Atlas a fake?

[Guest guest]

First of all, I'm not saying the Dynamic Tension system

is useless. It's not. It can develop one's body. It's

actually not much different from fitness programs of

the military.

What I refer to is Atlas supposedly developing

his body without weights.

In a '90s issue of Ironman, there was an article by the

maker of Nautilus, Arthur . He tells of the case of

Atlas who was sued by a barbell maker (York?) to contest

his claims that he does not use weights. The judge asked

Atlas (under oath and thus liable to perjury) if he

trains with weights. Atlas replies he does but only to

test his strength. The judge then asks how often he tests

his strength with weights. Atlas says twice or more per

week. No weight training? Yeah, right.

The first time I read something directly from Atlas, other

than the relatively common ads spread at that time, was

an article on him in Life magazine (1960s). And what did

he espouse in that article? Isometrics! -- sitting on a

chair, bend down and grasp the front legs and pull upward

(lower back); then grasp the seat and pull upwards

(shoulders); then lift yourself on your arms while holding

your legs horizontal (abdomen and triceps); then neck

isos; etc. Thus, I was really surprised to see nothing at

all about isometrics when my brother eventually got the

course a few years later!

So it seems the marketing of the Atlas course, which

pushes no use of weights, and no use of isometrics, is

not really the system that Atlas followed. Or Atlas

just used whatever system was in vogue? I just found this:

http://www.naturalstrength.com/history/detail.asp?ArticleID=347

(URL address starts with " http " and ends with " 347 " --

type it manually if the line is split.)

Notice this part (quoted from the web page):

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" Two decades later, Macfadden again sponsored another

contest through the pages of Physical Culture. This

time to find the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man.

This contest was won by a young, well developed Italian

named Angelo Siciliano, who later changed his name to

Atlas. However, what many do not know is that

Atlas was a product of weight training and not from the

system he sold. He and another well built Italian, Tony

Sansone, trained together at the Brooklyn " Y " and

developed fine-looking physiques.

" At one time Atlas and Liederman demonstrated chest

expanders in vacant store windows along Third Avenue

during the 20s for Abe Boshes. Boshes, however, won the

short man's height class in the contest that Treloar won,

and he did have an impressive body. Later, Atlas and

Liederman both went into business for themselves selling

their own training systems and did exceedingly well. In

fact, even today the Atlas system is still on the market

and appears to be as popular as ever with men and women

alike. In later years Atlas kept in shape by using his

own training system and stayed in remarkable shape to the

very end. He passed away in 1978. "

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Just what was " his own training system " that Atlas used

" to the very end " ? Isometrics? I wouldn't be surprised.

Or take a look at this from

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.

com/training-fitness/static-isometric-training.htm

or tiny version:

http://tinyurl.com/admtc

" Fifty years ago Atlas made isometric training

famous. His mail-order courses to help 90-pound weaklings

from getting sand kicked in their faces in front of their

girlfriends showed trainees how to get strong without

using weights. His Dynamic Tension method involved pressing

your arms outward against the frame of a doorway or grabbing

a doorknob and trying to lift up on it. "

I wonder where Pete Sisco, the writer of the above quote,

got this idea. I don't see any isometrics in the

Atlas course. Was it from the Life magazine article? And

was it Atlas who really made isometrics famous?

(Needless to say, when I brought up this topic for

discussion, giving absolutely no offense to anyone, I was

banned from the Atlas message board. Of course, I

understand and accept their action. It would have undermined

the course they were selling. I should have been more

considerate.)

Gerry