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Cardio training at 3am. High protein breakfasts before sunrise. Testing your body's physical and mental limits.
This is a typical day for professional Muslim athletes fasting during Ramadan.
Ramadan is a period of deep spiritual reflection, and is considered the holiest month for Muslims, who abstain from food and drink — not even a drop of water — every day from dawn to sunset for about 30 days.
Certain groups are exempt from fasting such as children, the elderly, sick or pregnant, those nursing, menstruating or travelling long distances.
However, professional athletes do not fall in this group.
'A vital part of my life'
For Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs player Khaled Rajab, training and playing in the NRL can be difficult during Ramadan, he values spirituality deeply.
"When I'm fasting and I'm training or I'm playing, you get those moments where you start doubting yourself," Rajab says.
"But once you finish that game, it's like you're ticking another box and you're getting stronger mentally.
"So I feel it's a vital part of my life."
Fasting while playing sports is nothing new.
Since he began playing in Canterbury's junior ranks, Rajab would train and play games while fasting, saying support from the club and a high-protein breakfast at suhoor — the meal before dawn — would always help.
"My whole life, all the boys would be like 'How can you survive no water? No food?' I just constantly remind myself of the people in need and this is nothing compared to what they're going through," he says.
A particularly testing time
Boxer Tina Rahimi also has experienced fasting as a professional athlete, and recalls the 2022 world championships as a particularly testing time.
"That was really, really tough because I had to focus on cutting weight and at the same time, focus on getting the best out of my training to prepare for the world championships in Turkey," she says.
She would get up at 3am before suhoor to do her cardio training, then train at a lower intensity during the day, and then be back at the gym at about 8pm once she had broken her fast.
Now, Rahimi's only a few months away from competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics, making history as Australia's first female Muslim boxer to compete.
And with so much on the line, Rahimi says it's important to her she stays competitive in her training, even while fasting.
"You're training with a group of athletes who are all going to the Olympics," she says.
"Everyone's looking at how everyone else is training and how hard everyone's training and it's like competition, but in a good way … and hopefully, I can still get that push with them during Ramadan as well."
Both Rahimi and Rajab say Ramadan is about much more than just missing lunch, but is a time for them to grow closer to their God.
"Fasting's not just about abstaining from food or drink, but we fast to remind ourselves that [for] people in need this is nothing compared to what other people are going through" Rajab says.