Hey all…after stumbling upon the links to Arthur Jone’s original Nautilus bulletins, (thank you Bill Roberts), and reading them both, I was wondering if anyone has tried the basic program that he lays out. Unlike Menzter’s extreme approach to workout length, Jones recommends a relatively sane, (in terms of volume), 3x/wk routine with two sets per bodypart taken to complete failure (including failure at partial reps). Since I have been doing a traditional moderate-volume approach (8-12 sets for larger bp’s, about 6 sets for smaller on a 4 way split) I figured it may be time for a swing in the other direction. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.
I have used this program before it rocks
It sounds similar to Dr. Ellington Darden’s program. You can find his routine at www.classicx.com/html/1big.html. I am going to try it after I complete my current routine in 2 weeks.
The reason Darden’s routine resembles Jones’ routine is that Darden once worked for Jones and took what was good.
OK. Bear with me here… What you have to realize is that the Nautilus Bulletins were among Arthur Jones’ first writings, and while quite brilliant, some of his hypotheses later proved to be wrong. Later, Ellington Darden became the head of research for Nautilus and wrote nearly all of the Nautilus books. As they continued to refine the original Nautilus protocol over the years, while setting new standards in proper exercise research protocols for hospital and university studies, they continued to reprint the Nautius training books with the latest findings. The last edition that was published was the 1990 edition and it contains early information regarding the pioneering research done on the Superslow protocol. So, the thing about Mentzer is that his whole Heavy Duty program was based on the Nautilus protocol. Mike recommended longer layoffs than what you read in Arthur’s early writings because that’s what Arthur’s LATER research indicated. Another totally cool, but sort of hard to find book was Total Fitness: The Nautilus Way. Again, BRILLIANT early writings by Jones, however some of the ideas have been further refined or discarded. Last, but not least, is the issue of Superslow. Ken Hutchin’s, one of the most brilliant men in the world of exercise, was another guy that worked for Jones for about 10 years (as did the guy (Gary Jones?) that started Hammer Strength). Ken has refined the original Nautilus protocol to a degree that is almost frightening insofar as it reveals his enormous intellect. Superslow is essentially the culmination of everything that was ever learned in 25+ years of Nautilus research. Check out the Superslow website as well as doctor Doug McGuff’s Ultimate-Execise website articles. If you really want to know everything you can about the evolution of High Intensity methods, start with the Nautilus Book (1990) and then read The Superslow Technical Manual and then Ultimate Exercise Bulletin #1. I swear, those books will blow your fuckin’ mind. GREAT STUFF! I hope this helps…
Tim Patterson was also part of the early Authur Jones crew and has stated that in all his years with them he never saw Superslow work for muscle gains. He wrote this in a Behind the Scenes a year ago or more. You may can find it with a search on “Super Slow” or “Superslow”. Interesting reading.
As Marvin stated, all the work done by Jones and Nautilus (and other HIT related people) is very interesting and definitly worth trying. Just some remarks (based on my own experience). I believe (and others might well disagree) that this kind of training is best used as part of a periodization program. Because of its low volume compared to typical hypertrophy programs and moderate weights compared to typical strength programs it serves as a very nice addition to these two, e.g. as a 4-week ‘transition’ from strength phase to hypertrophy phase. I never gained much muscle mass during the HIT phases itself but I was always able to increase the workload from workout to workout, while keeping the reps constant (typically 10-12). The mass gains come in the following hypertrophys phase(es) where I increase the number of sets but try to work myself up to the same weight as for the 1-2 set workouts.
What Tim Patterson is concerned… 