Charles Atlas

[Danny62]

Fitness icon. Born Angelo Siciliano in Acri, Calabria, Italy, he and his mother emigrated to the United States in 1904. He grew up in Brooklyn a sickly child. As a teen, he had sand kicked in his face by a lifeguard at Coney Island and resolved to improve his health and physique. Using a system of isometric exercises, which he later dubbed "Dynamic Tension,” he built up his body, winning a "Most Perfectly Developed Man" contest at Madison Square Garden in 1922. He had doubled his weight, his chest was an impressive 54¾ inches and his biceps measured 17 inches, measurements he maintained for the rest of his life. Friends said that he resembled a statue of Atlas and the name stuck. He legally changed his name to Charles Atlas. He then went to work as a strongman on Coney Island where he tore telephone books in half and punched nails through blocks of wood with his bare hands. Atlas developed his own muscle-building mail order business through the use of advertisements in popular magazines. His most famous ad, a cartoon in which a scrawny young man resolves to bulk up after a bully kicks sand in his face, ran for decades. His company did so well that it emerged from the stock market crash of 1929 unscathed. By the late 1930s Atlas had offices in London and Buenos Aires as well as New York. As many as 30 million people have subscribed to his mail order course, which is still offered today. Atlas never got past semi-retirement, working out at New York City Athletic Club and posing for publicity photographs until his death from a heart attack in 1972. Atlas was selected by Forbes Magazine as one of the 20th Century's "Super Salesmen", and named one of the Most Influential People of the Twentieth Century by “Times Sunday Magazine.” He is considered a founding father of modern-day body-building and fitness.

Oct 30, 1892-Dec 24, 1972 Heart Faliure

[eca1094]

It's been awhile since I heard that name

[SueWahoo]

Charles Atlas was a nice Italian boy? Dang! Never knew that.

When they threw the first shovelful of dirt on his coffin, it would've been funny if his fist popped out of the coffin and nailed the worker Okay, that sucked, sorry. To make up for it, you might like this website, it's really cool!

http://www.sandowmuseum.com/

[Danny62]

Charles Atlas was a nice Italian boy? Dang! Never knew that.

When they threw the first shovelful of dirt on his coffin, it would've been funny if his fist popped out of the coffin and nailed the worker Okay, that sucked, sorry. To make up for it, you might like this website, it's really cool!

http://www.sandowmuseum.com/

Pretty damn cool, thanks! Thats going to be bookmarked!!

Check out the dudes abs!!!

[cleanskull]

I remember his ads on the back cover of comic books. A few years ago.

[JefeStone]

You need to post the Charles Atlas ad when the skinny kid gets sand kicked in hs face!

[JefeStone]

[Ms. K]

I see Charles Atlas, and all I can hear in my mind is the song from RHPS.

"In just seven days....I can make you a ma-ah-ah-ah-aaaaan"

[Danny62]

You need to post the Charles Atlas ad when the skinny kid gets sand kicked in hs face!

I was looking for that and could not find it!!!

Thanks!

I actually got the course a few years ago...wasn't overly impressed with it!

Working out twice a day 7 days a week!!! Old school thinking!!!

[onehunglow]

Next call was to his Lawyer

[Belle]

I actually got the course a few years ago...wasn't overly impressed with it!!

My husband insisted I get him the .pdf version, too. If spouse lost a pound for every strength training book on his hard drive, he would not be 25 pounds overweight. He'd be invisible. Is negative mass possible? I'm poor on physics.

[chirock]

My husband insisted I get him the .pdf version, too. If spouse lost a pound for every strength training book on his hard drive, he would not be 25 pounds overweight. He'd be invisible. Is negative mass possible? I'm poor on physics.

LMAO!!!

[Danny62]

My husband insisted I get him the .pdf version, too. If spouse lost a pound for every strength training book on his hard drive, he would not be 25 pounds overweight. He'd be invisible. Is negative mass possible? I'm poor on physics.

Whatever Charles did worked! I can't expain it either but he didn't use weights.

IT was boring for me the time I bought the program! Plus twice a day is a bit much!

[Belle]

Whatever Charles did worked! I can't expain it either but he didn't use weights.

Now my speciality is ice cream lifting, but my spouse won't shut up about strength training and sometimes despite my being on findadeath I actually hear something he says.... Atlas used isometric exercise (isometrics). I googled it up and read some, but couldn't understand it. Maybe it was the ice cream in my eyes.

[Danny62]

Now my speciality is ice cream lifting, but my spouse won't shut up about strength training and sometimes despite my being on findadeath I actually hear something he says.... Atlas used isometric exercise (isometrics). I googled it up and read some, but couldn't understand it. Maybe it was the ice cream in my eyes.

