Nautilus North

The thinking bodybuilder, by contrast, doesn’t follow the herd, he – to turn around a certain biblical phrase – “follows not a multitude to do evil,” he attempts instead to understand the requirements of the enterprise he is engaged in; to wit, the requirements of building maximum levels of muscle strength and size. And once he begins this quest, if he pursues it honestly, he comes to the point where he learns that providing maximum resistance to the muscle in its position of full or maximum contraction is an absolute requirement for stimulating maximum gains in muscle size and strength, and then he looks for exercises that will allow him to do that. Pretty soon he realizes that free weights are very limited “tools” in this regard, as they can accomplish this with only a handful of exercises:

wrist curl
concentration curl
lateral raise (standing)
lateral raise (bent over)
calf raise
shrug
side bend

So, the individual looking to maximally develop his entire musculature uniformly quickly realizes that free weights can work his delts, traps, calves, biceps, obliques and forearms – period. When he checks out machines that allegedly work a muscle in the position of full contraction he notes that most of them have circular cams, which again, fail to provide maximum resistance in this position – save for one: Nautilus. Yes, I’m aware that Hammer Strength (designed originally by Gary Jones, Arthur’s son) also have offset cams that are similar to Nautilus, but give credit where credit is due; if Gary found this to be an important feature, he found that out at the feet of his father who had released his findings and created the first machines to incorporate this feature over 20 years prior to Gary’s even thinking about it. And so Nautilus becomes the machine of choice. For Max Contraction Training the Nautilus-shaped cam provides perfect resistance in the position of full contraction and there are perfectly designed machines that will allow you to isolate and thoroughly stimulate every major muscle group in the body:

Glutes – Hip and Back machine
Quadriceps – Leg Extensions
Hamstrings – Leg Curls
Abductor/Adductor – Abductor/Adductor Machine
Calves – Multi-Exercise Unit
Lats – Super Pullover or Behind Neck Machine
Pecs – Flyes on the Compound Chest Machine
Delts – Lateral Raise Machine
Rear Delts – Rear Deltoid Machine
Traps – Shrug machine
Neck – 4-Way Neck Machine
Biceps – Multi-Biceps Machine
Triceps – Multi Triceps Machine
Lower Back – Lower Back Machine
Abdominals – Abdominal Machine
External and Internal Obliques – Rotary Torso Machine
Forearms – Wrist Curls on the Multi-Exercise Machine

When you compare the two lists above it’s little wonder that the free weight manufacturers were concerned! Some of the first generation machines are hard to come by – but are well worth the search. I would love to acquire the old Compound Triceps and Compound Biceps machines as I believe they work the triceps and biceps more thoroughly than any other machine on the market, but, again, they are hard to come by (more on these machines in a minute). Some machine companies have claimed to be “better than Nautilus;” citing the belief that they have better padding, better design and a host of benefits – but they don’t have the cam (which is patented). While I am certainly not an advocate of full-range training, the beauty of Nautilus (the original machines) is that you don’t have to train full range on them. If you plug in the correct amount of weight that you can (briefly) sustain a contraction against while in a position of full contraction on one of their machines – and Jones created enough machines to work every bodypart many times over – you can opt to train your muscles solely in the position of full muscular contraction and with a resistance that is legitimately what it should be and where it should be.

For Max Contraction training, only a handful of the seven to ten Nautilus principles (the number increased from 7 in 1970 to 10 by 1985, when Ellington Darden, Ph.D., then director of research at Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries. wrote the Nautilus Bodybuilding Book) that were incorporated into their machines are of particular import:

Resistance at the point of full muscular contraction – this is absolutely the most important feature of Nautilus equipment. For, as Arthur Jones once said (and rightly):
- Human muscles are stronger in some positions than they are in other positions - in general, muscles are strongest in their positions of full contraction; and because of the way in which they function, the position of full contraction is the only position in which it is possible to involve all of the fibers of any muscle. Yet, in almost all conventional exercises, there is literally NO resistance in the position of full contraction - in the only position where it is even possible to involve ALL of a muscle, there is no resistance available to require the involvement of the then available fibers; as an unavoidable result in conventional exercises, muscles are worked only in their weakest positions - and are worked not at all in their strongest positions.
Negative work – without the downward or back pressure provided by the “negative” portion of the lever arm, there is little or no effective resistance for the muscle to contract against. While a full negative repetition is not necessary (as the position of full contraction is the only one where all of the available muscle fibers can be recruited and stimulated thoroughly), the heavy downward resistance that one contracts against in the fully contracted position is an absolute necessity for optimal fiber recruitment. If it fell off at this position, as indeed is the case with positive-only machines such as Cybex (machines once manufactured for rehabilitation), static or motionless exercise is not possible as the effective resistance is terminated as soon as the forward or positive portion of the repetition comes to a halt.
Direct resistance – The removal of wink links or compound exercises that utilize smaller and weaker muscle groups as their prime movers is crucially important in stimulating maximum muscle growth. An isolation movement does not dissipate the training stress through ancillary muscle groups, instead placing the resistance squarely on the muscle group you are training. By placing the resistance on the elbows (bent arm position) during a pullover or a pulldown (which is accomplished with straps) the resistance of the exercise is placed directly on the target muscle group – the lats – whereas with the standard pulldown (regardless of grip), or rowing motion, the biceps and forearms cipher off the bulk of the training stress, resulting in muscular failure in these smaller and weaker muscle groups, rather than in the one you are targeting.
Variable resistance – It is important to have maximum resistance in the position of maximum contraction. Free weights, as we’ve seen, provide this only in a handful of exercises. Machines (with the exception of Nautilus) provide resistance in this position, but seldom maximum resistance. Again, the resistance has to be maximum in the one place where a muscle is capable of handling it – the position of full contraction. As the strength curve of a given muscle ranges from low (or weak) to high (or strong) throughout its range of motion, it is important that in the muscle’s strongest position (the position of Max Contraction) the resistance is maximum. For this reason, the low or “weak” end of variable resistance is not important – what is important is that the load is maximum in the fully contracted position; merely having some resistance in this position is not sufficient to recruit all of the available muscle fibers. The load imposed must be the maximum (or as near to maximum as possible) that the targeted muscle is capable of contracting against.

