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Miracles -- like success, beauty,
fitness and many other things -- can mean different things to
different people, especially from one era and culture to another.
Imagine a spaceship or jet plane streaking across medieval Europe;
surely it would have caused great alarm and just as surely would
have been called "Sorcery!" "Witchcraft!"
-- or "a miracle!" Over many thousands of years, technological
progress has been a never ending series of usually small, occasionally
great discoveries that so much more is possible. Thus, much of
what once seemed impossible and miraculous is now commonplace
-- even taken for granted.
But while technology has given us the so-called "Space Age"
and its "toys" and other trappings of modern civilization,
human anatomy and especially human nature have stayed as they
were during the Stone Age. Sometimes it seems that in certain
ways we're still in a kind of Dark Age, slowly rediscovering lost
knowledge. (In fact, due to today's lowered educational standards
-- don't they call it the "dumbing down of America"?
-- certain knowledge has been lost within only ONE
generation!) In some cases, things considered "new"
aren't really new or better and have actually been less effective
than the so-called "old" items and methods they were
supposed to have supplanted.
One such example is the Hack squat compared to a properly performed
barbell squat. While Hack machines provide some protection for
your back by stabilizing it at least somewhat, they actually increase
the risk and potential severity of knee injury by forcing your
body thru an absolutely straight (and thus unnatural)
trajectory during the entire exercise, which prevents your hips
and thighs from moving even slightly backwards, thus forcing your
knees forward into a much more vulnerable position as your legs
bend into, then must recover from, the lower and potentially more
dangerous half of the exercise, when your lower legs and upper
body are less parallel to each other. All else equal, a properly
performed barbell squat is easier on your knees because your hips
and thighs can move somewhat backwards, which forces your knees
less forward and helps the sticking point feel less severe.
Barbell squats have their own disadvantages: possible lower-back
injury from squatting with your upper body leaning too far forward
and, as a result, your hips thrust too far backwards (commonly
called "back" squats); knee pain and possible injury,
depending on how out of parallel your lower legs and upper body
are to each other during the lower half of the exercise; a less
than full-range exercise due to the so-called "fear factor,"
especially if you've hurt your back or knees before; the discomfort
-often the outright pain if you squat with enough weight -- of
the bar cutting into your upper trapezious muscles and/or the
back of your neck.
So if Hack squats have
ever hurt your knees and/or if improperly performed barbell squats
have strained or injured your back, you know what the Stone Age
of leg exercise is like. And you may have realized or at least
strongly suspected that any kind of squat during which your upper
body is forced thru a perfectly straight trajectory is not only
unnatural, uncomfortable and distracting but worst of all can
also be dangerous!
Almost all kinds of fitness training and most kinds of athletic
proficiency require strong legs and sound knees. Make
no mistake about it: SQUATS ARE TO LEGS AS LEGS ARE TO FITNESS!
And any bodybuilder who avoids significant leg exercise
will be at an additional, increasingly obvious disadvantage: not
only will his legs always be noticeably less developed than his
upper body but, for a reason about to be explained, even his upper
body will never -indeed, can never! -- reach
its full potential.
I began weight training in 1953 and after a few years of very
little progress -- and there fortunately having been no Hack machine
in the gym then -- I learned firsthand the great value of only
a few very intense high-rep sets of properly performed full squats
with a barbell only twice a week, combined with
only two other compound exercises (full-range dips and rowing)
-- no curls, calf raises and other so-called "small"
exercises for almost two years -- at least 12 years before such
brief, infrequent and very intense workouts began to be touted
nationally.
In 1970 I formulated the highly plausible theory (first published
in another magazine in 1988 as part of my two-part article ("The
Natural Maxibolic") that, all else equal, the overall growth
stimulating effect of exercising one muscle or muscle group compared
to exercising any other is directly proportional to the ratio
of the cubes of their respective, masses. In other words, if the
mass of the frontal thighs (the quads) is, say, 20 times that
of the biceps, then the quads' potential influence on the biceps
is 8000 (the cube of 20) times the biceps'
potential influence on the quads! Given the greater value of compound
exercises, which work at least two muscle groups simultaneously,
it's unfortunate that the potentially most valuable skeletal-muscle
exercise -the Squat -- has also been the potentially most dangerous
exercise when performed improperly.
With that in mind, and aware that others were trying to improve
the state of the art, I began to compile a list of the significant
requirements that the ideal -- and the ultimate
-- squat apparatus must meet:
1: To protect his knees, his lower legs and upper
body must be enabled to remain parallel to each other during the
lower (and, with any other method of squatting, the potentially
more dangerous) half of the exercise.
2:
To protect his lower back, his body must be guided into LEG
squats (i.e., the biomechanical equivalent of squatting with
his upper body kept reasonably upright during the entire exercise)
and thus prevented from performing potentially dangerous and
much less effective back squats (the
result of his upper body leaning too far forward and his hips
thrust too far backwards), which make his hips and back do too
much of the work and thus prevent his quads from doing enouqh
of it.
