Arthur Jones (inventor)

Arthur Jones

Arthur Allen Jones (born November 22, 1926 in Morrilton , Arkansas , † August 28, 2007 in Ocala , Florida ) was the inventor of the Nautilus and MedX strength training machines and the founder of high-intensity training in strength training .

Life

Jones spent most of his childhood in Oklahoma but ran away from home early on. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 , he gave the Navy the wrong age to serve in World War II . Even at a young age he had a fondness for all kinds of wild animals. After the war, he therefore founded an import-export company which transported animals from Africa to America with the help of old B-25 bombers. He later shot and produced numerous animal films and shows that were broadcast on television. His second passion, which also crystallized at a young age, was researching effective strength training methods. He was of the opinion that conventional weights such as dumbbells and barbells did not provide sufficient resistance for the muscles over the entire range of motion and looked for more sensible training options for him. In addition, he opposed the high-volume training method, which was widespread among bodybuilders in the 1970s, because he concluded from observations from the animal kingdom that training must be carried out briefly, intensively and infrequently in order to bring maximum success. In doing so, he laid the foundation for the development of high-intensity training.

The first Nautilus power machine was introduced in 1970 at a weightlifting exhibition in Los Angeles and was called "The Blue Monster". The sale was carried out by the newly founded company "Arthur Jones Productions", which was later renamed "Nautilus Sports / Medical Industries" because the flywheel, which is largely responsible for its success, was shaped like a Nautilus shell as part of every device.

Arthur Jones' invention ushered in the age of strength training machines. Where previously bodybuilders and weightlifters only trained with free dumbbells, modern fitness studios have now emerged, which also offered the normal population an attractive offer. This enabled the development of the fitness industry and thus the opening up of a new sales market. The company grew rapidly and made Jones a multimillionaire. Jones then devoted himself to the invention of new training devices for rehabilitation of the spine. These should be able to train the lower back muscles in isolation from other muscle groups. As a result, the company "MedX Corporation" was founded. He sold "MedX Corporation" in 1996 and then retired. In the early eighties Werner Kieser acquired the distribution rights for the Nautilus machines in Europe. However, high protective tariffs from the EEC and legal disputes with German sports equipment manufacturers prevented it from spreading. However, the construction principle for training machines prevailed. Werner Kieser equipped his Kieser Training studio chain with Nautilus devices.

Arthur Jones has been married and divorced six times and has at least four children.

Create

Arthur Jones' Training Principles

Jones was a proponent of full body exercise. Since you add nutrients to your whole body when you eat, and your whole body sleeps when you sleep, you should look at your body as a whole when exercising and train it that way.

He wrote some recommendations for effective muscle building training:

• full body training should be completed three times a week,
• after each training day there was at least one rest day,
• in case of stagnation with 3 units of maximum exertion, the volume should be reduced to 2 to ensure recovery,
• 1 set per exercise should be performed, a maximum of 2 and never 3,
• in each set you should aim for the highest possible number of repetitions,
• Weights must be increased progressively,
• Dumbbells and barbells do not offer optimal resistance over the range of motion for some exercises and strength training machines are more advantageous there,
• you should only measure yourself against your own performance, never against others,
• Advanced users should train harder, not more often and longer,
• training should be paused in the event of illness,
• Supply of an adequate amount of nutrients without excess,
• no use of doping substances.

nautilus

In free dumbbell exercises, there is a limitation of the resistance due to the force in the anatomically most unfavorable joint angle position and the use of a maximum resistance in other positions is not possible - the muscles are only partially loaded over the entire amplitude. With the invention of the flywheel by Jones, it was possible to adapt the relative resistance to the changing lever ratios during a movement over the complete movement amplitude and to use the muscles more effectively. The flywheel on Nautilus machines now made it possible to smoothly adjust the torque acting on the muscles at every joint angle. For the most part, Nautilus machines are designed to isolate muscle groups in order to train them most efficiently. To ensure this, the resistance actually only applies to the part of the extremity that is also moved by the muscle in question. For example, the pullover / torso machine enables isolated lat training. The force is applied directly to the elbow joint - at the end of the upper arm moved by the latissimus - and the involvement of the upper arm flexors is completely eliminated. In contrast to pull-ups, these can no longer be a potential weak point in latissimus training. Furthermore, there are combination machines that make it possible to switch between two exercises for the same muscles without losing a lot of time in order to be able to apply the “pre-exhaustion principle”.

Nautilus principles:

1. rotational movement
2. direct resistance
3. automatic variability of resistance
4. balanced resistance
5. positive work
6. negative work
7. strain
8. Pre-stretching
9. Resistance in the maximally contracted position
10. unlimited speed of movement

Developed machines:

• Hip / Leg Machines
• Torso Machines
• Waist machines
• Neck Machines
• Arm machines
• Multi-exercise machines

The Colorado experiment

The experiment took place from May 1 to May 29, 1973 in the Department of Physical Education at Colorado State University . The aim of the experiment was to show that human muscle growth is directly related to the intensity of training and that muscle strength and mass can be increased very quickly by using infrequent and short training - provided that the intensity is sufficiently high.

