Hard Times: How To Become Charles Bronson

By Tom Furman

The photos to the left were studio shots taken nearly twenty years apart. More than the idea of film popularity over decades, they represent fitness and conditioning methodology that stands the test of time. Orienting oneself for an athletic competition or photo session can be a powerful motivation, but maintaining fitness as an act of consistency represents an entirely different mindset.

There were 15 kids in my Mom’s [Charlie’s] family. My Mom [Helen Buchinsky Furman] was two or so years older. All the brothers and my late grandfather, Walter, did work in the mines in Ehrenfeld, PA. In his teens, due to less available work in the summer, Charlie went upstate to work on a farm. During that time he attended a seminar on health and fitness. [Pre WW2]. I have no idea who taught it, but from information I pulled from relatives, it was a Charles Atlas type of thing. Training and eating properly. Dynamic Tension, squats, push ups, pull ups and sit ups.

When he returned to Ehrenfeld he had gained muscle and leaned out. His whole family, my Mother, Aunts, Uncles, etc. noticed the difference. Fast forward. When he was roommates with actor, Jack Klugman, Jack said Charlie pounded out, “Pushups between milk crates, rope climbing from a rope hung in the alley, sit ups and running.” Historically I saw his heavy bag…