I dont train track and field mut Charlie has been my biggest mentor when it comes to training.
Rest In Peace.
On one of my visits to see him, I distinctly remember his Diet Coke and Starbucks coffee! That line made me laugh.
I also remember his coffee mix protein shake which was quite delicious. 
Great stuff!
I was surprised to see the comment on andro as if it had some merit. I thought it was a worthless supplement?
It was but it was also significant in terms of a turning point in the supplement industry.
I saw a picture of James yesterday. I can’t get over how much he looks like Charlie. If there had been a picture of 5 kids, one could certainly pick out Charlie’s (and Ange’s !) kid.
We all hope you are both doing well.
I just stumbled upon Speed Trap about 2 months ago. Shortly after, found these forums. Such a short time but I already think the world of this guy. The wealth of knowledge he has left behind will continue to inspire athletes like myself for decades to come, I am sure… R.I.P. Charlie
I well remember reading that review. It was interesting that it was published by a magazine which around that time Charlie himself was providing articles for.
R.I.P. Charlie, in italy only a little number of people love you, i’m one of them
I can recall seeing Charlie in NYC in late Nov./early Dec. of 2001. It goes without saying that the information/knowledge conveyed was beyond impressive. To be sure, Charlie’s presentation was not a fancy, glossy production. It was mostly a hand written presentation done on an easel pad and pencil. Incidentally, I too, recall seeing the review of the SWIS conference.
Fast forward almost exactly one year later and after I initially called Charlie having met him the previous year, Brad D. put on the seminar with Charlie (with Derek also flown in to assist with the power point) down here to NC for a seminar. Myself and one of my former high school athletes picked up Charlie and Derek at the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC airport.
I have to believe that both Ange’s and Derek’s input now resulted in Charlie’s presenting of his seminar in a much more visually appealing manner.
Now in my mind, only someone who only responds primarily to an elaborate packaging and superficiality could not find a lot of extremely valuable in the first presentation.
Still, to reach many, if the entire presentation is very polished, the opportunity to reach more people will be much improved. I can recall Charlie asking me what I thought about the differences between the two talks. I told him I thought it was like a night and day transformation and it was. Now Charlie’s work was presented in a way that everyone present could likely get a better grasp for then when his concepts were hand written and the ordering was a bit more scattered/random. He also provided handouts which were a nice addition.
Now, due to the assistance of others who provided support along the way (Ange of course, Derek, Mike H. etc. I’m sure there are others-thanks to you all for supporting CF and his concepts-we all benefitted from this) his works will be even more long lasting and clearer to those who want to learn from the best.
I first became aware of Charlie’s approach from an article in the June 1990 issue of Iron Man Magazine written by Joseph Horrigan. Charlie has a framed copy of the article over his computer that Joe sent him (at least he did when I was there).
If anyone is interested, you can buy a copy of that issue from Home Gym Warehouse, which is Iron Man’s publishing/merchandising division:
http://www.home-gym.com/ironmanjun90.html
If you’ve read Charlie’s other books or followed the forum for any time you won’t really learn anything new from the article, but if you’re a Charlie buff, it’s a great piece of historical memorabilia.
I watched the SWIS presentation after being familiar with Charlie’s work. But still the first thing that came to my mind was “such simple graphs, yet so much knowledge”. I wasn’t aware of this review until now. I am sure though it amazes all regular members here how some chose to focus on the cover…
I want to know who will try and take over Charlie role in answering questions etc?
I picked that one up as well! I think I still have it somewhere.
I’ve got that one too. I think bodybuilder Shawn Ray is on the cover.
That’s correct. Just click the link I posted and you’ll see. My copy is buried somewhere and I’ve been having trouble locating it, so I just ordered a new one.
There’s also a great article in there about Joe Horrigan’s soft tissue method, which is essentially ART before his former partner Mike Leahy trademarked the name. This is about 7 years before Kim Goss’s article in MM2K put ART on the industry map.
One aspect about that article in particular was inaccurate according to Charlie himself.
The article indicated that Ben dropped cleans in 1985 because Charlie “felt he was pulling them to far away from his body.”
Charlie said that Ben had not attemped cleans for a number of years prior to that though he did not say exactly how long it had been.
Ben was not a great technician when it came to cleans but according to Charlie it did not matter. He did them anyway and was strong at no matter what he did.
Merlene Ottey for example apparently did very little lifting at all at least to his knowledge.
To answer your own questions based on the information you have learned here, the people you have learned from and continue to build relationships with others in the field from those out achieving results.
Charlie was the first person to say he did not know everything but he knew enough to go to the ones getting the job done and asking the right questions.
Yes - the same would go for Tim and Marion. I could remember asking them to demonstrate their power clean technique when they were up at York University. Charlie and I winced when we saw one rep of their technique (or lack thereof). Charlie instantly decided to eliminate that exercise from the program. Too much risk, not enough reward. They were high level athletes that were able to get more out of a general lifting program, relying on med-ball throws for much of their explosive work.