Marsh et al., 1999; Sands et al., 2004; Weinstein et al., 1998). Peak LA value measured in End-RF was lower than Pre-RF and After-RF but the difference was not significant (Table 3). This result might indicate that long duration intermittent fasting (Ramadan Fasting) had no adverse effect on anaerobic metabolism and muscle glycogen stores during high intensity exercises in power athletes. To our knowledge, no report exists in the literature about the effects of long duration intermittent fasting (Ramadan Fasting) on muscle glycogen stores. However, Knapik et al., 1988 reported that the resting muscle glycogen level determined at the end of 3.5 days of fasting was not different from 12 hours of fasting.

To the best of our knowledge, no study has assessed the effects of long duration intermittent fasting (Ramadan Fasting) on removal rate of LA from the blood following supramaximal exercise. Half life of LA observed during passive recovery period at Pre-RF, End-RF and After-RF were 30.6, 29.5, 28.9 min respectively in the current study (Table 3). On the other hand, Gupta et al., 1996 reported that half life of LA of endurance athletes was 21.5 min during passive recovery period. It is known that removal rate of LA from blood is strongly related with the oxidative capacity of muscles (Thomas et al., 2004). Nevertheless, similar LA removal rates were reported in sprinters and endurance athletes during passive recovery. Therefore, it is suggested that the training type is not an effective factor on the removal rate of LA during passive recovery (Taoutaou et al., 1996). In the present study, neither half life of LA (Table 3) nor blood LA concentrations measured at 12^th, 18^th, 24^th and 30^th minutes of passive recovery were different at any point of observation (Table 4 and Figure 1). Although these results revealed that no influence of Ramadan fasting on removal rate of LA from blood following high intensity exercise was observed, the effects of long duration intermittent fasting on muscle glycogen stores and the metabolic fate of LA during recovery was not investigated in the current study. In the literature, there have been many studies about glycogen repletion and LA metabolism during active and passive recovery following aerobic or anaerobic exercises after 12-24 hours fasting in humans and animals (Astrand et al., 1986; Choi, et al., 1994; Fairchild et al., 2003; Maehlum and Hermansen, 1978; Raja et al., 2004). But long duration intermittent fasting (Ramadan Fasting) is different from experimental fasting and no study exists in the literature on this topic in humans. In the results of several studies, remarkable decrease (28% to 32%) was reported in muscle glycogen stores caused by short time high intensity exercises following experimental fasting (12-24 hours) in humans and animals (Choi et al., 1994; MacDougall et al., 1977; Raja et al., 2004). Moreover previous studies showed that both humans and various kinds of animals have the capacity to replete their stores of muscle glycogen rapidly even in the absence of food intake (Bräu et al., 1999; Bräu et al., 1997; Raja et al., 2004). Raja et al., 2004 suggested that the regeneration rate of muscle glycogen stores during passive recovery from high intensity exercise in fasting animals was not limited by the amount of accumulated lactate. Although it was reported that the blood LA was an important endogenous carbon source for repletion of muscle glycogen stores in fasting condition (Bräu et al., 1999; Bräu et al., 1997; Raja et al., 2004), the result of Raja et al., 2004 showed that the blood LA was not the only source for replenishment of muscle glycogen stores. The removal rate of accumulated lactate from blood following intense exercise has been reported to be slower during passive recovery in comparision to active recovery both in normal condition (Ahmaidi et al., 1996; Gupta et al., 1996; McAinch et al., 2004; Toubekis et al., 2005) and during fasting (Choi et al., 1994). On the contrary, Choi et al., 1994 and Nordheim and Vollestad, 1990 suggested that the resynthesis of muscle glycogen was faster during passive recovery than active recovery in fasting individuals. These results indicated that during both normal and fasting conditions, the metabolic fate of lactate could vary depending on the recovery modes. Hence, future studies will be needed to compare the effects of different types of recovery modes on the removal rate of lactate from blood during long duration intermittent fasting (Ramadan Fasting).