Bodybuilding veteran Rich Gaspari is a strong proponent of using intensity to enhance his package in the gym. Although he moved on from professional competition years ago, his decades of experience have turned him into a revered figure in the community. In recent posts shared on Instagram, Gaspari shared an abs exercise for building strength and offered a tip on how to boost training intensity for hypertrophy.
Rich Gaspari first gained attention for his insane muscle mass, definition, and granite conditioning in the mid-1980s. He’s widely regarded as the first Men’s Open competitor to display striated glutes. Although he did not win Mr. Olympia, Gaspari was a perennial contender who participated in seven Mr. Olympia contests and took three silvers to eight-time champion Lee Haney. He also made history by becoming the inaugural champion of the Arnold Classic. Following a glittering career, he was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2004.
Gaspari opened up about the cost of bringing dry conditioning on stage earlier this year. He revealed he never took harsh diuretics and achieved the grainy conditioned look with consistent training and also credited genetics. Given the focus on being dry in contemporary competition, Gaspari bashed coaches for risking their athletes’ lives with diuretics.
Three months ago, Gaspari fired shots at the Women’s Bikini and Wellness athletes for the rampant use of PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs) in competition. He believes trainers push athletes to use heavy amounts of gear when it’s not necessary, making even regional shows hard to compete in as a natty.
Gaspari has kept up with training regularly post-retirement and often educated his audience on topics related to fitness. He detailed the anti-aging peptide stack he’s utilizing to improve his quality of life months ago.
The 60-year-old fired shots at modern bodybuilders for not giving much attention to their calf muscle development three months ago. He offered donkey calf raises as an effective exercise for enhancing muscle growth and definition in the group. Then, he provided some of his best tips to grow legs and techniques for increasing intensity on leg day.
Rich Gaspari shares abs exercises for building strength
In a recent Instagram post, Rich Gaspari shared leg raises, crunches, and twisting crunches as effective abs exercises for building strength.
“Training abs strengthens your core that can help you with training other parts of your body,” wrote Gaspari. “Leg raises are great to do for training lower Abs. I also do ab crunches to work overall abs along with twisting crunches to work intercostals. Rep range on abs for 15-50. Do Abs at least 2-3 times a week.”
Rich Gaspari is not a fan of the modern Men’s Open division. He voiced his disapproval of the evolution of the category, arguing a loss in the creative element three months ago. He feels bodybuilding is an art form instead of a sport and praised the Classic Physique division for keeping the art alive.
Gaspari issued a cautionary message against the use of trenbolone two months ago. While he conceded the steroid could result in impressive gains, he highlighted the adverse effects it may cause to the liver and cardiovascular system.
Gaspari’s tip on increasing training intensity for hypertrophy
Gaspari shared tips on how to get in the right mindset for intensity training and boost it further for hypertrophy.
“I still train with total intensity, train a muscle to failure. I don’t have my phone with me that I’m constantly texting or reading e-mails or looking at YouTube or doing whatever,” he said. “I’m going to the gym to train a certain body part I’m training. What I see right now is I see too many people distracted. And they are not making the gains. You really have to train with intensity.
“When I went to a gym training for competition, I went to the gym with the mindset I was going to battle, to war, to train a body part to total annihilation or total failure. If I didn’t do a certain weight or personal max in reps, drop set, giant set, if I didn’t finish that I imagined that my whole family is going to get killed and they were going to kill me. That’s really extreme but when you have that type of mindset going to the gym for total annihilation, you’re going to train a muscle much harder than you’ve ever trained before. That’s what it’s going to take for hypertrophy and muscle to grow.”
Rich Gaspari laid out a modified version of sumo squats to boost lower-body strength two months ago. He recommended using a platform to elevate feet for added range of motion to target glutes.
Gaspari extended his support for four-time Classic Physique Olympia champion Chris Bumstead for his dominant reign last month. He backed Bumstead to be competitive in the Open class if he packed on about 40 pounds of muscle mass.
His latest offerings are sure to help many fans take their fitness game to the next level with a strong core and intense mindset.
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