Ellington Darden - 29 Jan

Throughout life, youll find that you learn the most from the individuals who challenge you. In college, I connected with a number of innovative educators. Most of them were professors, men and women who knew their subject areas well and made learning exciting and thought-provoking.

In 1970, I encountered the smartest person Ive ever met: forty-three-year-old Arthur Jones, the eventual founder of Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries and pioneer in the field of physical exercise. Jones was not a college professor. In fact, he had barely finished the ninth grade. I always felt that quitting school in the ninth grade was one of the biggest mistakes Ive ever made in my life, Jones boldly told a seminar group in Florida. I should have quit in the sixth grade.

Jones had a wry wit, and he often made comments that were both meaningful and funny.

His wisdom was a result of rare genetics and a curiosity about the world. Nine members of his family were medical doctors. Before the age of ten, he had read hundreds of medical books. Studying on his own, he became fluent in eight languages. By the time he turned fifteen, he had visited every state in the union and parts of Canada, Mexico, and British Hondurasand he had been in and out of trouble in most of them.

Jones mentioned that during his teenage years and early twenties, at a height of 5 feet 7 inches and a weight of 160 pounds, he had been in more than seventy-five fistfightsand never lost a single one. But often, to save my own asshe smiledI had to get out of town fast.

When I first met Jones, he showed me a large, steel, rectangular, multifaceted exercise device, which led to the development of Nautilus strength-training machines. Jones was hesitant to get involved in the exercise business because of its notorious array of shady characters, half-baked advertisements, and worthless contraptions.

Joness machines, however, were uniquely worthwhile. If you were willing to put forth intense effort, they stimulated muscular size and strengthquickly. They worked by providing full-range exercise, as opposed to the partial-range movement supplied by free weights.

I worked with Jones for thirty-seven years, and together we researched and wrote more than two million words recognizing the true science of exercise, nutrition, muscle, and fat. I learned much from his guidance, his experience, and the research he supported through Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries.

Jones died in 2007, at age eighty. Several months before he died, he told me to stop depending on him. Move forward, he declared. You are now the mentorthe mentor you, in fact, required at an earlier age.

Once around is enough. You no longer need my help. Let me die. Stop thinking about me.

Arthur, I countered, I cannot forget you and what Ive learned.

Remember the exercise basics and remember the meaningful times, he said in a fatigued voice. But dont dwell there. Make mistakes, unlearn, relearn, and expand. Then share your findings and stories.

Now get out, leave me alone, go home.

That was the Arthur Jones I knew, admired, and followed. He could be blunt, rough, and rude. But he was a master teacherand he was still teaching me. He was right. It was time to move on, to move forward.

Some eleven years later, here I am composing at my computer. Ive made plenty of mistakes, and Ive expanded and relearned. Ive tested and retested dozens of new guidelines and new techniques related to exercising and eating. Ive made a lot of progresseven some breakthroughs. Its time to share.

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