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Aesthetic Athletic: Photoshoot
Aesthetic Athletic: Photoshoot
Athletic Aesthetic
Photoshoot/Fitness
Model Preparation Workout
Words by Rob Riches: TEAM True Performance Nutrition Captain. Photos by Noel Daganta
ittle over 5 years ago, the only aesthetic (and athletic!) competitions available for many were bodybuilding and powerlifting shows. Both of which you needed to be big and strong to perform well in. Those who did well were naturally big and powerful, or decided to opt for a little chemical assistance. Then came along fitness model competitions with numerous categories. Rob Riches talks about how he prepares and specifically about precompetition and getting 'photo-shoot cover model ready'. I first made a name for myself in the world of natural bodybuilding. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of training and dieting for a fixed goal that would reward me not just with low body fat levels and an impressive looking physique, but would also teach me discipline
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and commitment are two crucial factors that I have carried over into other areas of my fitness career and life in general. Even though I had varying levels of success in bodybuilding, winning several regional shows as well as the world finals in Hollywood for my age group, I was always facing other competitors who were bigger than me, carried more muscle than me and had thicker, fuller frames. As a competitor, I wanted to win, but after the first few years of competing I realised that every time I tried to get bigger I would find myself right back at my competition weight looking about the same as I did for the previous shows. I was all about progression and I realised that unless I tool several years out from competing to focus on building bulk that I wasnt going to progress much in the world of bodybuilding. I discovered that my
talent lay in stepping on stage in great condition, being able to display practically every muscle fibre like a walking anatomy chart. Perhaps adding on slabs of muscle just wasnt in my genes, but shedding the fat and remaining well-balanced in my physique was. Great conditioning and muscle separation seemed to be something that I was good at and could replicate time and time again. It was almost two years after my first bodybuilding competition that I had heard of a fitness model competition being held in London. It was only two weeks away, so I quickly picked up the pre-contest routine I had used for bodybuilding, tightened up my diet and literally jumped back on the cardio machines every morning for the next two weeks. By the day of the fitness model competition, I had made some decent
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improvements and although I hadnt been able to match the condition I had when competing in bodybuilding shows, I could clearly display my abs and had a body fat percentage of between 5 and 7%.. A healthy level that didnt require the usual 12 weeks of dieting to get to. By this time, I had competed in over six bodybuilding competitions and was very familiar with the poses and routines required, but what was required for fitness modellng was much simpler. You had to walk out, hold a couple of relaxed model poses, then stand in line with the other competitors until called forwards for basic comparisons and quarter turns. To give you an idea of just how new this category was, I had been used to competing against anywhere from 10-20 competitors on stage, this time, it was myself and 3 others.
A new era of competitions had arrived and I was only just warming up to take it head on and dominate this category.
We werent compared on who had the biggest muscles, or who had the lowest body fat levels, the judges were looking for marketability, good looks, and stage presence, in addition to the usual good shape and level of conditioning of everyones physique. For once, I was able to score higher than those who were bigger than me and who were carrying more thicker, dense muscle than I was. A new era of competitions had arrived and I was only just warming up to take it head on and dominate this category. That was almost seven years ago and while my weight still remains pretty much the same as it did back then, Ive been hard at work chiseling away at my physique but all the time keeping in mind the idea that, I still want to be able to fit into medium sized clothes. I didnt want to fall back into that never ending quest for muscle and size, so instead I focused on improving my conditioning and muscle separation. The routine you see here is one that Ive built up and perfected over the years. I have relied upon it each time I step back on stage, in front of a camera for photoshoots, or just to jump into every now and then when I feel like switching up my routine. Its also a great way to test your strength and endurance every few months as a mark of seeing if your training really is progressing you. The basis for my routine is to perform it
