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Sam Watson of the United States competes in the men's speed final small during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. | Michael Reaves
As a majority of the world’s two billion Muslims fast for Ramadan this month, a Utah Olympian is reflecting on the benefits of fasting and experiencing new cultures.
Sam Watson, who won a bronze medal in sport climbing in Paris, is not Muslim, but he decided to observe Ramadan for a week this year and share his experience on Instagram.
Like Muslims who participate in the holy month, he refrained from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset during his Ramadan experience.
“I wanted to do it just to sort of understand the perspective of the 20% of the world that is currently doing this for the entire month,” he told the Deseret News on Tuesday.
Fasting for Ramadan as a professional athlete
To prepare for his Ramadan experience, Watson researched the best times for him to train and how to maintain his energy levels while fasting. He consulted with friends and read about Muslim athletes who have fasted while competing.
Watson, who grew up in Texas but now lives and trains in Utah, also drew on his existing knowledge of nutrition. For example, he knew he could add casein, a slow-digesting protein, to the overnight oats he would eat as part of his pre-sunrise meal.
At sunset, Watson would break his fast by eating dates, as many Muslims do.
“A date is usually traditional because it can get your blood sugar up pretty fast, but it won’t necessarily like overwhelm you or make you feel sick (compared to) if you were to ... eat an entire meal right after you break your fast,” he said.
In addition to fasting, Watson incorporated five moments of reflection into his day, drawing inspiration from Salah in Islam.
He said he has always admired Christians, Jews and Muslims for setting aside time for prayer and observing days of rest such as the Sabbath.
He used his five daily breaks as a time to reflect and tried to stay in a reflective state throughout the day by taking time to journal and read. He also read from an English version of the Quran.
Although in most cases he wasn’t praying to a higher power, he said he found the reflection time beneficial.
Ramadan challenges
During Ramadan, Muslim athletes who are fasting have to get used to training without food and water.
They often work with coaches and trainers to figure out how to maximize their overnight hours, and some receive IV fluids before dawn in additional to food and water, as the Deseret News previously reported.
During his week of fasting, Watson trained after sunset, rather than during the day— though he did try some cardio on a stationary bike while fasting.
The only drawback Watson experienced during his abbreviated Ramadan was disrupted sleep. To eat before sunrise, he would wake up at 5 a.m. and then go back to sleep for a couple more hours.
“I have always had quite a fragile sleep schedule traveling so much. I do notice a physical difference when I don’t get my full sleep routine in,” he said.
Sleeping while his body digested food raised his resting heart rate, which slightly hindered his recovery, he said.
But he added that it wasn’t too bad to live with that for a short time, especially since he enjoyed other aspects of the experience.
Benefits of fasting
While Watson said his training was hampered a little by the impact of fasting on his energy levels, he also experienced positive side effects.
He said that because he would be spending the entire day at home wishing he was climbing, he enjoyed his time in the gym more.
“When I got to the gym, I really enjoyed myself a lot more to a level. It really made me sort of reflect and realize I love the sport that I do in climbing, and I was really grateful to be in the gym,” he said.
He also noticed that he was able to enter a flow state faster than normal. He didn’t need as much of a mental warmup.
“But I found after I broke a fast that it was substantially easier to do that, and I don’t exactly know why. It could be the amount of reflection, or it could be some sort of physiological phenomenon. But it definitely worked in that way, and that was very exciting for me,” he said.
Watson encourages others to try and learn about other cultures because “it’s really a good, enriching experience.”
“I also think you really do become a more holistic person when you learn from a lot of different sources from around the world, and it’s never been easier to do in the age of the internet,” he said.
This year won’t be the last time Watson fasts for Ramadan.
Next year, he hopes to fast for the entire month and spend Ramadan in a Muslim country “because the community aspect of (Ramadan) is so strong,” he said.
Until then, Watson will focus on this year’s upcoming IFSC World Cup competitions as he works toward qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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