ROB RICHES How the UK’s top fitness model
maintains his cover model body.
ROB RICHES IS RENOWNED FOR STAYING SHREDDED ALL YEAR ROUND so he’s always ready for photoshoots.
His body fat rarely goes above 8% and has even been as low as 2.8% when competing in body building. To maintain that level of conditioning, Riches’ training sessions are all-out hard and heavy right from the start.
“When I first started out I was always encouraged to train one or two muscle groups per workout, hitting them hard until I literally couldn’t do any more,” says the 30-year-old. “That’s been my mentality ever since.” Although he hasn’t competed since finishing third in the men’s physique class at the UKBFF British finals in 2013, Riches still trains with a bodybuilder’s mindset.
“I stick to a set routine, which usually involves starting with a big compound free-weight movement, quickly building to close to my max and pushing hard for 10 reps,“When I first started out I was always encouraged to train one or two muscle groups per workout, hitting them hard until I literally couldn’t do any more,” says the 30-year-old. “That’s been my mentality ever since.” Although he hasn’t competed since finishing third in the men’s physique class at the UKBFF British finals in 2013, Riches still trains with a bodybuilder’s mindset.
” he says.“After that, everything is designed to just keep the intensity on the muscle as my training threshold has already been reached with the last few sets on the first exercise.”
Now based in California, Riches trains at the legendary Gold’s Gym in Venice. “They’re always playing the old bodybuilding films on giant TVs,” he says. “That motivates me and keeps me chasing the weights while focusing on strict form and really feeling the muscle work.” On top of his weights, Riches also performs up to an hour of fasted cardio every day, either using a stationary bike or walking on a high incline on a treadmill.
“Some people say this much cardio causes muscle loss but in my experience that’s a myth,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll also do interval sprints, either on the treadmill or running up the Santa Monica stairs in LA.
That’s about 183 steps up a 500-foot incline—it’s brutal!” But training alone isn’t enough for a cover model body: Riches’ diet is perfectly balanced.
His calorie intake is generally limited to around 16 calories
per pound of body weight, or just under 3,000 a day.
He’ll have 320 grams of protein, 250 g of carbs and about 60 g of fat every day.
“There are times when I’ll eat more but that’s maybe once or twice a month,” says Riches. “If I do, I’ll push myself harder in training the next day to burn off the excess.”
