Ronnie O'Sullivan says 'intermittent fasting' helps energy levels in bid to win eighth World Snooker Championship
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Published 30/04/2024 at 09:49 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan has praised the impact of "intermittent fasting" on his game as he bids to win a record eighth World Championship crown at the Crucible this year. The Rocket will face Stuart Bingham on Tuesday afternoon in the quarter-finals after a dominant display against Ryan Day to reach the last eight. He said: "I'm intermittent fasting for this tournament because it gives me more energy".
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Ronnie O'Sullivan has praised the impact of "intermittent fasting" on his game as he bids to win a record eighth World Championship crown at the Crucible this year.
The Rocket produced an excellent performance to overcome Ryan Day with a 13-7 victory to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, where he will face Stuart Bingham on Tuesday afternoon.
The 48-year-old has revealed that in order to maintain energy levels to perform at his peak performance he has started to do "intermittent fasting".
"I just do what's right for me," he told reporters. "It's not like I sit down with someone and work out what's right, what's wrong and how to peak. A lot of people think I do.
"What I do is I try to eat right. I'm intermittent fasting for this tournament because it gives me more energy.
"There's certain things I do and it doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to win, I just need every little advantage I can get at this stage.
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"This is a tournament of endurance, stamina and concentration. For me, intermittent fasting just gives me a bit more energy.
"Once the tournament's over, I'll be back to eating 24 hours a day. There's times when you have to work out what's right for you.
"I go a certain period of time where I won't eat and it's just amazing the energy you get from it. I've always found it works really well for me."
O'Sullivan revealed that he was advised by his nutritutionist to try fasting after he fell ill and he explained how it works for him around the schedule of a snooker tournament.
"I got ill and the only way to give my stomach a rest was by not eating. My nutritionist said 'the only thing you can do is not eat', but obviously, you have to eat.
"I was doing it and I went 'you know what, I love this, it's great'. I just felt it worked for me. That's 16 [hours] at the moment, 17 sometimes. I try to stop at about 7pm but it's hard, obviously, when you're playing matches.
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"Last night was 8.30pm so I didn't eat again until about 12:20pm today. It feels great, I feel good. I'm 48 and I feel energised. If I eat too much I get really sluggish.
"Animals in the forest apparently go days without food and then all of a sudden they get hungry, get their prey, eat it and just digest it for a while.
"They're not having three meals a day, it's just eat when you're hungry and give your body a rest sometimes. It works for me anyway."
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