My Heroic Physique
A Barbarian Musing by Thor
I
perform the ritual movements each day on arising and before going to bed.
My attention is focused... I am totally present... I can see the results in my mind's eye, feel
the transformations taking place in my body... my muscles swell... I am filled with joy and peace as I go through the routine.
I have completed my first week of the Charles Atlas
course... anticipation of the results that will soon manifest and memories of past successes with this system help keep me
motivated. The fact that the course is familiar, like a long lost friend or relative, makes it even more welcome as it restructures
my daily routine.
Learning about Charles
Atlas, the man, and gathering Charles Atlas memorabilia has become just as important as doing the exercises. These fuel my
effort in a different, albeit just as powerful way. I have assembled a portable hieron to Charles Atlas to inspire me as I
work out: The A&E Biography episode, the Charles Atlas Magnet Set, stickers and other images.
Muninn
and I even made a pilgrimage to the Charles Atlas International HQ (a tale I will share on another day)!
Charles
Atlas was inspired by the example of Hercules and
was taught the secrets of strength by lions. He became a legend in his own lifetime and remains one of the most recognizable
icons of our age. How can I not feel deep resonances as I begin my quest?
Gene Landrum would say that Charles Atlas has become my Hero-Mentor.
And I certainly respect what Gene Landrum has to say, for he has quietly transformed our world
several times over. Gene is the man who introduced affordable pocket calculators to our culture (paving the way for the Computer
Age), the man who helped develop the Atari 2600 (our first home video game system), the man who still studies human greatness
in all its manifestations (and was, incidentally, the first President of Chuck E. Cheese). To find out more about Gene Landrum
and his life-work, visit http://www.genelandrum.com.
As the New Year approaches, and I ready myself to advance The Age of Heroes, I walk in complete confidence.
In addition to all else actualizing my purpose has entailed, by taking this course I have begun a concrete course of action
that will transform my physique into the heroic ideal I have endeavored to embody.
How can I be so certain that I will succeed?
I've followed the way of Charles Atlas before... I know from experience where this particular path
leads.
The first time was in my pre-teens.
Testosterone had already transformed me but I had no ready access to free weights. I wanted to be strong like Conan, mighty
like Hercules. How could I accomplish this?
I found the answer in a comic book. A smiling man, muscular and strong, promised me that I too could be like him with
a minimal investment of my time. Charles Atlas still walked the earth during this
period and, though a bit older than he appeared in the ad, he still looked very strong and supremely healthy. I decided to
take him up on his word and enroll.
My
imagination ran free... in just seven days... I would have the heroic physique I desired.
When my package finally came, I was very excited. I was even more excited
as time passed: the course actually delivered. Each and every envelope contained new exercises and taught character building.
It promoted a system of values based on strength and health. I felt as though each set of lessons was addressed to me personally,
Charles Atlas' DEAR FRIEND. And for a time in my youth I revelled in my heroic physique.
Years later... As a neophyte adult, I was working several jobs to keep
afloat and was very much out of shape. I had no time for working out (or so I believed). I loved to read though, and nostalgically
bought a discounted copy of 'Yours in Perfect Manhood' in the eighties. I re-read it several times before actually doing the
dynamic tension exercises included in the book.
Before long I had enrolled with Charles Atlas again.
Dynamic Tension(R) was the foundation upon which I rebuilt my heroic physique as a young man.
That was half a lifetime ago. My weight has fluctuated
a bit throughout my subsequent sojourn, though I've physically retained the heroic template. My recent adventures leave me
little time to regularly visit gyms or consistently lift weights. Luckily, the Charles Atlas course requires neither. I only
need perform the exercises twice daily and, in no time, I will have my heroic physique. Of this I am sure.
I would be mighty... I would be great... I will transform myself and my world... usher in The
Age of Heroes. With the examples set by such greats as Charles Atlas and Gene Landrum to guide and inspire me, how can it
not be so?
As The Age of Heroes dawns, I invite you all to actualize your own dreams and make manifest your best possible
self. Here is as good a place as any to actually start: http://www.charlesatlas.com/
