[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,

I have received an e-mail asking me if there was ever an advanced version of the Charles Atlas Course and if not, why not.

Here's the deal. Charles Atlas shared rudimentary principles and concepts in his course that he expected to be used to the practitioners own best advantage. For this reason he did not give set and repetition guidelines except in the most basic sense. I believe that Charles Atlas believed that he gave all of his students the foundational knowledge they needed that they could then use to take their development as far as they desired to take it. For that reason Mr. Atlas never went beyond his one foundational course.

Here at this forum we have shared a wide range of methods to train for extraordinary results and development. i would suggest that anyone interested in advanced methodology and technique review our archives while you still can.

---John Peterson

[keith james]

Hi John

Totally agree with you, once a person passes the Atlas course and feels ready to advance forward to another level, your books are the way to go.

As i stated before, before your PYTP book i never did handstand pushups, but reached where i was doing 20+ reps per set of this exercise.

I dropped it for a number off reasons but lately i have been getting back into them and iam now hitting 10+ per set, so almost back to normal with this great exercise and i have you to thank.

KEITH JAMES.

[Bill_Meyer]

The "Charles Atlas Advanced Course " is found right here !

I agree with what you and Keith said. But as far as I know
this is the only place where the principles and methods of
"Dymanic Tension" have been taken seriously and have been
applied in many ways which go beyond the origninal work of
Mr. Atlas.

If one just reads through the old posts here one will have a
veritable wealth of knowledge.

The method lives on, right here and with all who employ the
teachings found in the Transformetrics literature.

Well....at least that's my 2 cents.

Bill

[MikeNY]

Great thread, this topic is common on here, we talk about like Jack King Mr. America Pushup Program thread and Pushing Yourself to Power, The Miracle 7, GUTS, Trinity of Health, Powerflex and VRT. I think just the Miracle 7 book can take someone from a beginner to advanced!

IMHO the Charles Atlas Course was just right for the majority of Americans, and it kept many of the Nations Movie Stars in great shape! We can learn from the past in this case. God bless America.

[Andy62]

The Charles Atlas Course was revolutionary in it's day,but the world has changed since the 1920s.

Like all great concepts the principles remain true and live on,but they have to be updated and modified to be relevant in today's world.

[Paul Smith]

John,

In the above post, you encourage members to review the archives "while you still can." Will the archives be taken down or be subject to limited access in the future?

I, for one, would gladly pay a monthly or annual membershiip fee to have access to this site and the materials contained within it.

Paul

[Greg Newton]

You know John,

I've always wondered why Atlas never did an advanced course. BUT, I think you nailed it in that will the foundation he gave, the expectation was that you'd use the basics to develop your own way of training. Unfortunately, because of York Barbell and Weider, most people drifted into weight training as the natural next step and never discovered the many facets of self-resistance training that is there.

Greg

[MikeNY]

There were guys in the 1960s that used the entire Charles Atlas Course as Isometrics. Some used ten reps and one set of the Commander Set and did the same with Dynaflex and also other Courses. As a teen and young man I never saw the Atlas Course, and bought a copy late in life, it was a mimographed copy stapled to blue construction paper, quite horrible. Now I have a Atlas Course book, and the quality is superior to the old product, it is a great course.

John is right people that do the Atlas Course are given the tools to create thier own advanced Version. John's books and products make it easy for anyone to go to the advanced stage.

[Andy62]

I was one of the individuals who interpreted the resistance exercises in the Charles Atlas Course as isometrics as did all of the other guys that I knew who took the course in the early 1950s.

The instructions were not that clear and there were no specific references to any number of repetitions.

Maybe it was oversight, maybe is was marketing genius or maybe it was an effort to separate the course from the instructions in Alois P. Swoboda's Conscious Evolution course as both Dr Frederick Tilney and Atlas were in the employ of Bernarr MacFadden when the course was written. They would also continue to be dependent on him for advertising in his magazines during the early years of the course.

During the isometric fad of the 1960s Atlas himself promoted the course as isometrics as have the current owners of the course since.

I really didn't understand the interaction of all of these events until I came across that quote by Charles Atlas stating that he owed everything to A'P. Swoboda and actually saw a copy of the Swoboda Course that I bought on the internet years later.




http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competit...64/life-64.htm

[MikeNY]

Gordon and I heard the Atlas Course worked just as well when done as Isometrics as when done as Calisthenicss! So a lot of those old photo's of Atlas students will be young men that did the Course as Isometrics!

No one I knew had the Atlas Course but the Dads, Uncles, Grandpas and Great Uncles taught a similar courses to youngmen. Based on Boxing that was quite popular, military exercises and the exercises the older men claimed had been done by the Roman Legions, all very similar to the Atlas program and fun.