The Apollo Program: This Time It Isn't Rocket Science!

2009 marks the 40th anniversary of NASA's historic moon landing. That Apollo Program was an incredible story of guts, determination and genius. It's also not the topic of this article! My Apollo Program is a system I created to help me transform my body to resemble a classical Greek statue.

I did it because I was unhealthy, very overweight, and totally unhappy with my body in my 30s. Work and family commitments made it hard to stay healthy, and peer pressure didn't exactly help. You see, many adults don't have much respect for exercise. They think there's something selfish or immature about a parent who continues to keep in great shape, and they even take a perverse, "noble" pride in being out of shape. I bought into this too, until having what I call my "Houston-we-have-a-problem!" moment. I looked in the mirror and knew this wasn't how it should be. That moment was when The Apollo Program (well, my version at least!) was born.

Determined to transform my life dramatically, I turned to the ancient Greeks for help. I wasn't interested in looking huge or ripped like a bodybuilder though. I'd always admired the proportioned, athletic look of Greek statues, but particularly those of Apollo. This mythical Greek god was considered for centuries to represent the perfect male physique, and it's no coincidence that movie and TV characters are named after him. Who can forget the magnificent Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies? And of course, there's Lee "Apollo" Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica show. He was also, of course, the inspiration for the NASA lunar Apollo program of the 1960s.

I decided I wanted a body like Apollo's too. I made a point of ignoring all those people who told me to "forget it" or that "it would never work" or that I should "be more realistic!" I set my sights on transforming from weak blob to Greek god, not in years, but in weeks, and I created my own 'Apollo Program' to achieve this. Just like the Battlestar Galactica show I mentioned, my Apollo Program is a highly re-imagined version of the earlier one!

My first step was spending countless hours of research in museums and libraries. Studying the proportions of classical statues showed me exactly what the Grecian ideal body looked like, and I then explored ancient sports manuals and artworks to learn just how their athletes got like that.

The next step was a revival of the ancient Greek training methods, using myself as a guinea pig. With a PhD in chemical engineering, I brought a scientific approach to the task. Anything that didn't work was discarded, and I kept only what was useful. I was impressed enough to retain several long-forgotten secrets, including the tetrad, an ingenious way of dividing intensive training over a four-day cycle so that the body has time to recover fully and stays in balance.

I also reconstructed some classical exercises, including the ancient Greek long jump, which I learned from paintings found on ancient vases. In the original long jump, athletes did not take a run up as they do in the modern event. Instead, they would propel themselves by swinging the arms while holding stone weights or halteres. I substituted modern dumbbells and this gave excellent results. After just a few jumps, I'd be sweating like I'd run a marathon. Yes, people stared at me like I was insane, but that didn't stop me.

Inspired by the ancient physician Hippocrates' advice to "Let food be your medicine," I decided to study the diet of Greek athletes too. This revealed some interesting clues which, when combined with my scientific knowledge, had a powerful effect on my metabolism and my progress.

The Apollo Program soon paid off as I dropped from a 40-inch waist to a size-32 and even got a six-pack abdomen. The program also built up other parts of my body strategically, so that my proportions matched those of the statues I admired so much. It was never just about muscles though. My Apollo Program is a balanced and holistic approach that aims to develop a youthful, supple body which is healthy on the inside too. It uses special stretching and breathing exercises to help achieve this. I also believe its benefits transcend the physical. In ancient Greece, the gymnasium was a place to develop the mind, body and spirit too. These weren't three separate things, but were part of an integrated whole. Since creating the program, I've gained an increase in disciple, focus, calmness and self-confidence.

It still surprises me how quickly my life changed as a result of The Apollo Program. What started off as one small step for a man became one giant leap for me!