3: His squatting muscles must encounter little
or no sticking point; the resistance should feel quite uniform
throughout the exercise. (It's far more important that there
be less resistance during the lower half of the exercise than
greater resistance during its upper half.) And because his thighs
move through a greater arc than does the rest of his body during
even a partial squat and therefore would tend to distort the
overall resistance at least slightly during the lower half of
even a reasonably full squat, their mass must be neutralized
as much as possible by guiding them through both sides of vertical
(as if they were pendulums swinging under his knees) during
the lower half of the exercise.
4: As implied immediately above, his knees
must also be stabilized during the lower half of the exercise.
5: His entire upper body must be cradled and
his back thus protected additionally by a weightable carriage
that automatically becomes more recumbent during the lower half
of the exercise than during the upper (and potentially less
dangerous) half of it.
6: As determined and implemented
more recently after some extremely tall athletes used the updated
Leg Machine, such carriage must also include, at least as an
option, an extension that contains an easily removable and reliably
reinsertible pad that provides suitable support for such users'
lower torsoes.
7: Yet the carriage must also allow him unimpeded
deep breathing and enable him to shrug freely and fully against
the available resistance (most effectively at the top of each
repetition) - especially during high reps, as he becomes increasingly
more winded. Such "breathing shrugs" increase by at least one-fourth
(if not by one-third?) the already considerable
power- and musclebuilding value of properly performed full squats.
(Yet another limitation of Hack squats and leg presses is their
lack of shruggability.)
8: Upper handles that facilitate breathing
shrugs by keeping his arms comfortably away from his chest and
his elbows as high as his shoulders; lower handles would of
course be available otherwise.
9: Shoulder pads banked according to the slope of the
average adult's trapezious muscles and wide enough, soft enough
yet substantial enough to prevent any squattable resistance
from causing any pain or discomfort.
10:
He must be able to perform not only FULL squats
safely, but fuller-range squats than are safely possible with
any other method of squatting. (All else equal, full-range
exercise is more effective than partial-range exercise when
bodybuilding and when training for flexibility and for aerobic
capacity.)
11: The platform must be non-skid; wide enough
for the widest-stance safe squats and long enough to accommodate
users with the longest thighs and the most sensitive knees;
angled so that any user's ankles and Achilles tendons will feel
no discomfort and his feet no awkwardness during any part of
the exercise, and so that while his feet are placed properly
on the platform he will not "bottom out" on it --
during even the deepest squat; and situated
so that while his body is bent into an extremely deep squat
his hips will be pulled slightly -- and very beneficially
-- away from the bottom of the carriage (which, according to
chiropractors and other professionals, will help to counteract
lordosis).
12: Anyone -- no matter how tall or large --
must be able to enter and exit the Machine safely and easily.
13: Once the Machine is in use, the linkage
that otherwise holds the carriage securely aloft must have been
automatically releasable from, and later be easily and reliably
re-engageable onto, any of at least six suitably sturdy, evenly
dispersed and equally accessible yet safely recessed stops so
that the user can train alone in complete safety -- even if
he were unable to complete his last rep and became stuck at
or near the bottom of the exercise.
14: The carriage must not need to be counter
weighted; i.e., must be light enough to enable any adult beginner
to use the Machine (with no added weight, if necessary), yet
sturdy enough to accommodate the largest, strongest powerlifter.
15: The apparatus and the extremely vigorous
exercise it enables normally healthy individuals to perform
must be completely user-friendly: no limitations, dangers, discomforts,
distractions or biomechanical defects when used AS
DIRECTED. In effect, it must be a Machine that
doesn't feel like a machine or, for that matter, like a barbell.
16: The apparatus must be as structurally simple
as safely possible: no cams, chains, cables, sprockets, etc.,
so as to be virtually maintenance-free.
17: It should not need to be bolted to the
floor during normal use.
Even before its final prototype had evolved, the deceptively
simple-looking Atlantis Leg Machine (U.S. patent #5,626,548)
had become the ONLY apparatus ever to satisfy not only most
of these requirements, but ALL of them except
for #6. Its carriage's —-
and thus also
any user’s upper body’s
-— patented curved
trajectory (unlike the straight and thus unnatural trajectories
of Hack machines’ carriages) is literally the only
way to satisfy
Requirements #1 thru #5, #10 and, to a great extent, #15 simultaneously.
Trying to satisfy them by using a barbell or any straight-trajectory
apparatus would be as futile as standing flat against a wall,
then bending over (as if to pick up something from the floor)
and expecting not to fall over. It’d be impossible because the
wall --
symbolic of any straight-trajectory
squat --
would prevent your hips
and thighs from moving backwards to keep your balance as your
upper body bent forward. (But if that wall were concave
instead of flat...)
In welcome contrast to any squat apparatus
with a flat, stationary back pad (which impedes deep breathing and
makes shrugging almost impossible), four (or an optional five) comfortable
roller pads set into the Atlantis Machine’s carriage fulfill Requirement
#7: shruggability and unimpeded deep breathing.
