by Miranda Blazeby, Digital Editor – SailGP
Julien Rolaz, grinder on the Switzerland SailGP Team, talks us through is workout schedule and how he prepares for a day racing on the water.
How often do you work out?
I work out between six to seven times per week.
How long do you work out for?
Between an hour or two hours per workout.
What time do you get up every day?
Between 6:00 and 6:30 am.
What time do you go to bed?
Between 9:30 and 10:00 pm.
How much do you weigh?
95kgs.
What is your ideal weight?
Around 95 – 100kgs.
How often do you go to the gym?
Every day! Mostly I do my training at home, I have a gym set up at home, and twice a week I either go biking or I’m in the gym to do another cardio session.
Talk us through your workout on a normal day:
When it is grinding specific, I go first with a mobility warm-up with elastic bands, and then a quick warm-up on the grinding machine. Then my workout is more or less between 45 minutes to a hour and a half, followed by a cool down and some more mobility and stretching.
Talk us through your workout/ warm up on a race day:
On a race day, I mostly do yoga in the morning, when I wake up in my room. Then when I arrive at the team base, I do some more stretching and before racing, I like to use the elastic bands to do a quick warm-up. Then onboard we do one or two laps for warm-up and it’s then that I feel ready to race.
What’s the biggest fitness misconception about your sport?
I guess that people don’t really realize how physical sailing can be, and I think SailGP is showing just how important good fitness is for the sport. The fitter you are the better you are when sailing these boats because you are less fatigued and can make better decisions.
Do you train or compete in any other sports?
I will compete again in cross-fit in October and probably in November, but I haven’t since I started sailing on SailGP as some of the cross-fit workouts are not in the sailing performance. I used to play rugby, but I don’t do this anymore either.
How many calories do you burn on a typical race day?
Each race is between 15 – 20 minutes, on a normal to windy day we burn around 300 calories, so if we do two or three races plus the warm-ups it’s more than 1000 calories.
How to do you recover?
Protein, protein and more protein! Also, good sleep and staying hydrated all day long is very important for me.
How would you describe the fitness needed to be a professional sailor on the F50?
To be a grinder competing in SailGP, you first need a good general fitness and then more upper body fitness and to be able to keep your fitness level high for quite a long period of time. Training sessions are generally more demanding than racing because it is longer, more or less four hours on the water, so, that’s pretty tough. I think like any elite sport you need to be fit within the specificities of your discipline.
Quickfire:
6am or 6pm workout? 6pm!
Treadmill or outside? Outside.
Weights or cardio? Both
Yoga or meditation? Yoga.
Running or cycling? Cycling.
Smoothie or protein shake? Protein shake.
