Евгений Сандов (1867 - 1925) - сильнейший человек мира, родитель массового атлетизма и культуризма, создатель первой сети салонов физического развития, первый в мире профессор физического развития.
Студент-медик Фридрих Вильгельм Мюллер (настоящее имя Сандова) страстно увлекся анатомией и физическими упражнениями, чтобы избавиться от телесной слабости и болезненности. Задача решилась: пришли тонус, здоровье и сила; освоены акробатика, борьба и джигитовка; Фредерик Мюллер становится цирковым атлетом, выбирает себе новое имя - Евгений Сандов. И затем достигает феноменального уровня развития силы и тела - более того - становится сильнейшим человеком мира.
Благодаря качеству и плотности своеродной силы Сандов, при обычных вроде данных (рост 170, вес 80), одерживает ряд сенсационных побед над могучими профессиональными борцами. Демонстрирует красоту-гармонию-ловкость своего тела и феноменальные силовые трюки, устанавливает мировой рекорд в жиме одной рукой и даже борется со львом.
Сандов нашел новый способ развития силы и представил его в форме силовой гимнастики для всех.
Он пишет книги о своей системе, активно пропагандирует ее в Америке и Европе и лично готовит многие десятки атлетов. В 1901 году Сандов организовал первый в мире конкурс красоты атлетического сложения. Приз первого конкурса - золотая статуэтка Сандова с шаровой штангой в одной руке - до сих пор является символом культуризма (современный бронзовый приз бодибилдеров "Мистер Олимпия").
Родился Фридрих Мюллер в прусском Кенигсберге (ныне Калининграде). Отец его немец - продавец зелени и фруктов, мать его русская - помогала отцу. О детстве Мюллера известно мало. Будучи студентом он увлекается анатомией и физической культурой. Затем становится цирковым борцом. Примерно в 1887 году, в Брюсселе, начинается восхождение звезды Сандова. Он выбирает себе это имя (звучит: Юджин Сандоу), рекламирует свои силовые достижения как достижения передовой науки и возрождение древнегреческого идеала (тренером служит Луис Дурлахер, именуемый Аттилой). Пик стартовой рекламной компании приходится на Лондон 1889 года, когда он вызвал на конкурс известного силача и борца Sampsonа. Сандов одерживает здесь первую феноменальную победу.
В начале 90-х Сандов демонстрирует свою феноменальную силу в Англии и Европе и побеждает всех силачей и борцов, пожелавших испытать его силу.
Представим физические достижения Сандова:
Сандов красив, ловок и хорошо сложен; прекрасный гимнаст, наездник и борец.
В течение четырех минут отжимается лежа на полу 200 раз.
В течение нескольких секунд удерживает на вытянутых вперед руках гири по 27 кг.
Опираясь пятками на один стул, а затылком на другой, держит на груди двух человек, а в вытянутой руке - 22-килограммовую гирю.
Держа в каждой руке по 1,5-пудовой гире, он становится на носовой платок, затем прыгает и делает сальто назад, точно приземляясь опять на носовой платок.
Точный вес гирь был 56 фунтов, или 25,4 кг. Это несколько больше 1,5 пудов = 24,57 кг.
На грудь Сандову устанавливают платформу, и он держит на ней трех лошадей. В другом номере на платформе находятся рояль и оркестр из восьми человек.
Примерно в 1894 году Сандов устанавливает мировой рекорд: выжимает одной рукой штангу с огромными полыми шарами, внутри которых сидит по одному человеку. Вес необычной штанги составил 269 фунтов, или 122 кг!
В русских статьях встречается другая цифра: 7 пудов 13 фунтов = 120 кг.
Во время американских гастролей, в Сан Франциско в 1894 году, Сандов борется со львом - в наморднике и обутым в варежки. Лев бросался на Сандова, который ловил его, удерживал и отбрасывал.
В 1895 году Сандов выполняет сложнейший силовой трюк - поднимает и выжимает правой рукой штангу весом 115 кг и, затем перекладывает ее в левую руку, приседает и ложится на пол на спину и, затем, не опуская штангу, встает.
Георг Гаккеншмидт "побил" часть этого рекорда, выжав одной рукой 116 кг примерно в 1900 году. Весил Георг 94 кг при росте 176 см. Сандов в момент установления рекорда весил 84 кг при росте 170 см. Отметим, что Георг имел мощные природные данные, а Сандов взрастил свою силу в молодости. Тем не менее: Георг Гаккеншмидт уже в 1898 году - весьма вероятно - превосходил Сандова в борьбе, стал чемпионом Европы.
Рекорд Сандова перекрыл с запасом Артур Саксон из Лейпцига в 1906 году, правда несколько иным способом. Саксон выкрутил одной рукой 159 кг. Этот рекорд держится до сих пор! (фото Saxona) Выкручивание - это жим при котором атлет как бы подлезает под штангу всем телом. Вес Саксона 91 кг при росте 176 см. Отметим, что Саксон забрал у Сандова титул самого сильного человека в мире.
Добившись европейского признания Сандов на 4 года переезжает в Америку (1894-1897) и здесь тоже становится звездой. Его реклама сильна и изобретательна: он демонстрирует удивительные силовые трюки, сдруживается и фотографируется с американскими кумирами, борется со львом, поддерживает словом и делами предпринимательский дух. Встречается с давним знакомым врачом и поднимает его, вставшего ногой на ладонь, вытянутой рукой. Благодаря широкой рекламе своей силы и красоты, публикации и активной пропаганде своей системы оздоровления Сандов становится первым лицом сторонников здорового образа жизни и физической культуры в Америке.
В американский период заканчивается его недолгое семейное счастье. Он женился на красивой женщине и имел двух симпатичных детей. Но яркая публичная жизнь, восторг почитателей, соблазны, вояжи и новые начинания постепенно свели семейную жизнь на нет.
В 1897 году Сандов возвращается в Англию и начинает новый этап своей жизни. Ему исполнилось 30 лет, у него всемирная слава и миллионы последователей.
Сандов сосредотачивается на возделывании созданного им доверительного рынка:
а) Он продолжает развивать общественное движение за здоровый образ жизни и развитие тела, вовлекая в него аристократию, средний класс, женщин и школьников. Акцент плавно смещается с силы на здоровье. Сандов издает новые книги, публикует статьи и плакаты.
б) Под собственной маркой Сандов выводит на рынок товары для здоровья: пружинные гантели, корсет здоровья, какао силы, атлетический лосьон, сигареты для отдыха...
в) Сандов открывает в Лондоне Студию физической культуры для богатых: изящный дизайн во всем, зеркала с позолотой, толстые персидские ковры, белые гантели и приспособения...
В те времена традиционная медицина прохладно относилась к активному образу жизни. Достаточными движениями для поддержания здоровья зажиточных человеков считались: ходьба, душ с обтиранием, переваривание пищи, чтение и смех, субботний гольф с бадминтоном.
в 1901 году при королевской моральной поддержке Сандов организовал в Англии первый в мире конкурс красоты атлетического сложения.
