The Hise Shoulder Shrug, Now Parts One and Two - J.S. Van Wye (1949)

 

Thanks to John Previte! 

The Hise Shoulder Shrug has created a lot of discussion and presented a lot of questions. Dr. Van Wye will attempt to answer a few of them in the following article of explanation. 

Before we go into this article by Dr. Van Wye, we have an appendix to the articles of the past two issues by Charles Rosenberg who has been conducting our research department. This arrived too late to be appended to his article last issue but please read it as a part of that installment. We have more material by Mr. Rosenberg that will be presented in subsequent issues. In the meanwhile we will be pleased to hear of results of the application of Mr. Rosenberg's teachings. 

We have received so many letters demanding explanations of certain of Mr. Hise's writings that Dr. Van Wye, a man thoroughly trained in the subject of anatomy and physiology has been prevailed upon to write an explanation of Mr. Hise's teachings on the shoulder shrug as he sees it. 

We also have Gene Jantzen gathering material on this method in his gym where he uses it on all of his nearly 150 pupils. He will make a report on it in due time. 

There has also been a terrific demand for more articles by Mr. Hise. We will give you these articles as soon as they can be worked up into digestible form. 

                                                       Appendix to Research Dept. in March-April Issue of Iron Man

                                                                                                By Charles Rosenberg

The rest pause should be considered as an aid to training, a valuable, flexible technique to help one in overcoming extra heavy loads, or in performing extra heavy work without excessive waste of energy.

However, as training proceeds, and the loads or the work become normalized, that is as functional equilibrium is restored after constant practice, the rest pause can be gradually diminished in duration. They can eventually be discarded. 

The rest pause is not intended to be a permanent fixture in progressive weight training. It can be restored at will or decreased as one's energies vary. Strength is not a steady development upward, but rather progresses in uncertain jumpy stages. 

One may have relapses. Then again, one may train for a long time and then suddenly spurt ahead. The rest pause system is designed to help one past these bad times. When you find you can perform an exercise 10 reps then it is time to increase the poundage and perhaps go back to the rest pause system until you can again work up to the 10 consecutive reps. 

One must always avoid fatigue as fatigue delays recovery and makes progress that much slower. Also, fatigue causes mental depression and this has a bad psychological effect. It will cause you to lose faith in the work you are doing. 

On the other hand, success inspires us to more determined efforts and therefore to greater success. (Editor's note: We want the readers' opinions of the presentations of Mr. Rosenberg and Dr. J.S. Van Wye. It does not matter if you agree with them or not. Let us know what you think. If you have something of value for this department and the bodybuilding game, write it up and send it in. We will give it careful consideration and present it to the readers when room permits. We all know that as yet the science of body culture is rather crude and uncertain but we hope with the cooperation of everyone in the game to correct this condition.)

MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE HISE EXERCISES AND THEORIES

by Dr. J.S. Van Wye

Hise has delved quite deeply in his studies and it will be my attempt to cover only the more obvious points. I will try to give you a little background regarding the evolution of these theories over the past fifty-some years. The objects Hise evidently has in his mind, his exercises and purposes of them. I will also mention a few books for those interested in furthering their studies on this subject. 

To the best of my knowledge, Edwin Checkley is the first author who wrote about the relaxation of posture and breathing in regard to exercising and developing the body. In his book, "A Natural Method of Physical Training," published in 1890, he offers a system by which he believes the complete body can be developed into a machine of muscular and healthful perfection. This is accomplished through costal breathing (using the upper thorax), and carrying the body erect at all times. 

Using Checkley's system in combination with the exercises of Hise is so much  better than just trying to make up for bad posture and poor breathing merely for bad posture and poor breathing merely for a few hours every other day. We would then be striving towards perfect posture and development during every minute of our wakening hours. This practice would soon become a habit which would remain for the rest of our lives.  

Here:

                      https://ia801304.us.archive.org/8/items/checkleysnatural00chec/checkleysnatural00chec.pdf

 Alan Calvert was the leading weight lifting authority after the first World War, and author of "Super Strength," which is considered one of the finest books ever written on weight exercise. Calvert had one thorn in his side which must have prodded deeper as time passed. It is a question which still bothers us today. "Why is it that some men will never develop under any 'exercising system,' weights or any other form of gymnastics, while other men will develop with amazing rapidity under any kind of formal training?" 

http://www.crasseux.com/books/super_strength.pdf

Another question in his mind was why some have a natural lasting strength while others develop strength and size to lose it in a short time after they stop exercising? 

