Men’s Fitness UK – October 2019

the sea-

food diet

Gotrel’sdaily

mealplan

FIRSTBREAKFAST:

porridgeorcereal

beforethegym.

POST-GYM:recovery

proteinshake.

SECOND

BREAKFAST:

poachedeggswith

toastorbagels.

LUNCH:chicken

saladwithcouscous

foraddedprotein.

SNACK:electrolyte

drinksorgelsduring

theafternoon

grindingsession.

SECONDSNACK:

high-fatoptionlike

hummusandmore

poachedeggs.

DINNER:carb-heavy

meallikepasta,“with

asmuchvegasIcan

putonaplate."

pull-up

power

anupper-body

stapleand one

ofGotrel’sgo-

tomoves

Grabapull-upbar

withyourpalms

facingawayfrom

yourbody,andyour

handsshoulder-

widthapart.

Allowyourarms

tohanginafully

extendedposition.

Keepingyour

shouldersback

anddrawnaway

fromyourears,pull

yourselfupuntilyour

chinclearsthebar.

Pause,thenslowly

loweryourselftothe

startingposition.

more peaks and troughs, and it's all
upper body.”
To make the transition, Gotrel
has been on a focused development
programme which combines weight
work and gym circuits with hardcore
sessions on a portable grinding
machine – a purpose-built replica of
the ship’s winch mechanism – which
has a resistance setting to help
separate the sailing men from the
marker buoys.
“The loads that go through the
handles of the grinder are extremely
high, so I do bench presses and pulls,
and lots of single-arm stuff. With the
lower body it's all about stability:
lots of skates, jumps and changes of
direction, plus lifts and squats.
“I struggled with the grinding at
first, because my arms would blow up
before I could get my heart rate to any
sort of level I knew I was capable of.
I'm still fighting that a bit now. There's
nothing that resembles grinding –
nothing that can actually replicate it –
so unfortunately there's no shortcut.”

MINDSET
Being part of a SailGP crew isn’t for
shirkers, either. “The boats race at
over 40mph and you’re virtually flying

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out the water a lot of the time, so you

need to be 100 per cent focused

when you're on the boat.”

And it’s not just quick thinking

that’s called for on the high seas. “We

do a lot of single-leg training," says

Gotrel, "plus quick-feet ladder drills,

because you need to be able to move

across the deck rapidly, against some

serious g-force. You can get thrown

around like a rag doll – I’ve come

away with a few bruises. It just shows

you the power of the g-force. You’ve

got this fourth dimension to the sport

where you're actually out of the water,

flying. Everything gets amplified and

you need to respect where you are

and the forces that are at play.

“When I’m not racing it's about

staying as fit as I can. I do gym work

every morning and a grinding session

every afternoon. In between I mix

it with core work, some yoga and

stretches. I do two to three sessions a

day pretty much every day. I train with

my brother at 6am before he goes to

work, and in the afternoon I’m in the

garage with the grinder and my pet

dog for company.”

During race meets the physical

demands are even greater: “It’s full-

on because you’re constantly getting

the boat in and out of containers

• it’s very much like working on a
  construction site for a week. We
  spend ten to 12 hours a day on site
  getting the boat ready."

NUTRITION

All that grinding requires adequate

fuelling, of course, and for anyone

with a quick-fire metabolism, that

means a hefty calorie count. “When

I was rowing I was around 92kg – the

heaviest I ever got to over the whole

four year cycle was about 96kg.

But for grinding I have to be 105kg,

basically the heaviest I’ve ever been.”

As Gotrel puts it, the grinder needs to

be a moveable ballast on the boat.

“I need to be big, but also nimble.

It’s a bit of a challenge for me, as I

always struggled to put weight on.

In the build-up to my first race I had

a six-week period of doing barely

any cardio. Instead I was doing two

weights sessions a day and basically

eating as much as I could to bridge

that gap. I’ve learned that, much like

bodybuilding, you go through cycles,

so during the winter we aim to put on

as much weight as possible in order

to maintain the strength we need for

the rest of the year.”