James Douglass with his first "Magic Circle" then known as the "Douglass Harness. Mr. Douglass is the inventor of this great aid to lifters and it gives him results when everything else seems to fail.
More on the Magic Circle here:
Would you like to see your squat poundages go up 100 pounds in a short period of time?
Would you like to feel the surge of power that comes from an overall growth of muscle bulk come faster and surer than ever before?
This may sound like you need a touch of magic to make this come true, and that is just what we are going to tell you about in this article, THE MAGIC CIRCLE OF BODYBUILDING, a new and sensational device that makes the greatest of all exercises a real pleasure to perform and enables the user to make gains he has never dreamed possible before.
A device that takes away the pain of a heavy bar cutting into the shoulders until the arms and shoulders go numb and you can no longer concentrate on the exercise for the discomfort that you must endure.
Here is a device that takes away the fear some men have of the squat or deep knee bend - a fear that they will get down and not be able to get up again, especially if they are training alone with no one to assist them if they get stuck
Here is a device that has enabled those who use it to squat with poundages they never dreamed possible.
The author squatting with 425,
Magic Circle style.
J.C. Hise claims it is the greatest invention since the wheel. He claims to have made 20 repetitions in the squat with 500 lbs. at around 60 years of age.
Your editor (photo above), some years ago, found that he could no longer do heavy squats (his favorite exercise) because the bar resting on the spinal processes with heavy weights would cause a distortion, pinch a nerve, and cause stomach disorders and other severe pains for weeks afterward. Now at the age of 54, and after doing little squatting for years, he finds in about three weeks he can easily go to 500 or more if he so desires; all with no pain or discomfort. It enables one to continue on with the greatest exercise yet discovered, the exercise Iron Man has pioneered for 30 years and which has probably done more for bodybuilding and weightlifting than any other single exercise - the Squat or Deep Knee Bend - KING OF EXERCISES.
Peary was what you might call somewhat passionate about the Squat alright.
People attending our gym know there is one exercise they will always be asked to perform and work hard at and that is the deep knee bend. Since introducing the magic circle (just read those two words in bold upper case as if they were from here on in) into the gym here at the Iron Man office, no one has used a bar for squats for months. Even the lady trainers find that the squat is a pleasure to perform and a favorite exercise - with the magic circle.
Katie Brumbach, a.k.a. The Great Sandwina. How nicely a Magic Circle would have worked in this photo. Three-posts, three men. Solid construction and a sound, tight fit! She took the name "Sandwina" after defeating Eugen Sandow in a lifting contest in New York in 1902, lifting 300 lbs. overhead while he could only lift it to his chest. Unsubstantiated anecdotes tell of Katie jamming Sandow into his light box and punting the cunt clean off stage and into the front row. A fine time was said to be had by all, including the renowned bouncing Sandow-in-a-box (syphilis-bonus not included till later, shipping fees may apply, free toy for Sandwina inside). Yet more historical content and truth-telling, right here, right now.
Some time earlier we mentioned that this was NEW. This was a mistake, for while it is new to most bodybuilders and weightlifters, it is not really new(s), for James Douglas(s) of Monticello, Utah developed this device back about 1952.
He suffered from polio and the heartbreak of Iron Man magazine misspelling his last name throughout this entire article, and has used barbells to recover. Tho he practiced the squat, he never liked it for several reasons.
One is that the bar cut into his shoulders so badly an "S" had to be removed from his surname, and made it quite painful. Another was that with the bar the shoulders he found, as others have, that it causes the shoulders to round forward and would not permit the chest to lift during hard squatting, thus causing a sort of potbellied effect. Many bodybuilders have steered away from heavy squats for this reason. He also tried the Hise Shoulder Shrug and found that he could not do it most effectively with the bar.
Jim began casting around for some other method of supporting the weights at the shoulders in the squat, and at first built an oblong contraption of pipe with web straps over the shoulders and pins to slip the smallish men, er weights over. He used this for some time, later building a round ring using a castoff wagon tire to which he fastened the same straps made of webbing. This he found to be much superior to his first oblong style and in a few short weeks he gained 20 pounds of (more or less) muscular bodyweight.
He found that this harness over his shoulders permitted him to stand upright with the shoulders normally back and the chest high and it permitted him to breathe high in the chest, whereas with the bar across the shoulders he had been forced to breathe in lower chest and abdomen.
As a result of this he developed a very deep and high arched chest with a trim waist, and added the muscular bulk he has so long sought for a fine a powerful physique.
At the same time a training friend of his who had suffered from stiff knees from lying in the mud during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, cured his knee trouble and gained from 170 lbs. to 220 lbs. at a height of 6'2" in a short time. His name: Ray McAlister.
Because your arms are in a normal position you no longer have to suffer from cramps of the arms or shoulders or from their going to "sleep." This is worth a lot as this discomfort causes men to give up this wonderful exercise.
Another advantage of this Magic Circle is that if you get stuck down in the low position you can place the hands against the thighs and push with them to assist yourself to the upright position so that you need not get stuck on the bottom of the squat listening to Howlin' Wolf laughing in your head. You see, there is no bar to slip off the shoulders if you remove your hands.
With this device you can use the strictly upright squat with a block under the heels, or you can use the lean-forward type of squat, depending on your preference and your type of build.
In use you place the ring on two supports or horses about two feet in height. Then load the ring up with plates on the upright pins supplied. When loaded to the desired poundage (and you can load it up to 1,000 lbs. if you like, for half or quarter squats), you step inside and place the two web straps over your shoulders and stand erect. If the ring is badly off balance, lower it and position yourself again. A little off balance will not bother.
We find it most desirable to load the plates on the sides unless you are going to extremely heavy weights and you will have to load on both sides, front and back. Four loading pins are usually provided.
After standing erect and adjusting the straps to a comfortable position on the shoulders, you slowly walk forward to clear the supports and proceed to perform your squats as usual. When finished you step back between the supports and lower the weight to them. You can assist yourself in taking the weights from supports or lowering them back with your hands against the legs.
All systems of repetitions and sets may be used. Many fellows have found the 20 or 30 rep, weight gaining, puff-and-pant system very effective, while others have used many sets of 5 reps for power and bulk.
This Magic Circle has so many varied uses and applications, all so satisfactory and effective that you can well understand why we have chosen to call it the Magic Circle, tho it was originally known as the Douglass Harness, and Hise called it the Hula Hoop.
We gave publicity to this in Iron Man in 1953 and again in 1954, but because of problems of construction and getting the correct dimensions, most fellows did not bother to build one. They are a little expensive to build too, but the cost is small when the satisfaction and results are considered.
Our first one ran about $40 including the materials and some of the labor. We are now in the process of building ten of them and believe this will bring the cost to $35. We know many fellows will want one of these and if you'd like your name on one, rush us your reservation right away because they will not last too long. These Magic Circles must be made very strong and the measurements must be just right, hence the considerable expense involved. We will send these out $35 each F.O.B. Alliance, Nebraska.
If you obtain one, give it a fair trial. Take your time. Do not try maximum poundages the first few workouts. Become acquainted with its use. You will find it quite different from squatting with a bar. Most people find it a very delightful method of doing this heavy exercise right from the first. Thus far we have found no one demanding padding on the shoulder straps, but if you have very tender shoulders, padding can be added.
We believe, now that we have made the Magic Circle available already built, that it will become one of the most popular methods of squatting, and a must for serious bodybuilders and weight lifters.
Incidentally, we have made up both a special square type as well as the round type, but most fellows prefer the round type tho there is little real difference in the feel and use.
For new, undreamed of power and progress in the King of Exercises, graduate today to the MAGIC CIRCLE.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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