Contributor: “Dr. J”
Dr. J offers his irreverent, slightly irrelevant, but possibly useful opinions on health and fitness. A Florida surgeon and fitness freak with a black belt in karate, he runs 50 miles a week and flies a Cherokee Arrow 200.

Most of you have probably never heard of Arthur Jones, but if you are a member of a fitness center, you owe a debt of gratitude to this enigmatic man.

I mean, anyone whose mantra was “bigger alligators, faster airplanes, and younger women,” was not your average, run of the mill kind of guy! He lived that mantra too, although my favorite Arthur Jones quote was, “They used to call me crazy, but now that I’m wealthy, they call me eccentric!”

Planes and eccentric living

Arthur had his home in Ocala, Florida. He lived on a sprawling estate with his sixth wife, a herd of elephants, lots of alligators, and several fast, and faster, airplanes! He had a gorilla as a pet also, but when I visited a few years ago, the old ape had died and was stuffed and displayed as an exhibit. Arthur’s last wife, Terri, was an avid flyer, with ratings from the basic single engine land aircraft all the way to ATP and commercial jetliners. Because of their combined love of aviation, they built Jumbolair, which boasts the world’s longest private hard surfaced runway and is now home to the Travoltas.

Since Arthur’s death in August of 2007, Terri Jones has managed the property and there is now a hotel where, for a fair amount of money, you can fly onto the property and live as an eccentric for as long as you wish.

Inventing the Nautilus machine

Back in the late 1960s fitness centers were gyms and it was all about lifting heavy weights ala Arnold Schwarzenegger, and your average man or woman on the street was not very interested in that.

Enter Arthur Jones. Soon to go from crazy to eccentric, he got the idea of using machines to allow the average guy to move weights without the risk of injury, or the work effort required with free weights just to load the bar. Now I understand how all you serious weight lifters live for the sweat and toil of the lifting process, but there was no money in that.

Arthur made “weight lifting” accessible to regular people, and did as much as anyone to give rise to the fitness craze that is so prevalent today. Although the Nautilus system of machines has undergone several re-works since then, Arthur’s Nautilus idea bankrolled his, any many of his early acquaintances’ lives, including the man who runs the fitness centers where I have been a hard-working member.

Back to the beginning

Jumbolair is a short flight from my home. It is situated in the middle of Ocala’s beautiful horse country (where my wonderful horse was bred). I thought it would be a fun flight to go back to that hallowed ground for a visit.

As you can see in the video, it was a beautiful day and it was very special to take the Arrow into that long, spacious runway! The animals are gone now. It’s much more civilized on the property. It’s still a worthy destination for pilots and fitness fanatics both, to walk on the grounds where a crazy man became eccentric and changed, for the better, many people’s lives!

(Send your questions for Dr. J to calorielab@gmail.com or leave a comment. If your question is used by Dr. J, CalorieLab will send you a $25 Dining Dough restaurant certificate — limited to U.S. residents. More Dr. J posts can be read in our archives.)

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 and is filed under Dr. J will see you now, Exercise and fitness. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.