My kit bag essentials - guest post by Alan Sinclair

In This Article

2019 is set to be a major year for British Rowing and here Olympic rower Alan Sinclair tells us how the Green People products in his kit bag are helping him to prepare for the World Championships:

2019 will be an important year for me as I’ve set myself the goal of winning gold at the rowing World Championships.

In my experience, your chance of succeeding in your goal comes down to how hard and smart you've prepared in the months and years prior.

When you know that the margin between success and failure can be separated by just one hundredth of a second, you don't leave any stones unturned.

With the help of Green People, I’ve been developing my kit bag so that, regardless of where my race is, I have a scientifically-balanced skin care regime that helps me to focus on my race and get the best out of my body.

ALAN’S KIT BAG ESSENTIALS

MY NO SWEAT SKIN CARE REGIME

My race days starts with an awakening cold shower with Green People for Men Energising Shower Gel. Then, once my skin is dry, I apply the long-lasting Green People for Men Deodorant followed by high-factor, water-resistant sun cream.

I spend a lot of time on the water so it’s important that my skin care regime protects me from UV rays which can reflect off the water and burn my skin. I wear a minimum SPF30 sun protection and apply it at least 20 minutes before I head out to the boat.

My go-to sun protection is Green People's Scent Free SPF30 Sun Lotion. It’s my sun cream of choice because it provides long-lasting protection against sun burn and the scent-free, water-repellent formula means I don’t have to worry about it sweating into my eyes. That problem bothered me for years and, until I discovered Green People, I used to risk skin damage to avoid the stinging pain of sun cream sweat.

MY HYDRATION HERO

Ahead of a big race I’ll warm up on either the bike or rowing machine before going over the race plan with the team. To keep my body hydrated I drink plenty of water. Adding some diluting juice and some ground salt to my drinks bottle works for me as well as any fancy electrolyte ever has.

THE ON BOARD BASICS

When you’re on the boat you don’t want to be weighed down with equipment but one thing I always have on me is an energy gel. This helps in the initial recovery process after the race and because it’s part of my routine, simply having it on me helps me focus.

FOR RACE RECOVERY

Recovering from a race is as important as winning it and one thing I always carry in my kit bag is a self-massaging tool called the PulseRoll vibrating peanut. It’s great for easing tight muscles and I’ll spend at least 25 minutes rolling around on it in the hours leading into the race, paying attention to my legs and glutes. It works great alongside my red-light (LED) therapy lamp which targets deep muscle tissues and reduces both pain and inflammation.