When Jones sold the rights to his company in 1986, what was not as immediately obvious was the fact that he also sold with it the one and only machines capable of stimulating maximum muscle growth. The new proprietors of the Nautilus company (shareholders?) do not examine muscle as Jones did; they have not conducted the design and research experiments that Jones did in order to determine and calibrate the requirements of each of the major muscle groups of the body. Instead they opt to be weather veins, blowing in whatever direction their “tell us what you think” forms indicate; the non-educated public now determine what machines they should create. The original Nautilus Compound Chest machine featured both the pec deck and bench press exercises, designed to be performed in a “decline” position. The reason? Because while the primary function of the pectoral muscle is to draw the humerus or upper arm bone across the midline of the body, the secondary function is to depress the scapula or draw the shoulders downward. The old Compound Chest Machine was designed with both of these functions in mind, and thus provided total and functional stimulation to the pecs, as well as perfectly graduated resistance as the chest muscles performed their primary and secondary functions.

But the Compound Chest Machine had to go because “a lot of bodybuilders get bored with only two exercises; some bodybuilders like more variety (regardless of whether or not such variety serves any purpose),” and "more trainees would buy the equipment if it could incorporate free weights into it instead of a weight stack and duplicated some of the (useless) exercises that they like to perform” – all of these cries were directed at Nautilus. And, for some reason, Jones, et al, listened. Soon 40-degree incline chest machines were built, and 10-degree chest machines. Then the machines manufactured were made smaller (for easier and less expensive shipping), and had smaller cams, smaller weight stacks, and then came the “free weight machines” – which were called “leverage machines.” When this happened, the writing was on the wall. Jones had lost interest. “Give ‘em what they want and let me cash out,” seemed to be the attitude. And so he cashed out and the “new Nautilus” company continued the downward spiral. Some of the older machines that took so many years to design were discontinued (and remain so to this day ? such as the Compound Triceps machine, perhaps the greatest triceps machine ever made as it fulfilled both functions of the triceps; i.e., extension of the forearm and drawing the arm behind the body, and the compound biceps machine, and the compound leg machine), replaced by machines that were engineered to duplicate the feel and mechanics of compound exercises (such as a bench press machine, a shoulder press machine and a seated row machine) and free weights -- pardon? Yes, Nautilus now has a line of “free weights.” Why, you might ask, when the whole ethos was founded on overcoming the limitations inherent in barbells and dumbbells would they then produce barbells and dumbbells? A good question and, sadly, one for which the answer is all too obvious: It’s easier to give the public what it wants (or what the muscle magazines tell them they should want), than it is to educate them as to the true requirements of their own muscle physiology and of the superior benefits afforded by the Nautilus machines as originally designed. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” was the unspoken refrain, and the new Nautilus company obviously has decided that they just can’t “beat” the bodybuilding power structure and they have, effectively, “joined ‘em.” Nautilus now produces some isolation machines, and more Compound exercise machines with attributes no different than that of a Universal machine, or a Bodymasters machine, or a Cybex machine – or a barbell. How sad to see the death of Nautilus – and the fact that its death went unheralded, with no one willing to attend the funeral and pay their respects. Even Arthur Jones, who potentially was bodybuilding’s greatest patron, has turned his back on bodybuilding, preferring to focus his time on his new MedX machines which are designed almost solely for injury rehabilitation rather than bodybuilding. Jones is still interested in measuring degrees of rotation, reducing friction in the bushings of the machine, other such matters as would better befit a lab technician or an accountant, or, indeed, a man who hales from a family boasting a long line of medical practitioners as members.

If you are a member of a gym that has a full line of the older Nautilus machines, or if you are lucky enough to have in your possession one or two of them yourself, glasp them to your soul with hoops of steel (as the Bard once said), for they truly are a “bodybuilder’s best friend.” Train with them in high intensity fashion – the Nautilus way, the Heavy Duty way or the Max Contraction way – but train with them. Your gains will quite simply be the best that your genetic potential will allow (and for some of you reading this that will be spectacular, indeed) and you can also take solace in the fact that by doing so you will have made an informed decision; i.e., you will have used your mind to build your body, rather than merely following the herd down a blind alley.

Here’s to Arthur Jones. Here’s to (the original) Nautilus machines that he designed. And here’s to his insight that the position of full muscular contraction was the most important position for stimulating maximum muscle growth. It will be his original Nautilus machines – and not his new enterprise (Med-X) – that will prove to be his monument and his glory. And time will be his eloquence.