Жюри состояло из 3 знаменитостей: Сандов, Артур Конан-Дойль и скульптор Чарльз Лоуз. Большой лондонский театр "Королевский Альберт Холл" был забит до отказа. 56 атлетов со всей Британии, большинство из которых занимались по системе Сандова, промаршировали в тугих черных трико с леопардовой шкурой поверх. Начался конкурс, включавший в себя демонстрацию тела в ряде установленных форм и измерения тела. Первым в мире победителем конкурса красоты стал Вильям Мюррей, получивший золотую статуэтку Сандова с шаровой штангой.
Сандов уже не претендует на роль лучшего борца, он восходит на трон гармоничного развития тела. Но силовые номера продолжает демонстрировать.
Следует также учесть, что конкурс атлетической красоты состоялся уже после второй Олимпиады в Париже: в течение 5 месяцев 1300 спортсменов из 22 стран разыграли 88 золотых медалей. Сопутствующие награды победителям от почитателей бывали весьма солидными. А Барон Пьер де Кубертен получил все лавры возрождения античной атлетики. Впрочем заметим, что в Афинах, на восстановленном античном стадионе, в 1859-1889 годах состоялись 5 греческих Олимпиад.
К 1905 году в Британии действовала уже сеть физических салонов и Институтов физической культуры Сандова. Затем он предпринимает мировое турне для распространения системы: Южная Африка, Индия, Япония, Австралия, Новая Зеландия.
В 1908 году четвертая мировая Олимпиада проходила в течение 6 месяцев в Лондоне.
В 1911 году Сандов назначается инструктором Короля Англии Георга V, который присваивает Сандову звание профессора физического развития. Так Сандов стал первым в мире признанным ученым в новой науке физической культуры. Тем не менее главным его достижением остается формирование развитого рынка бодибилдинга=телостроительства.
В 1906 году после рекорда Артура Саксона силовые демонстрации Сандова утрачивают блеск безупречности. Сандов переключается на новый образ "мирового отца физической культуры для всех", становится советником короля и в 1912 году в качестве королевского профессора публикует книгу о лечении болезней с помощью физических упражнений.
С началом 1-й мировой войны Сандов уходит из показательных выступлений, но продолжает свои занятия культуризмом и продолжает возделывать рынок здоровья.
В 1925 году его автомобиль съехал с дороги и спутники уговорили Сандова вытащить авто из кювета одной рукой. Сандов вытащил автомобиль и... получил кровоизлияние в мозг. Так завершилась одна из ярчайших человеческих жизней.
Сандов был женат и имел двух дочерей, однако этот брак не был счастливым. Отношения с женой были всегда натянутыми. Скончался Евгений Сандов 14-го октября 1925 года в Лондоне от кровоизлияния в мозг. Существует легенда, что Сандов скончался вскоре после того как вытащил одной рукой из кювета свой автомобиль.
По настоянию жены Сандова он был похоронен в могиле, на которой даже не был установлен надгробный камень.Евгений Сандов похоронен в юго-западном Лондоне на кладбище Putney Vale Cemetary.
Надгробный камень на могиле Сандова был установлен лишь в 2002 году одним из его последователей. На этом камне было написано "Евгений Сандов - отец бодибилдинга".
Сын немца и русской, истинный англичанин, человек который сам создал свою силу и имя, основатель массового атлетизма и культуризма... Евгений Сандов по сей день остается образцом для всех любителей физической культуры, во всем мире. И так же как 100 лет назад, всех нас продолжает удивлять и притягивать тайна его силы.
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Как пожилой атлет, ты можешь улучшить свою способность к восстановлению и суперкомпенсации проводя короткие тренировки. Тебе не нужно тратить долгие часы в зале, чтоб добиться хороших результатов. Фактически как пожилой атлет, ты добьешься больших результатов если укоротишь свои тренировки. Пожилые атлеты могут получать восхитительные результаты, выполняя тренировку в очень короткое время. Мои тренировки обычно занимают от 30 до 45 минут. Некоторые вообще только 15 или 20 минут. «Длинная» тренировка занимает что-то около 45-60 минут, и я почти никогда не тренируюсь дольше 60 минут.
Давай я повторю. Мои тренировки обыкновенно занимают от 30 до 45 минут. И я почти никогда не тренируюсь дольше чем 60 минут. Это не потому что я ленивый, и не потому что мне не нравится тренироваться, и не потому что у меня еще кроме этого очень много дел. Это потому что я понял, что короткие тренировки - ключ к успеху для пожилых атетов.
Как большинство из вас я люблю тренироваться. И если бы более длинные тренировки работали для меня, я бы выбрал длинные тренировки. Но они даже рядом не стояли по эффективности с короткими тренировками. Есть некоторое количество причин для этого. Первая, как многие пожилые атлеты я работаю долгие часы на утомляющей работе - о, точнее на двух работах, потому что я работаю на обыкновенной работе днем и также занимаюсь бизнесом по изданию книг. У меня просто нет времени и энергии для того чтобы дольше тренироваться. Второе, я получаю больше удовольствия от тренировок, если я после тренировки выхожу из гаража хорошенько разогретым. Третье, я значительно лучше восстанавливаюсь после коротких тренировок. Если я провожу слишком много времени на любой тренировке, я всегда за это расплачиваюсь на следующий день или на несколько следующих дней.
В связи с этим, важное замечание, что я веду подробные записи всех моих тренировок. В результате я могу легко вам рассказать что работает, а что нет. Когда я тренируюсь в среднем от 30 до 40 минут за тренировку, я становился сильнее и сильнее каждую тренировку и хорошо прогрессировал длительное время. Если я менял свою программу и тренировался от 45 до 60 минут, то в начале было несколько хороших тренировок, а затем я уставал, начинал чувствовать боль в суставах, и я чувствовал себя вялым, особенно на упражнениях типа рывков в полусед, взятиях на грудь в стойку и швунгах, и я начинал терять силу, и если я продолжал упрямиться, я всегда заканчивал какой-нибудь ноющей травмой.
Я не единственный пожилой атлет, кто получил хорошую отдачу от сравнительно коротких, не частых тренировок и такого тренировочного графика, которой оставляет достаточно много времени для восстановления и суперкомпенсации. Кларенс Басс (Clarence Bass) один из самых хорошо развитых бодибилдеров в своей пожилой возрастной группе, написал серию книг, которая хронологически описывает его тренировки и диету с того момента когда ему было почти 40 до его 70 лет. Кларенс всегда придерживался философии ВИТ (HIT - High Intense Training), и всегда следовал коротким, жестким, редким тренировкам. Но так как он старел, Кларенс понемногу урезал свой тренинг, и сегодня он делает восхитительные подъемы следуя раздельной тренировочной программе, по которой он тренируется только два раза в 9 дней. Это дает ему возможность максимально восстанавливаться между тренировками, и максимальное восстановление играет ключевую роль в его успехе.
Другой пример это Фред Лоу (Fred Lowe), выдающийся атлет выступавший в чемпионатах возрастной категории от 35 до 80+ (Master"s championship), с делением на возрастные подгруппы и весовые подгруппы (подробнее здесь: http://2010-en.concordia-international.org/required-documents), который выигрывал Национальный и Мировой чемпионаты в возрастной категории от 35 до 80+ и установил Национальные и Мировые рекорды в трех весовых группах и в разных возрастных группах. В интервью которое он дал Роджеру ЛяПуинте (Roger LaPointe), записанном сразу после победы Фреда в его классе в 2001 году Национальный чемпионат категории от 35 до 80+. Фред отметил что он тренировался только два раза в неделю при подготовке к чемпионату. Двух часовая тренировка в среду, после которой он долго отмокал в горячей ванной, и более легкая тренировка в пятницу, которая занимала от 45 до 60. Да не так то и много работы, но в этом и весь смысл. Фред сфокусировался на улучшении его возможности восстановления и сверхкомпенсации, а не на пахоте долгими часами в зале и соревнования показали результат.