I found this online:

[SIZE=4]What is Isometric Exercise?[/SIZE]

Isometric exercise is practiced by pushing or pulling an immovable object like a wall or bar anchored to the floor. Research has shown that a muscle contraction during Isometric exercise produced more force then a contraction generated by lifting weights. Although research shows that Isometric exercise increases muscle tension significantly, it still fails to change the length of the muscles. Today, it is primarily used for rehabilitation purposes.

[SIZE=4]Advantages of Isometric Exercise[/SIZE]

â?¢ Can achieve maximum muscular contraction as opposed to Isotonic exercise also known as weight training.

â?¢ Workout is much faster. You would hold a position for each set for 6 to 8 seconds and do 5 â?? 10 sets per exercise. So you can do each body part in as little as a minute or so presuming a few seconds rest between sets.

â?¢ Can gain strength. Unfortunately, you will only strengthen very isolated areas of the muscle group.

[SIZE=4]Disadvantages of Isometric Exercise[/SIZE]

â?¢ Decreased muscular endurance. When you lift weights (Isotonic exercise) blood is pumped into the muscles very frequently increasing muscular endurance.
Isometric exercise does not generate the same blood flow, thereby potentially reducing muscular endurance.

â?¢ Building strength during a static contraction can potentially reduce the speed of the muscle response. This would slow down your athletic performance.

â?¢ Boring, boring, boring. Go to the wall and press against it for a few sets. Itâ??s like standing in the corner during elementary school. You must enjoy something to maintain consistency at it, and few could enjoy Isometric exercise.

â?¢ Increased blood pressure. Isometric exercise increases blood pressure more than any other form of exercise. This could lead to a ruptured blood vessel or irregular heartbeat.

â?¢ The strength gains achieved during Isometric exercise occur only within 20 degrees of the angle you hold. Lifting weights (Isotonic exercise) allows you to build strength throughout the entire range of motion.

[SIZE=4]The Lowdown on Isometric Exercise[/SIZE]

Unless you are locked in a room with nothing else to do, I think you will find these exercises particularly boring. Although in an empty room you could still do push-ups and sit-ups and some other stuff. Anyway if you want to experiment with Isometric exercises you should not make that the only form of resistance training you do. The benefits of weight training appear to significantly outweigh those of Isometric exercise. In summary, weight training will do the following things better than Isometric exercise:

â?¢ Increase the length of your muscles

â?¢ Strengthen the full range of your muscles

â?¢ Increase muscular endurance

â?¢ Lower the risk of heart related issues

[STsFirstmate]

I thought I would bump this thread.
I never thought about him beyond the comic books ad but Smithsonian (my favorite magazine and guilty pleasure) has a really good article about him this month.
His company is still viable and doing quite well even though he passed several years ago.
He was a devoted family man and his company was sought by head's of state and movie stars. He was sort of the very first personal trainer for many including Britain's King Edward the VIII.
Even though he was quite wealthy he lived very simply. He had a modest home in the city and a second home in Point Lookout near us on Long Island.
He once pulled a locomotive single handed and several other feat's of strength. He was also very nice to young body builders and made sure they got a break if he could.
He also stayed in seriously good shape (exterior at least. He ate red meat (steak) every night) into his later years. In this picture with the mailbags he is 70. Not too shabby
He just seemed like a really nice guy.
Regrads,
Mary

[Harleycat]

I thought I would bump this thread.
I never thought about him beyond the comic books ad but Smithsonian (my favorite magazine and guilty pleasure) has a really good article about him this month.
His company is still viable and doing quite well even though he passed several years ago.
He was a devoted family man and his company was sought by head's of state and movie stars. He was sort of the very first personal trainer for many including Britain's King Edward the VIII.
Even though he was quite wealthy he lived very simply. He had a modest home in the city and a second home in Point Lookout near us on Long Island.
He once pulled a locomotive single handed and several other feat's of strength. He was also very nice to young body builders and made sure they got a break if he could.
He also stayed in seriously good shape (exterior at least. He ate red meat (steak) every night) into his later years. In this picture with the mailbags he is 70. Not too shabby
He just seemed like a really nice guy.
Regrads,
Mary

I didn't realize he was from our area. I remember those ads on the comic books..I could recite them from memory.

[midnitelamp]

some perfesser at LSU was doing research on isometrics,and asked if the football team would be interested in participating.

they did,and this was the team that won the 1958 national championship.

[STsFirstmate]

some perfesser at LSU was doing research on isometrics,and asked if the football team would be interested in participating.

they did,and this was the team that won the 1958 national championship.

Cool! He was definately ahead of his time.
Regards,
Mary

[salvatore1989]

Charles Atlas died running on a beach during a summers day, not a bad way to go. His doctor told him to "slow down", no more hard workouts. The first thing he did after seeing the doctor was to go for a run, had a heart attack. His manager, who smoked and drank like crazy, lived to be almost 100 years old! Go figure.

[c l p]

that guy was yummmmmy.