What Ever Happened to Nautilus?

    Last week I stumbled across a YouTube video that showed the abandoned former Nautilus fitness equipment headquarters in central Florida. The warehouse where the equipment was fabricated was deserted and crumbling. The office buildings were in a similar run down condition . The property that had once been the roaming grounds of imported exotic animals had reverted to a natural jungle like state. Nautilus had been a trendsetter in the world of exercise equipment. Its founder, Arthur Jones, had been a square peg in the round hole that was the fitness industry. What happened?

• Arthur Jones was a bodybuilder, renaissance man, world traveler and inventor. 
• In 1970, after years of experimentation, Jones patented the first Nautilus weight lifting machine. 
• Instead of using a traditional pulley system, this machine used a cam that resembled the shell of a sea mollusk known as the Nautilus - hence the name.
• The cam used variable resistance that 'reputedly' mimicked the natural strength curve of a muscle powered joint action.
• Nautilus machines became the lifting mode of choice at many fitness clubs which were multiplying rapidly during the 1970's and 1980's.
• Nautilus even went into franchising with Nautilus fitness clubs appearing in cities throughout North America. My hometown of Ottawa, Canada had 2 such clubs with a 3rd one across the river on the Quebec side.
• Nautilus also branched over into manufacturing treadmills and stationary bikes.
• As the fitness industry exploded the Nautilus brand became famous.
• The Miami Dolphins of the NFL became the first athletes other than bodybuilders to endorse Nautilus training. Their home base installed a collection of Nautilus machines for the players to work out with.
• Ellington Darden, a PhD in exercise science wrote numerous books espousing the Nautilus brand and the sometimes debatable Nautilus training concepts.

A Nautilus biceps curl machine. Interestingly, instead of starting from
waist level, the elbows re already raised in shoulder flexion.

How do the Nautilus machines and training concepts match up with current exercise knowledge?

• The cam system may not have been as beneficial as advertised.  Supposedly the resistance is supposed to feel greater when the the muscle is in its strongest position mechanically and feel less at the muscle's weakest position. The natural strength curve of each person may differ depending on the person's size and bone length. Is a machine also capable of improving the natural muscular movement of lifting with a free weight? Unlikely.
• Many of the Nautilus Machines isolate a single muscular group.  For those desiring hypertrophy or increased muscle size such as bodybuilders, isolation work may be desirable. For sports performance or functional movement, isolation weight training especially with machines has less transference.  For those activities it is best to train movements rather than individual muscles.  The Miami Dolphins would likely have been better served with dynamic free weightexercises and plyometrics.
• Resistance training machines, not just Nautilus, are taking the exerciser through a single plane of motion. Human movement is usually multi-planar.   
• Nautilus claimed that its machines were safer than free weights or body weight resistance exercises. In the short term, this is true. In the long term training muscles rather than movements may lead to imbalances, causing muscular  compensations and eventually resulting in dysfunction and injury.  
• Nautilus training methods revolved around high intensity training (HIT) or more specifically training using only 1 set until momentary muscular failure occurred which was usually from 8 to 12 repetitions (up to 20 reps for lower body muscles). This method can increase muscle size but most scientific literature supports better results with multiple sets with  3 sets being a sensible target.
• Nautilus advocates claim that HIT methods on a Nautilus machine are superior to free weights or other machines. Some top bodybuilders including some Mr. Olympia winners are touted as having followed the Nautilus regime. The reality is that these bodybuilders often performed 2 or 3 progressively heavier warm-up sets before doing the main set of repetitions to failure. That sounds to me like a version of multiple set training.
• The Nautilus method also emphasizes eccentric or negative contractions in which the muscles resist gravity ans the weight is being lowered. The usual sequence is a 2 count for raising the weight and a 4 count or more for lowering the weight. Advanced Nautilus training can use all eccentric training for some workouts. Eccentric contractions can certainly increase muscle size but sometimes the muscle needs more recovery time afterwards.
• Nautilus principles emphasize the importance of recovery time - 48 hours or more between intense workouts. This is a sound truism because muscles grow during rest and recovery.

   There was a period of time when I did extensive training on Nautilus machines. I would either finish a hard running session or wrestling practice depending on what stage of my weekend warrior career that I was in. I was usually so physically trashed by then that training for one set to failure on Nautilus fit my needs. Had I trained multiple sets I risked over training. I also didn't want to spend time changing barbell plates. As a result, my physique was quite buffed but there was less functional carry over affect to the sports that I was doing than would have been optimal. However, I enjoyed working out on Nautilus and at the time I was a convert. Besides, by this point I my life I knew that was not going to make any Olympic teams as a late bloomer!

The Nautilus Hip and Back machine. This was one of the first resistance training machines
 that actually targeted the often neglected gluteus maximus muscles of the rear end.

   One apparatus  that was actually ahead of its time was the Nautilus hip and back machine. This machine attempted to integrate the gluteus maximus muscles of the butt into a compound lower body movement. Many resistance exercises neglect the glute max as a prime mover in hip extension and  over strengthen the hip flexor and hamstring muscles. It was an awkward machine to use for some people but give Nautilus credit for trying.   
  
   You don't hear very much about Nautilus lately. What happened to them?

• Arthur Jones sold Nautilus in 1986.    
• The present day Nautilus is in Vancouver, Washington. They also own Bowflex and Stairmaster.
• The Nautilus line now markets home equipment more than the larger fitness center resistance training machines.  
• Arthur's son Gary Jones owns Hammer Strength. 
• The club where I work out has replaced its aging Nautilus machines with Hammer Strength machines. The family tradition survives.
• There are few large fitness centers that have actual Nautilus machines any more.
• There are still clubs using the Nautilus name but they are primarily smaller fitness studios rather than large fitness centers.

The convenience of training on Nautilus machines attracted many people that would not have begun working out otherwise. For that reason alone the name Nautilus should hold an honored place of honor in fitness history!

Until next time,  Keep Fit   
Little Bobby Strong    

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