The Fitness Marketing Originator: CHARLES ATLAS! Top Five Trainers Turned Entrepreneurs Of All Time – Part 4

Posted on 25. Jul, 2009 by Kaiser in Marketing Fitness

To some of us, it might seem like the fitness info-marketing industry is only starting to explode right now …

It certainly looks like that, with the efforts a lot of my good friends like Ryan Lee, Pat Rigsby, and Bedros Keuilian putting out tons of information on the subject, and the many trainers worldwide who are making the move into fitness marketing, using the technology and resources we now have that make it easier than ever.

And when you consider the public’s growing need and desire for fitness information and programming online, it’s a natural move.

But this current surge may make us sometimes forget how steeped in success and history the fitness information marketing industry is, and the leaders we have in it.

So far in this series we’ve covered “Body-ByJake” Jake Steinfeld, Body For Life’s Bill Phillips, and the legend himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Now I have a man who’s success story precedes all of them, and most likely inspired all of them as well – and wouldn’t you know it, he’s a New York City boy like me: Charles Atlas.

For us young’ns, we may not be too familiar with Charles and his remarkable fitness marketing campaigns and or his amazing life and history.  I know I wasn’t, and that’s why for me it was so much fun putting this post together.

Here you’ll learn about the story of one of the greatest people and greatest success stories the fitness industry has ever seen – and it may give you the inspiration to continue your own success story too – here it is:

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Charles Atlas' Native Coney Island, New York

Charles Atlas, born as Charles Angelo Siciliano, was one of the first bodybuilders who turned into a fitness entrepreneur. In fact, one can say that he was the first bodybuilder to commercially exploit his passion and turn it into a very profitable business. So, profitable that it is probably the oldest fitness business in the world today.

Born Angelo Siciliano in Acri, in Calabria, Italy in 1892, Angelo moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1905, changed his name to Charles, and worked as a manual worker in the leather industry. His entry into the world of bodybuilding was triggered by two incidents of humiliation in his life.

At 15, he was attacked and beaten up on the street.

In the following year, still the ‘97 lbs weakling’ of future ads, he was humiliated when a Coney Island bully kicked sand in his face and he was unable to respond.

Inspired by the bodybuilding legends of those times, Eugene Sandow and Bernarr MacFadden, Charles was determined to develop his body and tried many forms of exercise. Unfortunately for Charles he did not achieve the desired results, but fortunately for the world of bodybuilding, this made him go about researching different forms of exercise.

At 17, on his regular Sunday trip to the Zoo, Charles stopped to admire a muscular lion. That’s when it clicked; the lion must’ve developed muscles in a natural way most likely by pitting one muscle against the other. This observation helped him change not just his body, but also his life. Charles developed and successfully used a system of isotonic exercise to build his body. By the age of nineteen, this scrawny 97 pound weakling was making a living as a “chest developer” (ie, Personal Trainer) with a storefront on Broadway in New York City.

"World's Most Perfectly Developed Man"

Starting in 1914, Charles supplemented his income by performing in strength contests in Vaudeville, and in the Coney Island Circus Side Show. A chance observation by an artist, led him to becoming one of the nation’s most popular male models, with his body serving as the basis for close to 45 statues including one of George Washington in New York. Atlas got married in 1918 to Margaret Cassano and they had a son, Herc and a daughter, Diana.

In 1921, his life and his career took another turn, when he won $1,000 as the winner in Macfadden’s contest for the “World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man.” Using his prize money, late in 1922, Charles went from being a bodybuilder to a fitness entrepreneur, when he launched his mail-order bodybuilding business to market his exercise methods. He also officially took the name Charles Atlas in 1922, after a friend told him he resembled the statue of Atlas atop a hotel in Coney Island.

Atlas’s course required no special equipment and instead placed emphasis on a well rounded approach to health and fitness. However, his business did not do as well as some of its competitors that soon sprung up. By his own account, Atlas was a poor businessman and had spread himself too thin with many unprofitable ventures. But, his fortunes finally turned around in 1928 when he hired Charles P. Roman, a young ad executive who had serviced the Atlas account in the past.

Charles Atlas Ltd was formed in 1929 as an equal partnership between Atlas and Roman. Roman fully exploited Atlas’s awesome physique for marketing the course. Sales received a boost with the success of an ad campaign depicting a young man who, having taken up the Atlas system, avenges his humiliation at the hands of a beach bully, which appealed to a generation of young men growing up during the Great Depression, resulting in Atlas becoming the most well recognized face in fitness.

A Hugely Successful Charles Atlas Ad

However, his company faced several investigations by the Federal Trade Commission. Not to be deterred both Atlas and Roman moved ahead and established offices in different parts of the globe. Business received another boost in 1942, from the predictable wartime enthusiasm for physical fitness, with sales of more than 400,000 copies of the Atlas exercise program.

In 1970, Atlas decided to sell his interest in Charles Atlas Ltd to Roman and retire. In spite of being a very successful entrepreneur, Atlas lived a very private and simple life. His daily routine consisted of morning exercises; work at the office and an evening with the family. Atlas died of a heart attack (after his daily jog on the beach) on December 23, 1972.

Atlas’s legacy lived on and he was an inspiration and a model for later bodybuilders and fitness gurus, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. His company, founded in 1929 and, as of 2009, continues marketing a fitness program for the “97 lbs weakling”. The company is now owned by Jeffrey C. Hogue.

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Again Charles’ story really shows how deep the roots are in the information marketing industry as it relates to fitness, and the amazing pioneers we have in it.

Tim Ferris lists Atlas’ sales at $30 million in The Four Hour Workweek, but some figures have it much higher than that.  Charles’ course still does tremendous numbers today, with 80% of sales now coming online.

What did you think of Charles’ story?   Leave your comments below.

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