Back Exercise Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Sergio Oliva and the Nautilus Pullover

Posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 by John Wood

Sergio Oliva and the Nautilus Pullover

The Nautilus Pullover, demonstrated here by Three-time Mr. Olympia winner Sergio Oliva, was often called “The Upper Body Squat” because it trained the largest and strongest muscles of the back in a way that is not possible with regular barbells and dumbbells…

However, like any tool, the pullover must be used correctly. “Correctly use” entails not just the form of the movement itself but also the volume and intensity in which sets and reps are performed.; A lot of people didn’t do it right from the outset and wrote it off, which is a shame… Once you “get” how to use the pullover correctly, the results are like night and day. Though this particular machine was originally in production over forty years ago, they are still surprisingly easy to find — we may actually do a special feature on the pullover at some point.

The Big Wheel at Zuver’s Hall of Fame Gym

Posted on Monday, August 29th, 2011 by John Wood

At Zuver’s Hall of Fame Gym, everything is BIG, including the unique piece of equipment seen here: The BIG Wheel. That’s a heck of a way to do pulldowns. Check out the handle, and that’s a pretty good sized anchor chain too. Dr. Ken Leistner, who trained at Zuver’s long ago, actually had a reproduction of the Big Wheel made for his Iron Island Gym (made for him by Jim Sutherland.)

The Nautilus Pullover

Posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 by John Wood

The Nautilus Pullover Machine was created by Arthur Jones to address one of the shortcomings of conventional training. In this case, the unavoidable situation where the strength of the hands and forearms gives out before the larger, stronger muscles of the torso. The Nautilus pullover circumvents this weak link while also allowing the muscles of the back to be trained throughout a full range of motion — something which can’t be done with barbells or dumbbells.

This type of training can be very effective but only when understood and applied correctly. That’s Mercury Morris of the Miami Dolphins demonstrating above. This is a very early model of the pullover. This generations of Nautilus Machines are often referred to as “spider cams” for what should be obvious reasons.