Charles Atlas, Ltd.

So Visible Woman tries to put up a force field, but the older, deader Invisible Woman is like, what age are you? 19? 20? I've been doing this since you were in kindergarten.

This is Charles Atlas up against a 98-pound shrimp, and she tosses her out of the room, which actually is a problem because then they shut the door and lock the zombies in.

You may be stronger, but you don't know this place yet.

Yeah,

You're always, you know, you have to really build up for it, but be happy.

be happy with the way you look, you know? And that's what I think a lot of people, you know, they have these unrealistic expectations that they're going to go and they're going to be, you know, Charles Atlas.

I'm showing my age, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And that's not what you're looking for, especially with seniors because we're here not to build, but to rebuild everything that we've lost over the years, rebuild it, make it better.

Rocky Horror...

in taking that bodybuilding element, those Charles Atlas ads that you saw all over the back of the pulp magazines and these classic pulp heroes, the villain, alien, everything, and highlighting the queerness that was always lurking behind those figures is saying, you know what? People were taking pleasure in these works for all sorts of reasons.

When you try to narrow down what science fiction is, you're still not narrowing down how people read it, how people take pleasure in it, how people enjoy it.

You can't control that.

I do think people should... experiment with the comic strip ad because it's been it's been working for a hundred years I mean if you look back look at I don't know if you remember like ever reading about like sea monkeys which were like back in the 60s and 70s it was just these ads like sea monkeys here buy these sea monkeys put them in a fish tank the dumbest thing in the world yet they got ingrained in the culture they were on like TV shows and talk shows and everyone, anyone who's probably like older than 40 knows what they are.

Um, there was a guy who used to sell, uh, uh, Charles Atlas.

He was a bodybuilding.

He saw bodybuilding stuff and he, his ad, how to, how a insult made a man out of a, made a man out of Mac.

Yeah.

One of the great athletes, Charles Atlas in America, had a tremendous physique.

And he worked out all these different exercises.

And I give some of his exercises to patients that have various back problems or shoulder

Nothing.

And the US Army, so he used to go in and put the US Army, and they still use some of his exercise even today.

But yeah, Charles Atlas.

Oh, that's interesting.

So he's touched many lives and he's brought us an empire.

Sounds like the Charles Atlas of Pilates for sure.

Um, so let's talk about the business side of it.

Now you have got, do you have just the one studio in Florida or do you have multiple studios or.

Yeah

... "like, 50 pounds of muscle." And there's this idea then that the kind of, you know, what Charles Atlas called the 97-pound weakling-

Oh, my gosh.

Mm-hmm

... was new at the time.

Uh, and so "Don't dream, dream it, be it," uh, Charles Atlas seal of approval.

Those were all like-

[laughs] Right.

I wanted to be a hero.

And I can remember as I physically developed, seeing those-- do you remember those Charles Atlas adverts in the comics where you could-

Mm.

And really wanting to get this thing 'cause I didn't want to be left behind in the race to glory by the kind of sporty, good-looking, muscular friends of mine.