Remember, Calvert was the outstanding authority on weight exercise of his day, and continued to have this vast amount of knowledge at his command. Irregardless of all this, Calvert believed he had found the answer in Checkley's book. About 1925 Calvert started publishing a monthly booklet called "Body Molding" to spread the teachings of Checkley. (Incidentally, it had wonderful articles on muscle control.) Calver never added any original thought along this line, but elaborated on Checkley's book. As far as I know it remained for J.C. Hise to bring independent thought to this field, but from an entirely different approach. His theory was to exercise the body into the habits of correct posture, breathing, development, and stimulate "cartilage mass." It is bound to be much faster in its results. 

Hise too, must have had many questions in mind. Why is Grimek able to maintain his strength and beautiful body with a bare minimum of exercise? Could it be Grimek's instinct for the perfect exercises for himself, which gave him his magnificent muscular development? He has perfect posture. Could that be the answer? Why doesn't everyone respond to exercise? 

There was another big question in Hise's mind stimulated by reading that the natives of the Caucasus Mountains live so much longer than anywhere else. I mention the last question only to recall his "Cartilage Mass Theory" written some time ago in "Iron Man." (July and August 1948). This theory is the only answer to the question, "Why does this system work?" Youth and cartilage go hand in hand, consequently shrinking of the cartilage and senility are seen as one.

In his work, Hise went one great step further than Checkley.  Hise uses exercise to strengthen the muscle of posture. These muscles, which he calls the "Red Muscles of Posture," when strong enough, will force the habit of good carriage upon one. Breathing with the exercises will have a threefold result. It will teach one to breathe correctly, will stimulate growth, and stimulate the Reticulo-Endothelial system.   

The Reticulo-Endothelial system [currently referred to as the mononuclear phagocyte system] is called the second line of defense of the body from a doctor's point of view. The white cells and immune-bodies of the blood are made in it, and the system also absorbs poisons and toxins. I often call it the second circulatory system of the body. It is composed of the pituitary gland, adenoids, tonsils, spleen, kuppher cells of the liver, red bone marrow, superenal glands, and the lymphatic system. 

The lymphatic circulation is motivated only by deep breathing, and muscular contraction. For an example, one of the therapies the Osteopathic profession had for the treatment of pneumonia before the advent of the sulfonamides, penicillin and other antibiotic agents was the lymphatic or thoracic pump. It was given by the doctor standing at the head of the treatment table which the patient is lying on in a supine position. The physician's hands are placed on the patient's chest just below the collar bones, and exert a rhythmic pressed 120 times per minute. This is given for a period of five to 15 minutes depending on the strength and vitality of the patient. Lymphatic drainage or circulation was stimulated, which in turn absorbed and carried off the fluids from the lungs. 

Working along the same line of thought, following surgery, it was customary to raise the ribs for two minutes on each side twice daily. Postoperative pneumonia was practically unheard of in our hospitals. Hise, being primarily interested in growth, automatically associated the Reticulo-Endothelial system with connective tissue cell growth. If you can promote the growth of cartilage you will eventually increase in size and strength, i.e., cartilage massing on the sternum, rib spinal joints spinal vertebrae, etc.

You no doubt wonder why I have given so much space in mentioning Checkley, Calvert and their books. It is only because Hise constantly speaks of "standing tall" and these books are excellent in describing posture, and how to carry oneself. 

If one will assist the Hise exercises by maintaining good posture during the hours he is awake his progress will be much faster. 

Now a few words on posture . . . 

In standing, the body is leaned slightly forward, so that the toes have to grip the floor or in other words, balance the weight of the body on the balls of the feet. I have never seen a photo of Grimek with his big toes pointing up. Go back in your magazines and books and check some of the other outstanding physiques of our day, and you will see what I mean. Hise tells me that Grimek found out years ago that by gripping his large toes he instantly assumed good posture, and also kept his waistline down.

The pelvis should be tucked forward when standing. The exaggerated motion of this is similar to "doing the bumps" in the chorus line. The chest is held high. The waistline cannot sag with the pelvis tilted upward and the chest held properly. The head is carried high and the neck straight. Hise sums it up by simply saying "stand tall." 

When walking, give a deliberate push-off with the toes of the foot supporting the body weight, just before it leaves the ground. As you bring the foot forward, swing the thigh forward and lift the knee. Relax the lower leg as the knee is brought up and forward, as if it were artificial. Imagine that the only way of locking the knee joint is to let the momentum carry the lower leg to full extension before the heel contacts the ground. Let the hips swing forward easily as the thigh travels forward. You will be amazed at the speed and virility of your walk. My thighs were small despite the squat programs until I assumed this manner of walking. They now tape approximately 26" at a bodyweight of 180 pounds, and I'm a very small boned man.

