Nautilus Pullover Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Jones and Pullover

Posted on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017 by John Wood

A rare shot of Arthur Jones training on Nautilus Pullover during the Colorado Experiment. That’s Tom Wood, my uncle, spotting on the right. He is one of the few people in the world that could say “Arthur, quite screwing around and get another rep.” My uncle was also Casey Viator’s roommate during the whole Colorado Experiment – so yeah, that’s how I know things were legit.

John Gordon of the Detroit Lions

Posted on Friday, September 20th, 2013 by John Wood

John Gordon of the Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions were one of the very first NFL teams to get a set of Nautilus Machines. Here’s Defensive Tackle John Gordon (who was born in Detroit but played his college ball in Hawaii) getting in a quick workout on an excellent pullover/torso arm. This would be somewhere around 1973. Look closely and you’ll notice two features that indicates that these are some very early machines: a.) the open “spider” cams and the fact that there are cables instead of chains.

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 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.