Сокращенный Тренинг Для Пожилых Атлетов
Сокращенные программы, это программа в которую входит пять или меньше упражнений. Для примера, сокращенной программой может быть - присед, взятия в стойку и швунг, или - приседания, жим лежа и тяга штанги в наклоне, или - присед, отжимания на брусьях и подтягивания, или - жим стоя, присед, жим лежа, тяга в наклоне и становая тяга. Сокращенные тренировки известны уже очень давно, и они построили тонны мышц и силы за многие года.
Сокращенные тренировки позволяют тебе тренироваться тяжело и жестко, с высокой интенсивностью, без превышения твоих способностей к восстановлению. Это делает их практически идеальными для пожилых атлетов.
Сокращенные тренировки представляют себя для любого типа тренинга, где ты сосредотачиваешься на тяжелой работе с полной отдачей. Они работают для тяжелоатлетов, для силовых троеборцев, для любителей стронгов (stongman), для бодибилдеров, и для всех остальных. Они работают для тех кто предпочитает много подходов с средним или низким числом повторов, как система 5х5 или 5/4/3/2/1, они работают и для тех кто предпочитает тяжелые синглы, также они работают и для тех кто тренируется по системе ВИТ (HIT) и доводит каждый подход до отказа. Они работают для парней кто тренируется с штангами Eleiko, для парней кто тренируется с камнями, мешками или штангами на своем заднем дворе, и для парней кто предпочитает тренинг со своим весом. Но лучше всего они работают для пожилых атлетов, потому что они помогают этим атлетам улучшить их способности к восстановлению и суперкомпенсации.
Ультра Сокращенный Тренинг
Больше всего за весь свой тренировочный стаж я использовал сокращенные программы, и я получил от них восхитительные результаты. Но со временем когда я становился старше и старее, мои тренировки становились все более и более сокращенными. Нынешние мои тренировки можно назвать «ультра сокращенными». В большинстве своих тренировок я делаю только одно упражнение. На других тренировках я делаю два упражнения. Изредка я делаю больше чем два упражнения на тренировке. Мне нравится ультра сокращенный тренинг, потому что он позволяет мне получить максимальную отдачу от конкретного упражнения в короткий период времени. Также они позволяют мне работать жестко и тяжело без превышения пределов моего восстановления.
Другая причина, того почему мне нравится ультра сокращенные тренировки, в том что это позволяет мне понять как мое тело отвечает на тренировку и упражнение (или упражнения) которые я делаю. Если я провожу тренировку на которой делаю только рывки в полусед, а на следующий день я чувствую что мои плечи или спина ноют или болят, то я могу абсолютно точно сказать что это отклик на рывки в полусед, и я буду знать что мне надо либо сильнее разогреваться, или скинуть вес, или возможно сменить упражнение. Если я проведу тренировку которая будет включать рывки, жимы, взятия в стойку, швунг или толчек, присед и жим лежа, я вероятно не смогу определить от чего именно возникла эта проблема.
Также становится не проблемой отслеживать эффективность. К примеру, если я делаю становую с трэп-грифом какое-то время, и затем меняю его на рывки в полусед и взятия на грудь в стойку и мои трапеции начинают болеть, то это говорит о том что рывки и взятия лучше прорабатывают мои трапеции чем становая. Очевидно что это очень полезная информация. Пожилым атлетам надо тренироваться как можно более осмысленно, и чем больше информации - и чем больше достоверной информации у тебя в руках, тем лучше.
Я также люблю ультра сокращенные тренировки - обычно содержащие тяжелую работу над одним упражнением - потому что они позволяют мне начинать с очень легкого веса и выполнять серию разминочных подходов прогрессивно повышая вес, пока я не достигну моего «рабочего веса» на этот день. Я понял что, когда я стал становиться старше мне стало требоваться больше разминочных подходов, особенно в упражнениях наподобие взятий на грудь в стойку, рывков в полусед и швунгов, взрывные движения, где так важна координация и гибкость, а также мне приходится больше разминаться и в движениях вроде становой с трэп-грифом, становой тяги, приседаний и фронтальных приседаний, где я работаю с достаточно тяжелыми весами.
Разделенная Тренировочная Программа
Для большинства из нас, сокращенный тренинг не будет работать очень хорошо, если мы будем выполнять одно и тоже упражнение на каждой тренировке. Это может работать какое-то время, особенно если это хорошее общее упражнение, как взятие на грудь и жим, или взятие на грудь и швунг, но даже наскучат со временем - и скука один из главных врагов тренировочного прогресса. В дополнение, тебе все же нужно некоторое разумное число упражнений, чтобы тренировать все крупные мышечные группы тела. Так как же работать в нескольких разных упражнениях и придерживаться ультра сокращенного тренинга?
Ответ прост. Используй разделенную тренировочную программу.
В разделенной тренировочной программе, ты разделяешь все свои упражнения в несколько тренировок. Обычно в две или три тренировки, но ты можешь использовать до шести разделенных тренировок. Проводи всегда разные тренировки.
Для примера, если ты троеборец, ты хочешь тернировать присед, жим лежа и становую тягу. Если ты предпочитаешь тренироваться три раза в неделю, ты можешь делать присед в понедельник, жим лежа во вторник и становую в пятницу. Если ты предпочитаешь тренироваться два раза в неделю, ты можешь делать присед и жим лежа в среду и становую тягу в пятницу. Если ты хочешь добавить немного вспомогательных упражнений, ты можешь попробовать приседания и подъем на бицепс в воскресение, жим лежа и тягу в наклоне штанги в среду, и жим стоя (или швунг, или жим гантелей на наклонке, или жим лежа узким хватом) и становую тягу или становую с трэп-грифом в пятницу.
If you’ve been around bodybuilding since the ’80s, you know the name Clarence Bass. Did he win the Mr. Olympia? No, but he brought to the forefront the principles of eating and training properly to get that extreme-lean look Mr. Olympias strive for. A self-confessed musclehead and attorney, he got down to 2.4 percent bodyfat, something unheard of even today, and he did it with clean eating, sensible training and no drugs-and he was over 40 when he achieved that milestone.
Today he’s 70, and he looks incredible-not just for his age but for any age. If you’re interested in how he does it, read on.
IM: You appear almost as ripped and muscular on the cover of your new book, Great Expectations , as you did in your earlier books, like Lean for Life and Challenge Yourself , when you were 50 and 60. What’s been the most difficult adjustments you’ve had to make as you got older to stay in that condition?
