Comprehensive information and links about Charles Atlas

Charles Atlas from that of a 'scrawny weakling', eventually becoming the most popular muscleman of his day. His company, Charles Atlas, Ltd. (1929-and continuing today) markets a fitness program for the "97-pound weakling", a registered trademark.

table in Arci, in southern Italy, he moved to Brooklyn, New York at a young age. Initially a small, weak child, Siciliano worked hard to tone his muscles, using a variety of weights. He acquired a physique that earned him the nickname "Charles Atlas", after the mythical Atlas, the Titan who held up the heavens. He later filed for and received trademark status for the name. He soon took the role of strongman in the Coney Island Circus Side Show. Contemplating the strength of a tiger in a zoo, he had conceived the idea of working muscle against muscle, rather than working out with weights. This system was later dubbed in a contest held in Madison Square Garden. He was chosen by a cross-disciplined group of health and medical experts, educators, anthropologists, scientists and medical doctors who viewed Atlas as the "perfect male " and placed his physical measurements on file for posterity. Atlas' physical measurements are buried in a time capsule at Oglethorpe University.

Atlas developed his own muscle-building mail-order business through the use of advertisements in popular periodicals. In 1928 his business partner Charles Roman took over the marketing of the business and coined the term "dynamic tension" to describe Atlas' use of muscle-against-muscle resistance exercise, now generally known as Isometric exercise.

". His most famous advertisement featured a weak scrawny kid who decides to bulk up after getting sand kicked in his face at the beach. Although the original ads stated , possibly due to trademark issues. It may also derive from the British usage "seven-stone weakling"; seven stone is 98 pounds.

Business

His company did so well that it emerged from the Stock Market Crash of 1929 unscathed. As many as 30 million people have bought his mail order course, which is still offered today. "Charles Atlas" was selected by

Likenesses

Besides photographs, Siciliano posed for many statues throughought his life, including, it has been said, the statue of George Washington in New York's Washington Square Park. He died of heart failure at age 79 after his daily jog on the beach. At the time, people were still writing to him requesting his picture, and soliciting advice on fitness.

Trademarks

Charles Atlas, Ltd owns the following trademarks: "Atlas"; "Charles Atlas"; "Dynamic-Tension"; "Atlas Nutrition"; "Mr. Atlas"; "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man"; "97-pound weakling"; "Insult that Made a Man Out of Mac"; "Hero of the Beach" and "Hey Skinny!".

Pop Culture References

The song "I Can Make You a Man" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show refers to Charles Atlas in lines such as "A weakling weighing 98-poundsWill get sand is his face when kicked to the ground", "Makes me shake, makes me wanna take Charles Atlas by the hand