The "Red Muscles of Posture" are the soleus and peroneus longus in the calf, the thigh groups, spinas muscles, scaleni and sterno-cleido-mastoid, intercostals, and abdominals. These are the muscles developed first by the Hise system. They are to be teased, and not forced into fatigue. When I say "teased" I mean just that. Six to eight exercises are all one needs. The abdominals get all the exercise required thru costal breathing and good posture. 

The following movements mentioned are those which I understand to be conditioning exercises for the "Breathing Shoulder Shrugs." 

Refer to Vol.7 No. 1 and 2

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/11/chest-shaping-squat-part-one-jc-hise.html  

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2010/12/chest-shaping-squat-part-two-joseph.html

and July and August issues  - The two part "Cartilage Theory of Mass" series, not yet on this blog as of yet . . . as far as I can figure. There's starting to be a little bit of a lotta stuff on this thing. 

They [the conditioning exercises] are: 

1) Towel or intertube exercise (wrestlers bridge)

2) Dinky squat (split method for skinnies)

3) Bent-arm pullovers on round bench

4) Stiff legged deadlift bouncing bar off chair, bench or hopper

5) Rebound deltoid exercise

6) Upright rowing motion with hands close together. 

These exercises are conditioners for the "Breathing Shoulder Shrug" and are to be followed for a period of four to six weeks. No other exercises are to be done during this period. Exercising should be accomplished only three times weekly. 

The breathing shoulder shrug is done in this manner: 

A well padded bar is placed on the shoulders as if one was preparing to do the deep knee bends. 

The body is erect and the knees locked. 

Lean forward very slightly so the toes have to grip the floor, or raise the heels by placing a one or two inch board under them. This latter method will give much greater stability with a very heavy weight. 

Breathe costally thru the mouth, which is lifting the upper chest as high as possible. 

Contract the trapezius and muscles of the front of the neck, deliberately assisting the shoulders and chest to rise even higher. 

The bar should move up and down from two to three inches with each breath when using lighter weights. Later, and with very heavy weights, the range of motion will be only one half to one inch. So long as the bar moves, the exercise is correct. 

Arrange a mirror or light so you can watch your image or shadow moving the bar up and down. An exercise pardner can be a big help in determining whether the exercise is sufficiently executed correctly or not. 

20 breaths are sufficient to begin.

Attempt three sets in the beginning and later work up to five sets, using from 30 to 60 breaths per set. 

I feel a word of caution is in order at this point. Deep knee bend stands are not satisfactorily or safe when doing the shoulder shrug. Everyone will, when properly conditioned, be able to shrug from 500 to 600 pounds. Therefore a very sturdy stand will be required. Falling forward or backward with this great poundage leaves one quite helpless. 

Don't think that these weights won't move your timbers as they are moved up and down on the shoulders. Dizziness from oxygen jags, until you become accustomed to so much deep breathing, will upset your equilibrium and is another reason for needing a strong stand. 

I like a stand made of two inch pipe to run along each side of me like parallel bars for an overall length of at least three feet. This way you will never have to move your feet and leave the safety of your stand. The stand should be of a height so that you will not have to raise the weight more than two inches in order to stand erect. Graduated boards under the feet of shorter individual will raise them to the proper height of the stands. 

G.W. Kelling, who wrote a very fine article on the "Results From Hise Shrug" (in Sept.-Oct. "Iron Man" had a very clever idea. He dug a place in his garage resembling a grease pit and lined it with concrete. The bottom of the pit is made in steps to accommodate individuals of different heights. 

Here is Hise's version. 

A huge Thank You to Joe Roark for this photo.

The Harvey-Maxime Bar should lend itself very well to the "breathing shrug" and would be the simplest of any method yet mentioned.  

I have an idea which I believe would not only be adequate but make the exercise still more efficient. It would not require the expense of a stand or the labor of digging a pit. Build a harness which would fit over the shoulders and attach it to the weight between the legs. This should be much more effective because the upper dorsal and cervical spine can be held perfectly erect. This is extremely important. I will explain later in Part Two. The only problem with this kind of an arrangement is that one would have to straddle the weights. The feet have to be fairly close together to support the weight. A platform could be made to extend below the level of the feet. This platform must be of a sturdy design to insure personal safety. 

To Part Two: 

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2012/01/more-about-hise-shrug-js-van-wye.html 

Enjoy Your Lifting!  

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