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Monday 22 September 2008

J.C.Hise - a new perspective?



Over the years & my fondness for old time physical culture I've read some articles by J.C.Hise, but today I read this from a guy who was in direct contact with the man & here is a few of his thoughts:

"...He often spoke of the Eastern doctrine of ahimsa. This is living your life so that you never harm any creature..."

"...Nutrition
There’s much anecdotal evidence, some of which is supported by epidemiological studies, that those races or peoples who stay strong and healthy even in extreme old age live on diets that are low in calories but high in nutritive value. In particular, those populations that consume diets that primarily consist of fruits and vegetables have healthy blood pressure, low glucose levels and low total serum cholesterol levels..."

Now I've read a little about Hise in my time & a couple of things struck me as odd:

First of all Hise was never really what you'd call a low calorie guy...In fact I've read several times about the incredible appetite the guy had. Maybe that was the odd occasion & maybe he followed a less hectic eating program most of the time, but had, kind of, binge sessions when going for maximum growth?

The other was his ahimsa attitude. I seem to remember he actually pushing a meat diet (hardly never harming another creature!), but I could be wrong as I'd have to dig through some old magazines to find the articles in question.
I just thought I'd mention a few doubts I have just so you don't uncritically read the article which I did find very interesting.

You can read the article by going here

A few points about Hise, if you've never heard of the man before. He was the first man to use heavy 20 rep squats to build his body. His influence inspired Mark Berry to champion the squat (especially for high reps) & for Peary Rader (editor & owner of ironman magazine) to take up squatting & pushing the idea in his magazines. He inspired Strossen to write the book "Super squats" & used a form of abbreviated training that has been the basis for guys like Stuart McRobert. Basically he is one of the founders of bodybuilding & strength training as we know it, although today mainly forgotten. He invented (or popularised) many exercises, like flat footed, heavy high rep squatting & Hise Shrugs being the most enduring two of his ideas.

Anyway, I have decided to try & find out more about the guy, so I’m going to try & find out if there are any books about his life, useful articles about his philosophy or any other avenues of information I can explore to see if I can discover the true J.C.Hise.

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