High Intensity Strength Training – Arthur Jones and Nautilus Style

When I was at Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries working along side Arthur Jones, Arthur researched different styles of High Intensity Training and how each style affected the subject’s performance on many different upper and lower body exercises. During some of these experiments on his new Nautilus inventions, I was the subject and Arthur would always be there directing and overseeing the thorough testing and re-testing of his latest Nautilus machine prototype which had to pass his stringent inspection.

At Nautilus, it was proven time after time in these studies that it really didn’t matter which High Intensity Training exercise the subject was performing on a particular Nautilus model of machine, the trainee’s muscular strength and growth was always directly affected by their style of performance and form.

At Nautilus Coaching Clinics and Seminars around the World, Arthur would captivate his audiences with real true life stories and examples of High Intensity Training that were easy to understand and even though he had a genius mentality, he could relate his High Intensity Training concept to most anyone. But there was one exercise that Arthur talked a lot about and that was the chin up.

Arthur was extremely strong in the chin up exercise and during his lectures he would use the chin up as an example of this simple yet productive High Intensity Training exercise which is capable of building both strength and size in the upper arms and back. I remember him saying that there are three different styles of performing the chin up in High Intensity Training and all three can and will produce different results.

So, let’s review Arthur’s three examples of the chin up and you decide which style of High Intensity Training pull up you perform based on (1) your style of performance and (2) your High Intensity Training results in the area of muscle strength and growth.

First- This High Intensity Training style of chin up creates momentum when you kick and swing the legs.  This kicking and swinging action assists your ability to “chin the bar”.  Therefore by increasing your kicking or swinging action, you can increase the acceleration up and down on the chin bar. Kicking and swinging will increase the number of reps you are able to complete but will offer little in the way of measurable results in developing the muscles of your back and arm or increasing your strength.

Second-This High Intensity Training style of chin up also uses the kicking and swinging action of the legs, however the kicking and swinging is at a much slower pace but the legs are still assisting the trainee. This style of High Intensity Training chin ups offers a slight improvement over the first example. There are still few muscular strength gains in this style because the leg action is assisting in lifting the resistance which should be completed mostly by the back and arms.

The third style takes out the leg movement completely and the focus of the High Intensity Training exercise is on the back and arm muscles. The legs remain still and the back and arms do all the work. This style of High Intensity Training chin up is by far the safest and best for building strength and muscular growth.

Let’s analyze all three styles of chin ups …In the first and second style of the High Intensity Training chin ups, more weight can be used because of the legs are assisting in the exercise. However, these two styles will produce few gains while increasing the risk of injury.

According to Arthur Jones, the third and last style is most productive and safest because it forces the High Intensity Training subject to train with a quality of performance that is more difficult and if practiced with “strict form” while High Intensity Strength Training, the results are produced at a much faster pace.

Personally, I like to include “negative chins” in my Proper Strength Training “metabolic workouts” and I recommend “negative chins” for my trainees.  Remember, when you do chins and dips in your High Intensity Training workout, you are not competing with others, you are competing with yourself and yourself alone! So slow it down and concentrate on your form! If you focus on your High Intensity Training style of performance using a strict slow form and the correct amount of resistance per exercise, this style of High Intensity Training will have the potential to produce the maximum results in the least amount of time.

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Tags: big arms, chin ups, high intensity chin ups, High Intensity Stregth Training, high intensity strength training, pull ups