http://www.jumbolair.com/terri_jones.htm
Posted on 08/29/2007 2:01:49 PM PDT by Tall_Texan
OCALA, Florida (AP) - Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment, died Tuesday. He was 80.
Jones had been ill for several days but was kept at home, per his wishes, said his son, William Edgar Jones. He died of natural causes, according to his son, who was by his father's side when he passed, along with a longtime friend and a nurse.
"He should be remembered as a man of extreme intelligence, extreme independence and probably one of the most unrecognized and unawarded inventors that ever existed," William Edgar Jones told The Associated Press.
His father was particularly proud of his latest invention - exercise machines used for rehabilitation purposes by people with spinal cord injuries and back pain, Jones said.
Nautilus came along in 1970 and introduced machines that offered a more-targeted approach to strength training, changing the idea of the workout.
The machines became ubiquitous - former President Ronald Reagan was even said to use Nautilus equipment in the White House when he was rehabilitating from his gunshot wound.
(Excerpt) Read more at legacy.com ...
RIP.
Actually neither is even slightly noteworthy. Much as I enjoy the jokes at Jim Fixx’s expense the reality is his life before running was extremely unhealthy and heart problems ran in his family. And as for Jones he did out last the current life expectancy, and look at how life expectancy in the US has changed since these fitness buffs showed up. It’s not a panacea, nothing is going to make you live forever but you’re better off with regular exercise than without.
Fixx was 52 when he died. The men in his family had bad health histories, his father had a heart attack at age 35 and died of one at 42.
http://www.jumbolair.com/terri_jones.htm
Didn’t get enough exercise!
Fixx was fixated; he had an inherited heart condition that was aggravated by running and his doctor repeatedly warned him against his obsession.
Why am I reminded of the latest story arc on “Big Love”?
“He should be remembered as a man of extreme intelligence, extreme independence and probably one of the most unrecognized and unawarded inventors that ever existed,” William Edgar Jones told The Associated Press.
I met him in 1970 when he was introducing his ideas on exercise — to some fairly hostile audiences back in those days. His problem was that he never said we should believe anything he said because of his credentials but left it up to each person to realize the truth of what he was saying for themselves.
He was kind of an overbearing guy but deeply humble in his own way.
He’s the guy I most often think of as the character depicted by Ayn Rand in “Atlas Shrugged.” His mind was the motor of the world.
I stand corrected. It appears he lived from 1932 to 1984, however the idea that he was 42 when he died is repeated in other places I've Googled, so it is not my mistake alone.
The guy was 80!
Fitness doesn't guarantee long life, but a better quality one.
I rest my case-see my previous post.
At 80 he could lay there and his wife could move
I’ve been looking for articles on Arthur Jones passing and found a site with most of his major writing — which he tended to self-publish. Most people’s impressions seem to confirm the conclusion that this was a truly great person of the 20th century — a larger than life character, who might even have been the first 21st century personality.
http://arthurjonesexercise.com/Bulletin1/Bulletin1.html
He’s probably the best writer and speaker most people had encountered. You need to know that there are truly authentic people living in the world — but they are not those you see as mere “celebrities” in the mainstream media.
Once you’ve experienced that difference, you have a standard for gauging the authenticity and credibility of anyone else.
At 80 its great if anyone is moving!
I apply some of Arthur Jones’ weight training recommendations, and have been startled by the results. Jones’ preaching of short, intense workouts makes a great deal of sense. Arthur Jones’ autobiography can be read here for free:
http://www.arthurjonesexercise.com/GodLaughs/GodLaughs.html
Warning: the book is at times extremely profane. It is also uproariously funny, but also more than a little sad. Jones, at the time of the writing at least (1994 I believe), was a very bitter man.
He traveled all over the world doing his wildlife filming, and lived an almost unbelievably exciting life.
God bless his family.
I think Arthur Jones smoked a great deal, which could not have helped. He lived a very rough and tumble life. In his autobiography he claims he contracted malaria three times on one Africa trip in the 1950’s. He went from a muscular 198 pounds (at 5’7 or 5’8) to 118 in several months. Whew!
His training was erratic given his travel schedule. Jones was often around 160 - 170 pounds, but at one point in the mid-1950’s got up to 205 pounds, which for that era (and for his height) was gigantic. He claims that he could have entered the Mr. America contest and placed fourth or fifth.
bump.
Thanks for recommending his autobiography. I read the first and last chapters and will wait a while for that information to sink in before proceeding with the rest. Each of his chapters is so intense and perspective-changing that one needs a while to “recover” and grow from that contact.
I think the book was written in 2004 and isn’t bitter but honest and sardonic — reminiscent of his favorite authors Mark Twain and Will Rogers. He was one of the great iconoclasts ever — like a Krishnamurti and Paracelsus, who while being the foremost authority in their field (whatever that was at the moment), disclaimed there should be any authority but one’s own questioning of the truth.
He had a tremendous impact on everyone he encountered — and brought out these very strong reactions and responses in people that he “observed” — thinking he was a “nobody” and his opinions didn’t matter.
With this site of his collected wit and wisdom, I’m certain his stature will grow in time (not that it would have mattered to him), but he was justifiably worthy of being deemed one of Maslow’s self-actualized persons — of which Maslow once said, there was no writer that he knew, met that criteria.
Most of literature, up to this time, was produced by confused and insecure people lacking clarity. Now we know what a fully human being is like — through his own words.
That’s the problem with the mainstream media view of life; it’s limited by the reporters own understanding of the world — so even if they are reporting on the great, they can only project their own limited understanding of that world on everything they see and report on. That’s how media needs to change in the future — to be reported on by the world’s greatest authorities themselves, and not by a profession of people skilled at pretending to know what they are talking about — because their professors don’t know either.
Hi there! Actually, as you read the book, Jones will make allusions to the date it was written, and it is 1994. For more recent news about Jones, you might try Ellington Darden’s website:
The “less is more” philosophy fits with the training philosophy of track sprinters, and sprint swimmers. Too much work can dull their explosiveness. Most weight trainers, however, do high volume at relatively low intensity.
But the body adapts in time to any program. I am not necessarily an all-HIT-all-the-time sort of fellow. But it has its place.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.