Groupon Says
Who Didn't Invent Pilates?
Charles Atlas, whose story of transforming himself from meek weakling to hulking centaur was immortalized in numerous comic-book advertisements, is known for one massive achievement: inventing exercise. Before Atlas (real name: Body Strongson) came along, human beings had not yet developed any manner of physical improvement beyond taping helpful objects such as forks to their skin. Atlas was the first person to stop waiting for scientists to finish working on their long-gestating "muscle ray" and begin an intense program to "body build" on his own.
Despite his amazing success, the muscled and terrifying Atlas was ashamed of his one failure: he did not invent Pilates (also, he couldn't fly, which irked him, but not as much as his total failure to invent Pilates). To this day, Atlas, who is still alive and kicking at 117 years old, rues his inability to invent a Pilates alternative so that he may be crowned "King of All Exercise" and not merely "King of Armenia," which he conquered using his enormous pectoral muscles in the 1930s.