CB: Thanks for the compliment. People need to know that it doesn’t have to be downhill after 50. That’s the main message in my new book; that’s why I wrote it. I’ve basically kept on doing what I’ve always done. I had my hip replaced in January of 2006, but I continued training right up to the surgery and lost little if any size or strength. I had a new surgical procedure where they go between rather than cut any major muscles. I was back in the gym in a few weeks and back up to speed in a few months. The body keeps responding to the demands of sensible training far longer than most people think. To accomplish something you must believe that it’s possible-and that you can do it. My new book gives readers reason to have great expectations.
IM: Do you think your years of weight training were the reason you needed hip-replacement surgery?
CB: It’s impossible to know for sure. I trained steadily for more than 50 years before having my hip replaced. It may have just worn out. It’s also possible that my hip would’ve given out earlier without training. I have a congenital curvature in my spine, which may have played a part as well. Most doctors would agree that joints do best when they are used regularly (not overused). One of the chapters in my book gives the details of my hip replacement, including the role of weight training before and after.
IM: In Ripped you said your bodyfat was measured in a hydrostatic-weighing device at 2.4 percent. Have you had your bodyfat measured lately?
CB: I monitor my bodyfat every week using a Tanita Body Composition Scale, which is quite accurate if used consistently. That’s been a boon to my training because I no longer have the expense and hassle of having myself weighed under water. According to the Tanita scale, my bodyfat was about 5 percent when the book photos were taken; it varies, plus or minus, based on time of day and hydration level.
IM: Do you feel you’re still improving, or is it more of a maintenance game now?
CB: I always try to improve. Training to maintain is no fun and a motivation killer, and I avoid it like the plague. I can almost always find ways to improve. I set goals in every workout. That doesn’t mean that I’m improving in a linear way-I’m obviously not. But that’s my mind-set, and I believe it has a lot to do with my continuing success.
IM: In the past you were a staunch high-intensity advocate, training all out to failure along the lines of Mike Mentzer’s recommendations. Do you still believe in that approach, and is it the best way to train for someone past middle age?
CB: I’m a strong believer in the “less is more” philosophy. I don’t train to all-out failure. I know when I can’t do another rep and stop. Where I differ with Mike’s approach is that I train in up-and-down cycles and always include aerobics. I think it’s important for older lifters to continue challenging themselves and take care to allow time for recovery between workouts.
IM: What weight-training and cardio programs do you follow now, and how has that changed over the past decade-or has it?
CB: My workouts are equally balanced between weights and aerobics. I approach aerobics the same way I do weights: hard and infrequent. I prefer to do weights and aerobics on separate days, so I can give equal attention to both. I train two or three times a week and walk on off days. On weights, I do one hard set after warmup. On aerobics, I focus on high-intensity intervals. My weight workouts last a little over an hour and my aerobics sessions about 25 minutes.
IM: Are there exercises you think older bodybuilders should steer clear of? How about squats and deadlifts?
CB: I believe both old and young trainers should avoid movements that hurt. If it hurts, don’t do it. Squats and deadlifts are fine as long as they don’t cause joint pain. Allowing time for recovery is especially important for the squat and deadlift. Doing squats one week and deadlifts the next works well for most people.
IM: Do you do a lot of warmup sets before your one work set for each exercise?
CB: It depends on the exercise. For multijoint exercises such as squats, deadlifts or bench presses, I generally do two or three warmup sets. For curls and other single-joint movements, one or two. Reps for warmup sets are usually eight to four, with progressively heavier weights. My theory is that warmup sets are to prepare the body for the work set and shouldn’t wear you out.
IM: Is your training program in your new book?
CB: Yes. I explain the changes I’ve made recently, including those made after my hip replacement.
IM: Early in your weight-training career you were an Olympic lifter. Do you think those lifts-the clean and jerk and the snatch-are safe? What were some of your best poundages?
CB: The Olympic lifts put a lot of stress on the joints and must be approached with care. Power cleans and power snatches are much easier to learn and are probably best for most people. I do have some joint problems that I trace back to my Olympic lifting days-I have a weakness in my left shoulder and arthritis in my lower back. I avoid movements that aggravate either condition. Training through pain or injury is a bad idea. My best lifts were 275 press, 245 snatch and 325 clean and jerk.
IM: What’s your favorite cardio exercise, and how do you attack it for best results?
CB: My favorite cardio machine is the Schwinn Airdyne, an exercise bike with a push-pull arm action. I believe in training the whole body aerobically, and the Airdyne does that very well. What many forget is that 50 percent or more of the benefit of aerobic exercise takes place in the muscles and that only the muscles that are used benefit. A good performance monitor, like the one on the Airdyne, is important so you can train progressively. As I said earlier, I always try to improve.
IM: In the days of Ripped your diet was higher carb, medium protein and low fat, with reduced calories when you wanted to get ripped. How do you eat now?
CB: The main change that I’ve made in recent years is the addition of “good” fat, usually salmon. Good fat slows the absorption of food and is good for the heart and circulatory system. I eat a balanced diet of mostly whole foods. I eat three main meals and three snacks a day and never miss a meal. The bulk of my diet is vegetables, fruits and whole grains. In addition, I make a point of having some fat and high-quality protein with each meal or snack. I never allow myself to get overly hungry. I don’t starve myself.
IM: Does being a semi-vegetarian hamper your testosterone production? Doesn’t that type of diet make it harder to build muscle, especially as you age?
CB: I had my testosterone checked during my last health and fitness exam at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas. The blood test showed that my testosterone is in the mid-range of normal; you can read the details on our Web site (www.cbass.com). I believe that regular exercise-weights and aerobics-and a balanced diet are all that most people need to maintain testosterone at normal levels.
IM: What’s your favorite supplement for aging bodybuilders?
CB: I like creatine, which works especially well for people who don’t eat much meat. I’ve taken it for years.
IM: What keeps you motivated to stay in such solid, lean shape? Who’s your inspiration?
CB: I enjoy my training, a key element in staying motivated. Realistic and challenging goals are also important. Positive feedback showing progress toward a meaningful goal is the ultimate motivator. I always have a goal. When I achieve it, I set another one. Training becomes more important with each passing year. I never miss a scheduled workout. Bill Pearl has always been my favorite role model. My dad and I were in the audience when he won the ’53 Mr. America. I love the fact that he still gets up at about 4 a.m. to train six days a week.
IM: What’s your training and diet advice to bodybuilders who are moving past middle age?
CB: I’d tell them that regularity in training and diet is the most important thing. The only diet or training regimen that will work is one you are willing and able to continue indefinitely. Don’t bite off more than you’re really willing to chew.
IM: Do you keep up with the current bodybuilding scene?
CB: I don’t follow competitive bodybuilding as closely as I once did. My impression is that the top guys and gals are so good that normal people can’t relate to them. Bodybuilding for health and fitness, however, has never been more popular. Carol and I just heard that Gold’s Gym is planning to open several new gyms in our hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which already has a ton of fitness centers. My sense is that the over-40 market may be the fastest growing segment. For those who want to stay young and strong, bodybuilding is the key.
IM: Obesity is rampant in the United States, and children are more sedentary than ever before, which is adding to the epidemic and creating a health crisis. Any ideas on how we as a society can reverse that trend?
CB: I wish I knew the answer. I’m pretty sure that treating the overweight as victims isn’t it, however. With very few exceptions, whether we are fit and lean or sedentary and fat is a choice. Our Web site, books and DVDs are aimed at helping people who want to help themselves.
