Two Critical and Essential Movements to Understand

The first two machines Arthur Jones thought to embody and exemplify his Nautilus Training Principles into foolproof machines -- were the Pullover and the Hip and Back -- the latter which never caught on as well as the former -- because for many bodybuilders, let alone less enthusiastic trainees, the lower body is almost a foreign concept (and alien appendage) -- which eventually comes home to haunt them.  Thus bodybuilders who still compete after their 70s, are notorious for having grossly disproportionately underdeveloped lower bodies -- even while still maintaining impressive biceps and abdominals -- and in many cases, that is all -- even if they have great difficulty climbing the dais to claim their trophy.

The rationalization is usually that what could one expect? -- having damaged their knees from squatting and their backs from deadlifting -- the standbys through which they hoped to develop those particular areas, but rather, have destroyed them.  Obviously, those two movements that eventually result in these disabilities, are exactly what one should not do -- but in the Opposite Universe -- one will do them until one no longer can -- and that will be proof of their effectiveness and value.

The genius in his selection of the Pullover and the Hip and Back reflect the understanding of the two essential power producing fulcrums of the human body which engage the most and largest muscles of the human body at the shoulder and hip girdles.  During the '50s and '60s, the most commonly employed exercise to build up the chest was not the bench press but the pullover -- in the recognition that it would directly expand the ribcage -- or breathing capacity, because that particular movement is the best breathing exercise -- let alone, muscle developer.

As the upper arms move back towards the head and beyond, the chest volume increases, and when the arms come down towards the hips, chest volume is decreased -- and it is the alternation of the chest volume that moves air in and out of the lungs, and why manual chest compressions are helpful in achieving this effect in those who have stopped breathing.  This is also noticeable as the chest rises or falls with normal breathing -- particularly when one is breathing only through the natural passage through the nose.  When the mouth is closed, it forms a perfect seal through which the only passage in and out is through that opening -- and the pressure caused by the alternating chest volume -- working in an atmosphere of about 15 lbs per inch.  Nature will not allow a vacuum to exist without instantly seeking to equalize those pressures.

Thus one does not need to practice proper breathing as a separate function -- but is optimized by the change in chest volume in the pullover movement -- which is also engaging the most, and largest muscles of the torso concurrently.  It is the most effective way to make breathing the critically and essential movement to get better at -- throughout one's life.  When one stops breathing, the consequences will be disastrous, if not fatal -- and in better circumstances, is the key to optimizing the highest capabilities of the upper body as well as its entirety -- obviously.

That movement can be performed lying on a bench with a light dumbbell or barbell -- with a straight-arm or bent arm -- for 50 repetitions -- focusing on increasing the range of motion in both the backward and forward positions, rather than increasing the resistance.  Increasing the range naturally and automatically increases the resistance -- even while using a light weight.  The reason light weights are often unproductive, is because no attempt is being made to increase the range of movement -- which is the whole point of that exercise, and not adding more weight while hardly moving, or shortening the movement so one can handle the heavier weight.

That is the reason many people can presumably increase their resistance while showing very little in increased muscle gain and strength in moving to greater ranges.  In every case, it is the athlete or performer with the superior range of movement that impresses, rather than those who load up the bar, and do nothing significant or recognizable with it.  The legendary strongman at the turn of the 20th century, almost without exception trained with extremely light weights, doing many repetitions -- and so even halfway through the 20th century, many older YMCAs still had these wooden shaped dumbbells that many up and coming bodybuilders wondered why were these here?

That's how people used to exercise -- using those props in their movements (calistethics) -- if they did that.  That kind of movement, was capable of achieving and maintaining those impressive physiques of their time -- not unlike those of the sculptures of the human form of antiquity.  That would still be impressive by today's standards.  So once we understand how that can be achieved with the more familiar upper body, we can take a deeper dive into the proper understanding of the requirements for lower body development -- and why it is something other than we've come to think of it -- that bypasses the destruction and limitations of the knees and back, and why the Nautilus Hip and Back was the superior movement -- although most could not get used to the novelty of the position it placed them in.

You cannot engage the gluteus by moving the femur forward; the femur has to be moving backwards -- but it is not enough just to move it inline with the torso -- because its range of movement is much greater than that for the fullest contraction to occur.  The contraction of the gluteus muscle only begins from a straightline -- and then back, which is exactly what the Nautilus Hip and Back machine did.  And then when the glutes are engaged, then the back muscles that form the arch in the small of the back, are also activated -- and the deviation from that characteristic and structural integrity, is the cause of back pain -- and rounding of the back.  That is how the back is injured -- when it contracts maximally into a rounded spine -- rather than an arched one in which the back muscles must be contracted strongly and thus provides strength.  In the rounded lower back, the muscles must be relaxed -- and thus afford no such protection -- even while a person may lift a higher weight.  And that is precisely the back position we see in people attempting heavy squats and deadlifts -- that eventually catches up with them.

But now that Nautilus machines are generally unavailable, the closest simulation, are the traditional yoga positions called The Bridge, and Upward bending Bow -- both directly resulting in the arched back strengthening.  It is also commonly performed in the gym with a barbell held on top of their legs with a bench supporting the upper body -- but whether that is an improvement over no weights with increasing range of motion is again questionable -- because the increased resistance only rationalizes decreasing the range of movement that happens whenever the resistance is increased.  The tradeoff is counterproductive and eventually injurious.

For that reason, many people think that lifting weights don't work -- and that is the reason it doesn't, and makes one justifiably weary of doing more -- as they are encouraged to push prematurely until they are definitively injured.  But a light weight used as a prop for achieving greater ranges of movement, is another matter entirely -- and in fact, manifest instant results as the self-evident truth.  The more one increases the range of movement in the direction of its proper contraction, the stronger that contraction is manifested -- immediately and actually.  It has very little to do with the weights.  It is the manifestation of the proper understanding that is instantly actualized.