Normally, any
apparatus or method that provides UNvarying
resistance instead of properly (or improperly) varying resistance
is actually more effective (all else
equal) for building strength because the sticking points encountered
during such exercises provide momentary isometric exercise. But
by guiding you into LEG squats and preventing
you from performing “back” squats (which promote lordosis and
endanger your back) and despite providing properly varying resistance,
the Atlantis Leg Machine is the welcome exception: it makes you
use more of the weaker link in the squatting “chain”
-- your quads
--
without neglecting or endangering your hip and lower-back muscles.
(“Back”—squats are the only way any powerlifter with relatively
weak quads can squat with heavy and often dangerous poundages
with a barbell.)
Everyone I know
of who has used the Machine AS DIRECTED has liked its
feel and especially its function. So far, there have been thousands
of instances of “Hey, I don’t feel my knees or back!” --
which is
largely, but of course not only, why the apparatus was created.
But once in a
while I am witness to what some would call “a miracle.” The most
dramatic such occasion was on June 14, 1995. Mike Ferguson, owner
of the then newly enlarged Power Station Gym in Middletown, Ohio
--
and, as it would turn out, the most “hands on” club owner I’ve
ever known personally
—- had taken delivery
of the Machine that morning. Having met Mike twice before, but
having been quite unprepared for what I was about to see, I returned
later that day to assess a few of his members’ reactions to the
Machine.
After having
made my way to where it had been assembled in the larger of two
workout areas, I saw Mike instructing one of four young men taking
turns on it. Then I noticed the large, very obvious scars on the
man’s knees and couldn’t help whispering to Mike, “How are his
knees holding up; any pain so far?”
“No,” he replied. “Sheldon blew out
both knees jumping for a football four years ago... but notice
he's doing completely FULL squats -- safely possible only with
the Atlantis Machine!”
I did indeed notice, and couldn't
wait for Sheldon to finish his last two sets. (After a warm-up
set with the unweighted carriage, Mike had each man perform four
sets of at least 15 full range reps and, wisely, a few sets of
leg curls and NO additional thigh exercise.) After each of Sheldon's
sets Mike asked him, “How are your knees?” And each time he replied
emphatically, “OK -- no pain at all!”
In Mike's office a few minutes later
he told me that Sheldon Robinson's surgeon (a Dr. Langworthy,
Middletown's most prominent orthopedist) had warned him that he'd
“never again be able to perform any kind of strenuous leg exercise
-- especially squats” (!!). I've heard from and personally know
many people who, due to prior pain or injury, had avoided all
kinds of leg exercise until they discovered that
they could perform squats safely, comfortably and effectively
ONLY on the "Atlantis Leg Machine". But while such accounts
and testimonials are no longer surprising, I couldn't help having,
for only the second time in my life, “goose bumps” on a hot day.
I called Mike about a month
later, partly to see if he would surprise me again. I was delighted
to hear that, due only to word of mouth, he had picked up many
new members -- five in just one day. He said that the new memberships
attributable to only the Leg Machine had almost paid for it! When
I saw him in Columbus, Ohio in March 1998 he said that having
the Machine had enabled him to pick up “at least 135
new members” thus far. Such is the difference between a, so-called
“expense” and a wise investment. If you wish to speak to Mike,
call him at 513-423-9514 and he'll. be glad to verify all of the
above.
If history does repeat itself in
certain ways and, among other things, we are only rediscovering
long lost knowledge, is it possible that ages ago the scientists
who devised the laser and, later, the engineers who built the
Pyramids also -- and as possibly a mere diversion -- used just
a smattering of their considerable skill to create at least a
reasonable facsimile of the apparatus currently known as the Atlantis
Leg Machine?
If this seems far-fetched or melodramatic,
consider that we still don't know exactly how the millions of
huge stones comprising the Pyramids were lifted into place after
having been cut so precisely that it's impossible to insert a
sheet of paper between them! Nor could a team of modern engineers
build a twenty-foot high, geometrically accurate replica of the
Great Pyramid, which, at 481 ft. high, was at least 13,900 times
bigger a project!
But quite apart from such speculation,
a modern Atlantis squat machine -- dubbed the "Super Swing"
about seven years ago -- is providing to thousands of people unsurpassed
safety, comfort and biomechanics not found in any
other leg-exercise apparatus at any price. Think of all the backs
-- and twice as many knees! -- that will
never be injured. Just a few reps and leg exercise will never
be the same!
The Squat -- that so-called
“King of Exercises” -- has at last emerged from the Stone Age
... again.
PS: I think it's
time to update the term "machine" when applied to exercise
equipment... While machines such as cars, elevators and bulldozers
perform work, YOU do all the work when you use any so-called exercise
"machine." So unless a machine performs the exercise
for you, you are using, for better or for worse,
what is actually a resistance-providing, bodypart-repositioning
apparatus -- the repositioning being even more
important than the resistance, especially regarding
the Squat. There are many so-called "leg machines,"
but only one is state-of-the-art. |