F or decades, Clarence Bass (born 1937) has been photographed in bodybuilding poses that trace his transformation from an embryonic weightlifter of 15 to a ripped septuagenarian. The pictures represent a biological time line of how little the human body declines with proper care and feeding. His latest photographs, taken a little shy of his 70th birthday, reveal a man virtually bereft of body fat. He is not so much a portrait of strength, though he is that; he is a model of muscle definition. Everything seems to pop . Tendons and veins rise up out of his skin like tightly drawn cables. He has abs to die for.
"For all the softies of the world," said photographer Laszlo Bencze, who photographed Bass, "the only thing they desire is defined abs. And Clarence has got that in spades."
Outside the hypercritical eye of the bodybuilding establishment, where no imperfection goes unnoticed, Bass"s physique has changed little since 1978 when he won his height class at the Past-40 Mr. America competition. The similarity between age 40 and 70 is ll the more remarkable because Bass than was using anabolic steroids.
Now, instead of drugs, he uses a few over0the-counter nutritional supplements. He lifts weights twice a week, mixes in another two days of short bouts of heart-pounding aerobics, takes lots of walks, and eats a near-vegetarian diet. He is not a slave to the gym. And when I spent a day with him in December 2007, we ate all day long.
America"s health clubs are filled with barbell-lifting baby boomers intent on staying young forever. But will they, over decades, have the discipline, diet, and passion for weight training that Bass had demonstrated? Will any of them ever look as lean and strong?
"I don"t think that you will ever see many people like Clarence Bass," said Terry Todd, a professor of exercise history at the University of Texas. "Clarence is very unique."
I learned about Bass when I came across his photographs in Physical Dimensions of Aging (1995), by Waneen W. Spirduso, a professor of kinesiology and public health, also at the University of Texas.
Spirduso used pictures of Bass to make a point: Strength and muscular endurance decline mostly because of a lack of exercise - not because of factors associated with getting old. "One of the clearest findings in the literature on strength and aging is that disuse accelerates aging," she wrote.
For many years, much of the medical community failed to see the benefits of resistance training. "You really had to be there to see how people felt," said Todd, a former national champion powerlifter who weighed more than 300 pounds. He remembers meeting Kenneth Cooper, the physician and author of the 1968 book, Aerobics. At the time, Cooper saw little benefit in strenuous weight training. But with new research, attitudes began to change. A 1998 study by the American College of Medicine analyzed 250 research projects; among the findings, it found that strength training can make men and women stronger as they grow older, improve bone health, and help control weight. In one of the studies, older men and women were found to achieve greater gains in strength than younger people. Spirduso described elite elderly athletes as having a psyche in which the "body and functioning are very important components of self-awareness and self-esteem."
When I first saw the photographs of Bass, I was impressed with how strong he looked. But his muscularity, at his age, seemed excessive. I thought about TV muscleman Jack LaLanne and the infomercials featuring impossibly strong men and women hawking the latest exercise device. Mind you, this was early in my research, and I hadn"t yet studied anyone as muscular as Bass. I didn"t fully understand the passion, pride, and ambition that drove the older athlete; I hadn"t come around to the notion that if a 70-year old man can spring 100 meters or run a marathon, why couldn"t he try seeking physical perfection?
"I think the primary reason people are uncomfortable about these sorts of muscle poses, and to some degree this is true, is that vanity and ego are on such public display," Todd told me. He is co-director of Texas"s Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection, the largest archive in the world devoted to fitness, weightlifting, and exercise.
Todd described Bass as "sort of a poster child" for the older superfit and he planned on using photos depicting "the changelessness of Clarence"s body" when the collection became the centerpiece of the university"s new 27,000-square-foot Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports.
Muscularity can be intimidating, even when it"s someone who qualifies for Social Security. "It"s sort of like, "What have you spent the last 30 years of your life doing? Well, not much," Bencze said. "And so that makes them feel guilty. And if you feel guilty, you are going to be angry."
His Body of Work
In street clothes, Bass is lean and wiry. He is not tall - 5"6". His skin is remarkably smooth, and in certain light he appears 20 years younger. Bass is fond of sharing his views and, in fact, much of his time is now spent communicating his ideas on fitness. But it is with restraint - and not gimmicks. "He talks very softly but very strongly," said his old friend, Carl Miller, a former U.S. Olympic weightlifting coach.
The Sport of Olympic-Style Weightlifting, Training for the Connoisseur -
Carl Miller, 2011:
"How I look is very important to me," Bass said when we first met at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "That"s my proof, so to speak." Photographs are the "most visible way I can show that I have maintained this level of fitness," he said. "I realize that it is a turnoff for some people who are not into bodybuilding. But one of the things that distinguishes me from almost any other bodybuilder is this continuing documentation."
Muscle definition is influenced chiefly by muscle size and level of body fat. Every Saturday morning before breakfast, Bass goes into the bathroom and steps on a scale that measures his weight and body bar. He records the changes in his neat handwriting on a legal pad, the numbers fluctuating by a pound and a tenth of a percentage point, respectively. He has tested his body this way since 1977. In the days before high-tech scales, Bass was dunked underwater in a laboratory by researchers at the Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research in Albuquerque.
In his most recent photographs, Bass weighed 150 pounds. His body fat registered 3.5% on his at-home scale - lower than that of most elite marathon runners. A more qualitative analysis occurs every morning when he gets out of bed and looks in the mirror at his nude body. "In terms of overall muscle mass, there are some posies that I used to be able to do that I can"t now," he said. "But I am pretty proud of how I look."
Bass began lifting weights at 13, turning an old shed at home into his personal gym. As a junior in high school, he was New Mexico"s state pentathlon champion - an event that combined push-ups, chin-ups, vertical jump, a 300-yard shuttle run, and an event called the bar vault, in which competitors pulled themselves over a high bar. As a senior, he finished second in the state wrestling tournament. In college, he began competing in Olympic-style lifts, which require great quickness and strength. Then he took up bodybuilding.
The year after he won his weight class in the Past-40 Mr. America, Bass, at 41, took first place in his class in another competition - the Past-40 Mr. USA. Overall, he won best abdominals, best legs, and most muscular. He was in the best condition of his life.
Then he stopped competing and I wondered why he suddenly quit. "I might lose," he told me as we sat in his kitchen. "I really had nothing to gain and everything to lose. I developed my reputation with these photos, and these contests aren"t a lot of fun."
Bass was practicing law full time. He was also writing a column for Muscle and Fitness magazine. The next goal was to leverage his credentials and write more expansively about weight training and bodybuilding. A year after leaving the posing stage, Bass wrote his first book, Ripped: The Sensible Way to Achieve Ultimate Muscularity, which he self-published in 1980. The book delved not only into his diet and training philosophies but also discussed his use of steroids. Ripped has sold about 55,000 copies.
Bass"s experimentation with steroids must be viewed in the context of the times. The International Olympic Committee added steroids to its list of banned substances for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, but there was no testing for the presence of the drugs at bodybuilding competitions. It was certainly off the radar screen of professional sports and the public mindset. In Ripped, Bass laid it out in the open. While he did not condemn those who used steroids, he concluded that even though he used them for a short time, they were a disaster on his body.