for several days in a row while lowering your carbohydrate intake each day and then increasing it. Typically, if I were competing on a Saturday, I would start this routine on a Sunday six days earlier and perform it every day up until and including Wednesday morning. As noted carb reduction is key I basically halve my carb intake each day from Sunday (starting at around 150g) and end up at just over 30g of carbs on the Tuesday. Then over the next three days, (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday), I would begin to saturate my muscles with up to three times as much carbs as I had been consuming before I had tapered them down (3 x 150g). This is sometimes known as Carb Loading, or Carbs Backloading. Its a process thats worked very well for me over the years. Theres a little more to it than just eating less carbs one day, then lots more the next and you can find out more about how I do this exactly by searching for cutting week on my new website www.robriches.com This workout is performed to further encourage the depletion of stored muscle glycogen (a form of carbohydrate), preparing the body to be able to load up on its glycogen storing capacity for the next few days, resulting in big, full, tight muscles. The aim is to is to lift weights that are only about 60% of your usual poundage with the focus more on volume. You'll do 20 reps of each exercise, taking no rest in between and then you move on to the next exercise and follow the same format. Basically its a nonstop circuit. Doing this level of volume, working practically every muscle in the upper body at a sub-optimal intensity is like forcing the body to use up what little stored muscle glycogen (energy) it has left, practically depleting it to near empty levels (Note: not the legs as many competitors dont train legs during the final week as it leaves them smooth and not as hard and vascular than when they exclude them from the final week before the show). Think of your stomach when you havent eaten all day and you feel like its practically shrinking and disappearing into its own existence. Then, you finally get to eat and you cant stop. You seem to be able to eat much more than you usually do and you just cant stop. Before you know it, youve eaten way too much and all of a sudden your stomach finally tells you to stop otherwise its going to pop! The stomach, like the muscle cells can contract and expand and when it has been pushed to give up everything it has (the stomach not having any foot to metabolise to produce energy, and the muscle cell not having any glycogen to give as energy when needed), it will literally override what the body is used to and for a temporary state, hold much more than it is used to, making up for the deficit. Its this cause and effect that if performed correctly can help you ride the wave to superior muscle conditioning and definition to add the finishing touches to your stage/camera-ready body.
Ideally, you should perform this routine at times when the gym is quiet so that you have access to all of the machines and weights that youll need. I recommend you first start by setting up each exercise, choosing a weight about half as much as you normally lift, so that you can quickly move through the circuit without needing to wait for an exercise to become available. If this is unavoidable, I suggest continuing on with the circuit until you are able to go back to that particular exercise and complete your set. Aim to complete 3 full circuits, performing 20 repetitions on each exercise. Think of the first circuit as a warm up, aiming to add a small amount of weight to the majority of exercises for the following two circuits. Just because your not lifting as heavy as you normally do doesnt mean to you need to do everything slowly. By the twentieth rep you shouldnt have reached muscle failure. The goal is not to go all out and feel absolutely fatigued. Rather the purpose of this workout is to drain the body of muscle glycogen, through repetition and volume. If you feel as though you can still perform 2-3 more reps at the end of the exercise, then youre in the right zone for glycotic depletion!
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ROB RICHES
After chest flys, its only natural to then focus on the back
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ROB RICHES
After completing the circuit of 11 exercises, rest for no longer than 60 seconds, which is about enough time to take a drink of water and prepare yourself for the start of the next circuit. Remember, the first circuit should have been more of a warm-up, to test whether the weights you selected were just 'right', that's to say that's where you could really feel the muscle working without taking it to absolute failure. Exercise Bench Press x 20 Barbell Row x 20 Dumbbell Presses x 20 Cable Chest Fly x 20 Seated Cable Row x 20 Lateral Dumbbell Raises x 20 Parallel Bar Dips x 20 Cable Curls x 20 Decline Crunches x 20 Seated Side Twists x 20 Decline Leg Raises x 20
Several days of training like this will suck the glycogen right out of your muscle cells, priming it to store up to three times more than its normally use to. Add to this low levels of body fat and proportioned and balanced muscle symmetry and by the time you finish the 2-3 days of carb loading, you will be primed for the stage or camera. My final recommendation is that if youre thinking of using this method prior to a competition, you give it a try several weeks Circuit 1 Circuit 2
out to see how you respond to it and the differences it can make. And if you have any questions you'll likely find the answers to you are looking for at www.robriches.com and the rest you can ask me on my Twitter page: @RobRiches Use the table below to note which exercise type and weight you lift for 20 reps. You can download additional blank ones of these at www.robriches.com by searching for Depletion Workout. Circuit 3
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