Chapter 41
THE NEXT STEP
Attempting to look into the future is frequently more exasperating than rewarding -- but in this case, we are, I think, far enough along the path to see the final goal; which goal -- I also think -- will not be reached by significant improvements in equipment.
"Teaching old dogs new tricks" may not be impossible -- but it is a difficult, thankless job at best; in the end, the eventual acceptance of new equipment and training systems will depend primarily upon an upcoming generation of trainees -- men who have not been so thoroughly brainwashed that they are literally "afraid" to learn.
The most productive training routines of the future will be built around equipment very much like Nautilus Machines that are already in large-scale production -- and in the end, I think we will find that less than two hours of weekly training will produce best-possible results, training based on not more than three, and probably two, weekly workouts.
Every year, thousands of children are poisoned by mothers who decide that, "...if one pill is good, six pills will be better." Which inclination to equate "more" with "better" is, I suppose perfectly natural -- but dangerous. Such mistakes will always occur -- in physical training and in all fields; but, gradually, ever-increasing numbers of people will see the light -- and, eventually, most people will train properly, instead of overtraining.
Trying to look into the future, I can see no important changes in the functions of present Nautilus equipment -- some changes in materials, perhaps (the use leather for covering the padded areas of some of the machines, for example), or simple alterations in appearance; but I do not now anticipate important changes in the working geometry of any of our present machines -- which is already as close to being perfect as we can make it.
What we do see is this; with continued use of the machines, it becomes increasingly clear that training "too little" is almost impossible -- so long, at least, as training is hard enough, is properly performed. In aviation circles we learned long ago that "too little" instruction is much better than "too much" -- flying lessons must not be too long, must not be too often, and if a student does not solo after a rather brief training period then it is unlikely that he ever will solo. And while the parallel with weight-training is not exact, it is close enough to serve for this example.
Just as too much flight instruction will prevent a student from learning, too much training will literally prevent growth -- and just as a flight student who does not solo within a reasonably short period of instruction will probably never learn to fly, a trainee who does not quickly learn a proper method of training will probably never train right. The reasons are both physiological and psychological -- and both factors have been covered in adequate detail earlier.