There are no known long-term effects of steroids because no studies have been done, according to Charles Yesalis, professor emeritus of health policy and administration at Pennsylvania University and a leading expert on drug use in sports. "There has always been a vanity to man, but it clearly accelerating," Yesalis said. "I think that performance-enhancing drugs are just one piece of the puzzle." Athletes use them to gain an edge, but there is also the human desire to look better. The use of makeup, tanning beds, cosmetic surgery, even exercise, all figure into this yearning for achievement, he said.
In 1978 for the Past-40 Mr. America, Bass had subsisted on a low-carbohydrate diet; in the weeks before the competition, he was eating 18 eggs a day. His hands trembled from overtraining. The diet, his training, and probably the steroids produced emotional highs and lows that he called his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. With steroids, "in short, your body"s hormone-producing mechanism gets lazy," he wrote. "Thus a real problem arises when you stop taking steroids."
As Bass was getting ready for his second over-40 competition without the aid of steroids, his bodyfat had zoomed from 2.4 to 9.1 percent. While still far leaner than the average man his age, he had six months to rid his body of unwanted fat.
Bass changed his exercise routine from mega-lifting sessions to shorter, high-intensity workouts that trained different muscles on different days. Each muscle group got four days of rest. He also reverted to a diet that leaned heavily on low-fat protein whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Without using steroids, he was able to increase his strength and reduce body fat. Bass has essentially stayed with the same whole-foods diet and workout regimen ever since.
"If you are going to be a lifetime trainer," he told me, "steroids are absolutely the wrong thing to do. You"re just jerking yourself around." Bass also is not a proponent of two other potential aids for older athletes: supplements for alleviating declining testosterone levels or hormone-replacement therapy. He believes a good diet and exercise trump supplements" purported benefits without risking potential consequences.
Bass practiced law until he was 57. But as his interest in health grew, he went into the fitness business full time with his wife, Carol. He has written ten and self-published nine books; his latest is Great Expectations: Health, Fitness, Leanness Without Suffering, which was released in 2007.
The couple has also produced five audiotapes and three DVDs. Their business, Ripped Enterprises, sells other produces, including nutritional supplements. But unlike many fitness gurus, Bass does not tout supplements as the cornerstone of good health.
"The only defect with Clarence is that what he recommends isn"t exotic enough," said Bencze, who in six months lost 20 pounds using Bass"s whole-foods approach. With a good diet and exercise, Bass believes a person who wants to lose weight should try dropping no more than a half-pound (0.2 kg) per week. "It"s so normal, so un-weird that many people think it can"t work," Bencze said.
Eating to Stay Lean
I had been driven from my hotel to the couple"s home by Carol, who was then 64 and whom he calls "the enabler." Warm and outgoing, she works from home in the morning and heads to the office in the afternoon mailing out products and handling administrative matters. She went back to college in her 60s, changed her major from biology to English, and edits her husband"s writing. The couple has a son, Matt, in his mid-30s.
Said Terry Todd, "He would have probably made an ideal monk in the Middle Ages, up in a monastery on the hills of Greece, if he could have sneaked Carol in the back door."
Staying close to home also allows Bass to better control the foods he eats. He is not a calorie counter, per se, but he has followed the subject so long that he knows the caloric value of nearly everything that goes into his mouth. He avoids food that contains concentrated calories, such as sugar and butter. He rarely eats red meat but also believes that a good diet is one that never calls for going hungry and allows for an occasional indulgence.
For breakfast, he scooped one cup of a mix of cooked oat groats, hulled barley, rye, spelt, kamut , and amaranth into a bowl and added two tablespoons of ground flax and a handful of frozen fruit. Then he poured in another handful of frozen corn, peas, and green beans and a cup of plain soy milk. Bass drinks both nonfat cow"s milk and soy milk. But he likes soy milk because it has the fattier "mouth feel" of whole milk with fewer calories. He also prefers to use the sweetener Splenda, or sucralose, which cuts calories by reformulating the properties of cane sugar. He cooked the contents in the microwave.
He placed a huge bowl of food in front of me that looked absolutely awful. I love vegetables, but not in my cereal, and I am not sure I had ever tasted soy milk. On the table in front of me was a teaspoon. I was to eat this prodigious concoction not with a tablespoon but with a teaspoon. The idea was to slow down my consumption so I didn"t eat past the point of feeling full. There was, however, an implicit understanding that I should finish the whole bowl. The breakfast turned out to be surprisingly good - nutty, sweet, and almost buttery. The grains gave it some heft and the fruit and vegetables went well together.
Later in the morning he offered me an apple. Bass often has an apple and a quarter-cup of salmon as a mid-morning snack to keep his blood sugar at a high level.
Before lunch we walked on a patchwork of trails on the eastern edge of Albuquerque that threaded through public land a few blocks from his home. Sometimes he and Carol will walk farther into the Sandia Mountains. Bass has timed himself getting to the top. He told me that he knocked 10 minutes off the climb when he began taking the supplement creatine, which supplies energy to muscles. He also takes a multivitamin and vitamins C and E. But this was a recovery day and we walked leisurely through a moonscape flecked with withering grasses and cacti. On our return, the trail provided a sweeping vista of the city and the Rio Grande Valley.
"Most people think that aerobic exercise is boring," he said. "Well, the way most people do it, it is boring - going to gyms and reading newspapers. If you do it right, if you have a nice place to walk, you get revitalized."
When we came back, Bass served lunch: special peanut butter formulated with eggs and flax-seed oil on toasted whole grain break, a handful of carrots, and a large mug with equal portions of plain low-fat yogurt and plain soy milk. I was again handed a teaspoon. Bass quartered the sandwich for the same reason. "These are kind of mechanical ways to slow you down," he said.
By mid-afternoon, we were driving to his office in his Mercedes E55, and as I was eating a Tiger"s Milk nutrition bar he had handed me, he gently admonished, "Eat slow."
Clarence and Carol often eat large salads, bread, and fish, chicken or eggs for dinner. But that night we went to a restaurant that served traditional New Mexican cuisine. Carol, who is as lean as Clarence, ordered a large burrito, without cheese, and ate it all. Bass slowly polished off a plate of huevos rancheros, sunny side up, and he shared a plate of Navajo fry bread with us. The two of them shared a Mexican flan (custard that is drizzled with caramel sauce). Bass did not have any alcohol, although he occasionally will have a glass of wine. He is abstemious because "alcohol weakens the control I usually have over my appetite," he wrote in one of his books, The Lean Advantage. "It seems to anesthetize my stomach and encourage me to go on eating beyond the point where I would normally be full and satisfied."
The Lean Advantage, Volumes 1, 2 and 3:
http://www.cbass.com/PROD02.HTM
For a snack at night, Bass has a slice of toast with almond butter, honey, and Benecol, a product intended to lower dietary cholesterol. He quarters the toast and eats a section every 15 minutes.
Bass felt he needed to drop 4 or 5 pounds and knock down his body fat by a few percentage points before he posed for his photos at 70. Six months before the shoot, he had preliminary photos taken. "I didn"t like them," he said. "I had some extra weight around my love handles and lower back - pretty much everybody has it." He cut down by backing off slightly at every meal: a little less cooked grain and flax seed at breakfast, smaller amounts of peanut butter, and one fewer slice of bread at dinner.
