Learning From Clarence Bass. By George Beinhorn on March 29, 2012. Clarence Bass is a stud. Nowadays, he’s also a Seventy-Something. Clarence Bass, Mr. A Muscle & Fitness columnist for 16 years, Clarence Bass, a lawyer and bodybuilding champion, has been called 'the most articulate and well-read spokesman in America. From The Desk Of Clarence Bass. Clarence Bass, Ripped: The Sensible Way to Achieve Ultimate Muscularity (1980. Harvard Study Confirms Ripped Diet Philosophy.

Clarence Bass, Mr. America, Over 40 Short Class Clarence isn’t a distance runner (hardly – check his ). But what he knows about exercise is very wise and translates well to running. Driver Olitec Usb Nano Wifi No Hardware.

I had an email exchange with Clarence recently when I asked for his help with a problem in my gym workouts. The main event of my weekly sojourn in the land of trance music and creatine is the deadlift. The weird thing was that some days I felt strong as an ox – couldn’t wait to grab the bar. Those days, I could lift 290 with fair ease. But on the off-days, the weak link was my grip, which would slip with a much lighter weight – 235 lbs or less.

Clarence has pumped iron for 60 years, so I hoped he could offer a solution. He replied, “I make or buy training straps, and alternate hard and easy weeks. It takes at least two weeks to fully recover from hard deadlifts.” That made sense. My strength seems to peak every 14 days. There’s research that says protein resynthesis takes two weeks to complete after a hard training session. I remember that Kenny Moore, the two-time Olympian and author of, said he thrived on running a brutal workout every two weeks, and not killing himself the other days. I wrote Clarence a rambling thank-you, in which I mentioned some research I thought he might enjoy hearing about, since he’s always seeking new ways to improve performance.

I talk about the research in several articles on this site – see the “How to Get Faster” pieces in. They’re in the left column, under “Travel & Training.” My chain of thought goes like this: • A Harvard study found that running speed depends primarily on power applied to the ground, not stride length or frequency. • Power to the ground depends to a large extent on the trainable type IIb fast-twitch muscle fibers. • The best ways to increase type IIb FT fibers are: hill exercises (as recommended by Arthur Lydiard); plyometrics; short, fast uphill repeats; and heavy deadlifts.

Clarence Bass at age 65 I thought Clarence would smile at the notion that deadlifts can improve running speed, since he enjoys short sets with heavy weights. Not surprisingly, he appeared to be aware of these principles. Our email exchange continued (I’ve edited the emails for clarity and to fix the usual email typos): You’re ahead of me on running speed theory, but I am a big believer that intensity becomes more important, not less, with age. The key is preserving fast-twitch fibers; slow-twitch fibers take care of themselves; see my article on. We’d enjoy having you come for an in-person consultation; we’d have a great time talking, training, and eating together. Continued success with your training. Clarence Bass My reply was a bit cheeky.