Casey Viator , a bodybuilder , initially volunteered as a test subject, and later also Jones himself. Viator suffered an injury to his hand in an industrial accident in early 1973 and became seriously ill as a result of an allergic reaction to a tetanus injection, which resulted in a long break from training brought about. During these 4 months he lost a lot of muscle mass, his body weight dropped from 91.3 kg to 76 kg. After his recovery, Jones created a training program and suggested that the experiment be independently monitored and recorded to demonstrate the effectiveness of the high-intensity training. For this purpose, body weight, body fat content and lean body mass were measured by James E. Johnson before the start and after the end of the experiment. The execution and duration of the training units were under the supervision of Elliot Plese, the director of the "Exercise Physiology Laboratory". The training took place exclusively on Nautilus machines, which, according to Jones, were the only ones able to guarantee the necessary criteria for effective strength training:

• full range of motion
• rotatory form of resistance
• automatic variability of resistance
• direct resistance

All exercises were performed to the point of momentary failure. An exception were exercises that were performed purely eccentrically, the end of which was determined by a lack of eccentric movement. An average of 10 repetitions of an exercise was performed, but each time a maximum number of repetitions was aimed for. The movements were smooth and without jerking or sudden movements with a short stop at the point of maximum muscle contraction.

Results of the Colorado experiment

	Casey Viator	Arthur Jones
Period of time	28 days	22 days
Body weight gain	20.58 kg	6.19 kg
Increase in muscle mass	28.73 kg	7.02 kg
Loss of body fat	8.15 kg	0.83 kg
Total training time	7: 50.30 h	4: 48.00 h
Workouts	14th	12
Average time per unit	33.36 min	24.50 min

In addition to the rebuilding of muscle mass, the strength values ​​also improved to a great extent:

• Leg Press: 32 reps at 400 pounds to 45 reps at 840 pounds.
• Pull-ups: 7 reps at 217 pounds to 11 reps at 287 pounds (including body weight)
• Standing Shoulder Press: 8 reps at 160 pounds to 11 reps at 200 pounds
• Dips: 12 reps at 217 pounds to 16 reps at 312 pounds (including body weight)

These numbers should make it clear that it was a matter of building functional muscle mass.

It was made clear that both test subjects showed an above-average potential for muscle growth and in this experiment they built up muscle mass that had already been achieved. The respective result of individual individuals is, it was postulated, primarily dependent on:

1. genetic potential for muscle mass,
2. Age,
3. Health status,
4. the intensity used in training.

Furthermore, Jones and Viator later denied any use of anabolic substances.

The West Point Experiment

After criticizing the Colorado experiment, Jones sought to conduct another study with a larger field of participants. In 1975 the US Military Academy at West Point bought nautilus equipment for recruit training. In response to requests from Jones, they agreed to participate in a training study, which Jones funded. In this, 20 football players should train with HIT and 20 with conventional strength training. Over a period of 6 weeks, both groups trained three times a week, with the high-intensity training group doing 10-12 sets per unit. Then strength and endurance improvements were measured. The group training after HIT improved by an average of 56% in the strength tests, while the other group showed no changes. The endurance performance also improved more than that of the other group, but a tracing back to the HIT is not possible here, since endurance training took place in parallel. All athletes already had many years of strength training experience.

literature

• Jürgen Gießing : HIT - high-intensity training. The optimized system for rapid muscle building. Novagenics-Verlag, Arnsberg 2008, ISBN 3-929002-41-8
• Werner Kieser: The discovery of iron: Stations in my life. Econ, 2008, ISBN 978-3430200479
• Peter Steinmüller: The long way to the body cult , in: VDI Nachrichten 51/2015, p. 38

Web links

• The Importance and Influence of Arthur Jones on arthurjonesexercise.com
• Arthur Jones Museum at arthurjonesmuseum.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ A Tribute to Arthur Jones. S. 1. on arthurjonesexercise.com (PDF)
2. ^ ^{A b c} Arthur Jones, 80, Exercise Machine Inventor, Dies in: The New York Times . dated August 30, 2007. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Flex Memoriam: Arthur Jones. P. 28. ( Memento of the original of March 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on movetolive.de. Retrieved December 9, 2013.  
4. ↑ Jürgen Gießing: HIT - high intensity training. The optimized system for rapid muscle building. 2008. p. 4 f.
5. ^ Arthur Jones Memorial. P. 2. on arthurjonesexercise.com. Accessed December 8, 2013 (PDF)
6. ↑ Jürgen Gießing: HIT - high intensity training. The optimized system for rapid muscle building. 2008. p. 1 ff.
7. ↑ Arthur Jones; Revolutionized Exercise Industry. in: The Washington Post . Retrieved January 20, 2014.
8. ↑ Arthur Jones; Revolutionized Exercise Industry. in: The Washington Post. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
9. ↑ http://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/Management-Karriere/Der-lange-Weg-Koerperkult
10. ↑ The discovery of iron: Stations in my life. Econ, 2008, ISBN 978-3430200479
11. ↑ Jürgen Gießing: HIT - high intensity training. The optimized system for rapid muscle building. 2008. p. 5ff.
12. ^ Time Machines by Nautilus. P. 16. at arthurjonesexercise.com. Retrieved March 20, 2014 (PDF)
13. ^ Time Machines by Nautilus. at arthurjonesexercise.com, accessed March 20, 2014 (PDF)
14. ^ Nautilus Sports / Medical Industries. at arthurjonesexercise.com. 1974. Retrieved March 23, 2014. (PDF)
15. ^ Nautilus Sports / Medical Industries. at arthurjonesexercise.com. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
16. ^ The Colorado Experiment. at arthurjonesexercise.com. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
17. ↑ Jürgen Gießing: HIT - high intensity training. The optimized system for rapid muscle building. 2008. p. 10f.
18. ↑ Jürgen Gießing: HIT - high intensity training. The optimized system for rapid muscle building. 2008. p. 13.
19. ↑ Jürgen Gießing: HIT - high intensity training. The optimized system for rapid muscle building. 2008. p. 16ff.