Ripped Enterprises is located in a one-story office building that housed his legal practice before Bass went into the health business full tie. Two of the rooms are jammed with an array of weight machines, free weights, and other equipment positioned atop aging gold carpeting. The walls are covered with mirrors and pictures of bodybuilders. One room is devoted to lower-body exercises; the other, is for the upper body. There are plates, benches, cables, dumbbells, barbells, and a pair of weightlifting shoes. Each room contains impeccably maintained metallic blue Nautilus equipment from the 1970s that Bass bought from Arthur Jones, the founder of the company. Bass was so jazzed by the technology of pulleys and cams when it first came out that he and Carol flew to Florida to meet Jones.
He keeps additional equipment at home: In a room next to the garage, he has a Concept 2 rowing machine, a stair stepper, a Schwinn Airdyne, and a Lifecycle. In his garage an entire bay is outfitted with a squat rack, old-fashioned kettlebells , weight-resistance machines powered by an air compressor, and a contraption called a glute-ham developer .
Bass had a heavy weight-training session the day before, his biggest of the week, so I didn"t expect a big demonstration when we arrived at his office. But when I asked about his favorite lifts to keep his abs so buff, he knelt down in front of a machine with a cable and pulley. He pulled down on the weight and let his oblique muscles do the work. At the bottom of the pull, he slowly raised the weight - again relying on his abdominal muscles. The exercise is often practiced with the subtlety of a pile driver. With Bass, it was almost sensual - an embrace between man and machine.
"Clarence can"t wait for the next workout," said Carl Miller, who owns a gym in Santa Fe. The key to lifting weights over many years "is that it has to capture your imagination so that you keep looking for ways to get better," Miller said. "You are always looking for a new training technique."
Bass has picked up and discarded an array of exercises and lifts over the years. At 60, for example, after more than a 30-year absence, he began incorporating technically more difficult lifts such as the power clean, power snatch, and squat snatch, which require quickness, strength, and good balance.
Bass exercises six or seven days a week, but he lifts weight only two of those days. He sits down with his workout diary before each session and plans what he will do. His diaries are 500 pages apiece and he"s accumulated dozens of them over the years. Over time he has added more aerobic training for his cardio-respiratory system as well. On periodic visits to the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, his fitness was judged by tests on a treadmill or stationary bicycle consistently put him in the top category for his age.
Bass is a disciple of the HIT (high-intensity training) school of weight training. Early proponents included Arthur Jones (the Nautilus founder) and former world-champion bodybuilder Mike Mentzer. Advocates of HIT believe the best way to build muscle mass is with short, infrequent, but very hard workout sessions rather than hours of exercise almost every day.
Typically on Sundays, he will work his entire body with weights, making more than a dozen lifts that push him to the upper end of his capabilities. After warming up, he will do only one heavy set or each lift - 8 to 15 repetitions. "The key point is that I do not wear myself out before I get to the set that really counts," he told me.
Three days later, he lifts weights with his upper body and then climbs on a Lifecycle, a computerized stationary bike for 20 minutes and pedals hard at various resistance levels. By constantly changing the intervals and intensity, he is mimicking what he believes is humans" ancient need to exert short bursts of energy.
Three days later he does crunches and works sundry core muscles. He also does about 20 minutes of hard pedaling on his Aerodyne, which requires pedaling and back-and-forth arm action. On other days he goes on walks for 30 or 40 minutes.
Bass has pushed back the hands of the aging clock because of his triad of diet, aerobic exercise, and weightlifting. His metabolism burns calories as if he were a youngster because he continues to stay almost as active as one. Strong, exercised muscles, even when they are resting, burn more calories than less-trained muscles. "Anyone wanting to lose or control weight should, in addition to eating less and exercising more, try to increase lean muscle mass," writes physician Andrew Weil in his book, Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being. Weight training, he said, will "keep the metabolic furnace burning bright."
I asked Bass about whether he ever thought of cutting back. What is the difference, I asked, between him and a 70-year old man in excellent health who walks a little and putters in the yard?
"One thing he isn"t trying to do is challenge or improve himself," Bass said. "It sounds like he"s an old man, and that doesn"t excite me. I think you have to find something that excites you, that motivates you, so you want to get out of the bed and get down to the gym."
Aging is Inevitable
But Bass isn"t bulletproof. There is the osteoarthritis in his lower back that has forced him to give up the use of his Concept2 rowing machine and traditional squats. He also has a weakness in his left shoulder and mild atrophy in his left triceps. On a visit to the Cooper Clinic, doctors discovered a buildup of calcium in his left anterior descending artery that requires the use of a statin drug to reduce cholesterol.
At 67, Bass also found that he was retaining excessive amounts of urine in his bladder. After several tests, he had surgery to remove abnormal lobes where urine drains from the bladder through the prostate.
"The whole situation went against my experience so far and my optimistic view of the future," he wrote in Great Expectations. "I expected a few problems to come with aging, but frankly I didn"t expect this so soon. I went to the doctor with what I considered a minor problem - and I ended up in surgery."
When he first met his urologist, the doctor had concluded that Bass would have to insert a device into his penis three or four times a day to keep the urinary pathway open. It seemed barbaric. Bass responded with understandable reluctance; later, after it was clear he would have to do something, Bass countered with using the device less. He has been able to pare down the number of sessions to once a week, with his doctor"s blessing.
Then, at 68, Bass had his right hip replaced. Neither Bass nor his doctors know why he needed the surgery, although hip replacements are the second-most common orthopedic surgery after knee replacements for people 65 to 84, according to a 2007 study by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Fifty years of weight training might have been the cause. Bass knows his share of old weightlifters who have had a hip replacement and who usually trace it back to an injury. "But I don"t think that I would have gotten this far had I not been exercising," he said.
Rather than undergo a traditional hip replacement, he learned about an alternative procedure that causes less tissue damage because the hip is replaced through natural breaks in the muscle. His recovery was faster, although it left him with weakness in his hip flexor and numbness in his upper thigh. I noticed when we went for a walk, he moved stiffly at the beginning.
Bass talked to me matter-of-factly about his ritual of keeping his urinary pathway open. The practice changed from dread to just another regimen in his life. He checked with knowledgeable friends and did his own research to find a better procedure for his hip replacement that was more fitting for his active lifestyle - even though it meant a trip to Houston for surgery. He has dropped some exercises that cause problems for his body and added new ones. To get around weaknesses such as his osteoarthritis, he showed me how he clasped a belt around his waist that was attached to a biceps curl bar with weights (hip belt squat). This way he could still do a squat and work his leg muscles while keeping pressure off his spine.
"One of the raps against older bodybuilders is that they are lean but they don"t have any muscle - they don"t have a butt," he said. "Believe me, I got a butt! I don"t think that I am losing anything. I think that my butt is bigger than it was before."
For Bass, the hip replacement has become, in a sense, a badge of honor: The photo he used for his latest book is a softly lit nude that accentuated his signature abs and the surgical scar on the right hip.
Terry Todd has said that Bass understands that his physique is more than a finely sculpted collection of muscle and bone. He and his photographs are playing a historic role, he said, in the fields of aging and popular culture. "I think that he has understood his role more clearly as the years have gone by," Todd said.
