Rob Riches Abs - Articles and Blog

Rob Riches is one of the top natural bodybuilders in the world with Rob Riches abs so amazing that he’s also graced the pages of countless fitness and muscle magazines. Here\'s part 3 of his interview with George Spellwin! Here\'s a link to Part 2 of the interview Rob Riches Training published a few days ago in case you missed it.

You are unlike a lot of other bodybuilders in that you experienced a lot of competition success at a very early age. Is there any advice you could give to younger competitors that would help them to compete against older and more experienced bodybuilders?

Rob Riches: My advice for anyone thinking about doing their first show is – you always have to start somewhere. The sooner you start, the sooner you can start planning the next step!

Throughout my competitions, which have included bodybuilding, fitness modelling, and muscle modelling (a sort of heavily muscled fitness look) I have always found myself to be at the lower end of the age spectrum. Experience was not on my side in most competitions, and more often than not, I certainly was not the biggest. So if this was the case, why did I never place below the top 4? Why did I always seem to create a buzz around at every show I entered? Why would I commit to all those months in the gym training and having to be so disciplined with everything I ate, if I knew I wouldn’t be the biggest on stage?

Well, ever since my first show, and even at shows I didn’t compete in, I always made an effort to go and speak with the judges, to find out the criteria they were judging on. I realized from the beginning that, if I could not be the biggest on stage, I would make sure that I was either the best conditioned, the best proportioned, or the most aesthetic on stage (ideally all of them) since I knew muscle mass was only one section that we were being marked on. If there was nothing I could do to score high on muscle mass (at least at this age, and sticking with my ethos – of natural and drug-free), I would work my hardest to make up for any points I may lose in this area with all of the other areas we were being marked on. Speaking with the judges helped me to enforce areas that I needed to work on, and depending on which category and organization I was at, which areas were being judged on the most. (Some organizations I have competed in prefer a lean, sculptured, and ripped look, whilst others preferred more mass and size. You can tell which categories I favoured were!).

I found it helped greatly to know well in advance of the competition what the judges would be marking highly on, and where the competitors would lose the most points on. Of course, speaking with the judges directly would be the most helpful, but if this is not possible, other past competitors can help shed some light on the judging criteria. Plus forums may help provide guidance, although you always have to question the reliability of the source from such places.
The transition from Bodybuilding into fitness modelling was an easy one for me. Ever since my first show back in 2005 in London, I got the nickname ‘Hollywood’ from one of the judges, as I resembled a golden statue with my golden tan and blonde spiky hair. I certainly stood out amongst the other competitors, most of whom had shaven heads and blotchy tans. I had always paid attention to my appearance when stepping on stage with my hair, my tan, my choice of clothing.

Everything had to be just right. Even my fingernails were trimmed; that’s how much of an effort I made going into a show. I was probably one of the most manicured guys in the whole show. I carried this level of cleanliness with me when I stepped on stage as a fitness model, as I knew I would be marked far more closely towards my overall appearance.

George Spellwin: I’ve talked to a number of fitness models who say they have to stay in shape year-round in order to be ready for photo shoots and/or videos. How does your training differ from someone who strictly trains for competitions?

Rob Riches: My training didn’t actually change too much. Instead of always being one of the small guys on stage, I found myself being one of the largest in the fitness model category. I focused more on conditioning, although I still trained much in the same as when I was preparing for bodybuilding shows. I focused on my entire body, ensuring I had a balanced and proportioned physique. One of the big differences from bodybuilding and fitness modelling was that, in bodybuilding, you normally focused on one day to get in peak shape for the competition then where would you go?

Most of the time, bodybuilders would gorge for days on foods that would never normally be a part of their diet, and potentially cause themselves damage. What I found with stepping on stage as a fitness model was that it was really only the first step to so much more. After my first fitness competition, I soon started getting requests from photographers for features in magazines, which meant I had to maintain my conditioning for up to months after ‘peaking’ for the show.

This had nearly always been my approach to competing, and I had never really lost my shape or conditioning after my shows. This had meant that even though I could get back into the type of condition which had won me my first few bodybuilding shows (normally around 178lbs at about 3% body fat), I knew I would not be able to hold this for much longer than a week, and it would not be best to enter the fitness model shows in this condition. Apart from either sacrificing too much muscle during the following weeks as I tried to maintain it, I would also lose points on stage for showing too much ‘striations’. Yes, can you believe it; you can actually lose points in fitness modelling, whereas you’d gain points in a bodybuilding show.

During my first year of fitness modelling, I think I actually gained muscle (probably due to the less frequent shows I had been competing in, and not being so strict on my diet as I had been when bodybuilding). I had still put many hours in the gym, and my focus on cardio and nutrition were just as strict. Instead of focusing on building thicker muscle in my lower back and hamstrings (One of my weaker areas as a bodybuilder on stage), I changed my focus to displaying a full set of deep and full abdominals. As a bodybuilder, I had about 10 poses that I was being compared to against all the other competitors. As a fitness model, I knew I would only really be compared on one body part – my abs!

After all, you’ve got to be ready when you get that phone call or email asking you if you’re ready to shoot for one of the top shelf fitness magazines. Telling them you need another 4 weeks to get ‘back in to contest shape’ is 4 weeks too late. Not peaking at quite the level of conditioning as I had first been used to now meant that I could maintain a still impressive physique, and be only a few days away from ‘peaking’ again when needed.

Here\'s a link to Part 4 of the interview Rob Riches Diet .

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