Bass"s approach to aging underscores a trait I"ve seen in older superfit persons:
They use knowledge, experience, and sometimes a healthy dose of independence to find a way to
Clarence Bass is the very definition of the term ripped. Long before the bodybuilding world knew what it meant to be truly ripped to shreds, Clarence was amazing readers across the globe with his physique. Now, in his 70"s, Clarence Bass is still going strong. He is as lean as ever.
For more information on the living legend Clarence Bass, please visit his website www.cbass.com , or check out his Ripped or Lean Advantage book series.
Muscle and Strength : I began lifting as a teen in the late 70"s. At that time, you could barely pick up a magazine or bodybuilding book, and not see a picture of Clarence Bass. For those not familiar with Clarence Bass, could you please tell us about your background, and how exactly you became such a popular bodybuilding icon?
: I began lifting when I was about 13 and never stopped. Began as an Olympic lifter and turned to bodybuilding in my late 30s. Won my class in Past 40 Mr. America and Mr. USA. Wrote the book Ripped in 1980, and began writing a column in Muscle & Fitness about the same time; continued writing this column until about 1996, when I started an online column on our website: cbass.com. Just posted articles #145 and 146 this week. Best evidence of what I"ve been doing along with practicing law and writing books are my photos from 15 to 70: http://cbass.com/PICTORAL.HTM .
Muscle and Strength : Do you have good genetics for staying lean and ripped, or is it all about diet for you?
I have made some adjustments over the years - for my hip replacement, for example - but the basic approach remains the same. I currently do three workouts a week; one weights, one aerobics, and one half and half. The specific details are in my new book Great Expectations . I make it a point to stay active on off days.
Muscle and Strength : Clarence, can you tell us a bit more about your latest book, Great Expectations . What other topics and subjects do you cover?
: Great Expectations is my ninth book. As the title suggests, it"s about becoming and staying lean, strong, and fit at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and beyond - far longer than most people think possible. Using my own example and science, I explain that we don"t have get weaker and fatter as we age. There is no physiological reason for your metabolism to slow down if you don"t.
I focus on basic concepts of diet and training that are often ignored or misunderstood, telling in detail about my own diet and training for the book photos. I also explain how I have managed to stay motivated for over five decades; without motivation , of course, we are dead in the water, going nowhere.
We think of this book as a blueprint for a long and healthy life. Young or old, I tell people to expect - and work for - the best. If you think you can, you probably can. Vibrant health, fitness, and leanness are there for those who choose to train, eat, and live well. That"s the basic theme of the book.
You"ll find more details on our website, including reviews and reader comments: http://cbass.com/GreatExpectations.htm .
Muscle and Strength : One of the topics you cover in the book is the psychological side of training. Motivation is a hard thing to maintain. Why do you feel that so many people fail in their perpetual quest for a nice body and healthy lifestyle?
: Most people think success in training comes from discipline and toughing
it out. In my experience, that"s wrong. Success comes from making each workout an enjoyable experience you want to repeat over and over. That"s means continually challenging yourself with reasonable goals. Set yourself up for success in every workout. Success breeds success.
Remember that a goal achieved is a goal lost. Keep looking for realistic new ways to improve. Nothing is more motivating than progress toward a meaningful goal. Make training a process you never want to end.
Muscle and Strength : This would also imply that a trainee needs to find a routine or training style that not only produces results, but that also is enjoyable. In the Internet era, a lifter can instantly be overwhelmed by information on training and diet . This confusion can often lead to frustration and depression ...and may impact a trainee"s ability to enjoy the process.
How do you recommend that a young trainee process information, and find confidence - and a workout that is enjoyable?
: First, the things we enjoy most are the ones we do best. While it may sound counterintuitive, it"s best to focus on your strengths. So one of first things to decide is whether you are an endurance person or a strength person; some of course like both. I"m a strength guy, so I favor weight training and high-intensity intervals. It doesn"t take long to find out what you do best. I learned long ago that I"m not a marathoner.
Regarding information, it takes a while to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. A good place to start would be with a book or books on the basics of training. You"ll find basic books on our products page for women, young athletes, older lifter, and for beginners. Surprisingly, many people don"t take time to learn the basics, so that alone will give you a head start over most people.
After that it"s simply a matter of reading widely and trying things that make sense to you. That"s what my Ownership Principle is about: http://cbass.com/SELECTIO.HTM . Keep in mind that things that sound too good to be true usually are.
Walk away from the quick fix. Training requires thought and effort. Things are usually worth about what you put into them.
Before starting a diet or an exercise program, ask yourself if it is something you are likely to enjoy doing indefinitely. If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board.
Muscle and Strength : Your article on "ownership" is extremely enlightening. I often see someone who succeeds at weight loss or step out and say..."This is the only way!" Unfortunately, this often closes doors instead of opening them.
Can you break down what "ownership" is for those reading this interview who haven"t read the article?
: The Ownership Principle is the final chapter in my book Lean For Life . The chapter is available on our website in its entirety. (I provided a link in my previous answer.) The Ownership Principle says to examine various diets and training plans and accept - or reject - them based on whether they appeal and make sense to you. That includes those recommended by me.
Take parts of various plans and create your own plan - own it. That means you take responsibility. If it doesn"t work, you have no one to blame but yourself. When you "own" a regimen, you have a stake in the plan - and you"re more likely to stick to it. It also has the advantage of being a plan uniquely designed for you, by you.
In short, develop your own health and fitness lifestyle. Own it.
Muscle and Strength : Weight training is rarely looked at through the lens of longevity. Generally, lifters only begin to think about joint, muscle and tendon health after they are injured. Are there specific ways a lifter can train, or approach training, so that they can stave off injuries, remain healthy, and continue lifting throughout the course of their entire life?
: My rule has long been, If It Hurts Don"t Do It! Saves a lot of grief, if followed.
Attempting to train through injuries is a bad idea. Better to let injuries heal by resting a few extra days or training around the injury. I know that"s sometimes hard to do, but it saves down time in the long run.
There are also adjustments that can be made in exercise performance. Something as simple as switching from barbell to dumbbells can make a big difference. Resting longer between workouts also allows small injuries to heal. Lifting more slowly or not locking out can also be a big help, mainly because it allows you use less weight and still train with great intensity. It"s much easier on the joints.
Better safe than sorry. When you"ve been training as long as I have you learn to be careful. If you don"t, you pay a heavy price. The body becomes less forgiving as you get older. You are forced to train more wisely, or else.
I"ve been very fortunate, but it"s no accident.
Muscle and Strength : I see on your website that you offer consultation services. Can you tell us more about this?
: We offer phone and in-person consultations. Both are tailored to the individual. We ask for background information, goals and how we can help in advance so I can prepare. Your readers will find full details on our website: http://cbass.com/CONSULTA.HTM .
Muscle and Strength : We talked earlier about goals. What are your goals for 2010, and are you planning another book?
: My plan for immediate future is to keep training and trying to improve. Longer term, I plan to have more photos taken when I turn 75. Photos now would be repeat of those in Great Expectations. I hope and expect to look as good or better at 75 as I did at 70.
I write new articles for our website every month. When I have enough material - and a new theme - I"ll write a new book. I don"t know when that will be. I can tell you, however, that I have no plans to stop writing or training.
