The Godfather of Fitness

Jack LaLanne is probably best known for The Jack LaLanne Show which aired on television from 1951 to 1984. The first time I saw Jack LaLanne was on TV in the early 1960s. He started the show doing jumping jacks in his trademark blue jumpsuit and ballet slippers. He would instruct his viewers, mostly housewives, in doing knee lifts, pushups, leg curls, the fanny firmer and other exercises. He also gave motivational instruction on calorie counting, weight training, and eating properly while he would drink a glass of carrot juice. He sometimes ended the show with a song after a brief rundown of what to expect on the next show. His own workouts were monumental compared to what he did on the show. Until about 1970 he offered $10,000 to anyone who could match his personal workout. No one ever did.

He has recently been on HSN with his wife Elaine promoting their power juicer. He has also been demonstrating it on an infomercial. He does a TV ad promoting early arthritis detection. Old reruns of his show are being shown on ESPN Classic.

Troubled Youth

Jack LaLanne was born, September 26, 1914 in San Francisco, California to French immigrant parents. As a weak and sickly child, he was the last one standing in a pickup game of baseball or dodgeball or whatever else they were playing. His brother beat him up regularly and even little girls pushed him around. When he was thirteen he developed a terrific habit of eating sugar. He would fill up on pies, cake and cookies. His whole life became sugar, sugar, sugar. At 14 he ended up with a fever of 105° for almost two weeks and was expected to die. He had an uncontrollable temper and migraine headaches. He even tried to kill his brother a couple of times, once with an ax and another time with a butcher knife. He was pulled out of school at 15. Authorities had doctors send him home for six months to improve his health. He was 30 pounds underweight.

One of his neighbors told his mother that a nutritionist was going to speak at the Oakland City Women's Club. Jack and his mother went. They were late and found that the club was filled, not a seat to be found. They turned to leave but someone yelled to them, "Lady with the boy, we don't turn anyone away. Ushers, bring two seats and put them up on the stage." It was Paul Bragg, the nutritionist.

Skinny introverted Jack was horrified to be up there in front of all those people. He had pimples and boils and was nearsighted and now everyone was staring at him. He wished they could have just gone home. After the speaker began his talk, Jack realised that he wasn't the only one with problems.

Paul Bragg told Jack and the rest of the audience that it didn't matter what their present physical condition was, they could improve themselves by eating wholesome and nutritious foods. He said they were "human garbage cans". It didn't matter how old they were or what their present physical condition was, if they were willing to follow nature's laws they could be born again. When Jack heard that he could be born again and be healthy and strong and have the energy that this Mr Bragg had, he was willing to do whatever it took. He wanted to be an athlete. He wanted to be healthy and strong and have lots of energy. He wanted to get good grades in school and for girls to like him. The man said he could have all that. All he had to do was exercise and eat properly.

The Building Years

That night he became a strict vegetarian and swore off sugar and white flour products. A few days later he joined the Berkeley YMCA. He discovered a set of free weights there and began to use them. He could see and feel the results in less than two weeks. His "maddening" headaches were gone. He eventually became captain of the football team excelled in baseball and swimming. He became a bodybuilder, entering many competitions up and down the California coast. He was offered athletic scholarships to more than one college. Gray's Anatomy became his bible. He discovered that the human body had 640 muscles. He studied pre-med and then went to Chiropractic college where he graduated. Using his knowledge of chiropratic and Gray's Anatomy he knew more about the workings of the muscles in his body than most doctors did.

His mother wanted him to become a doctor and go to Africa and do missionary work but he decided to help others as he had been helped by Paul Bragg. He did research on the physiological benefits of heavy exercise during his late teens. He would have local firemen and policemen come to his backyard and he would record their reps and weight loads and their strength changes over time. At the age of 18 he opened a health food store that sold whole grain bread. In 1936 when he was 21 he opened one of America's first health clubs in Oakland, CA.

He received a lot of negative feedback for the workouts he prescribed. Critics claimed that if you worked out with LaLanne you risked having a heart attack. They said you would have trouble sleeping and you wouldn't be able to get an erection, you would get hemorroids. They said women would look like men. Coaches were concerned that their players would become muscle-bound and refused to let them lift weights at LaLanne's gym. So they would sneak over at night. Today almost all world class athletes include some weight training in their workouts.

LaLanne designed a lot of the equipment he used for himself and his club. Throughout his life he tried to exercise every one of the 640 muscles in his body. A blacksmith friend helped him build some of the first machines he designed for the patrons of his gym. He designed the first cable-pulley machine, the first leg-extension machine, and the weight-stack selection system. If he had filed for patents on some of his inventions he would be one of the richest men in the world. He would still become a multi-millionaire many times over. Some of those first machines are in his home gym today.

Physical Fitness Guru

During the 1940s and 50s his reputation began to spread. He encouraged women and the elderly to lift weights. In 1951 he started his TV show. What better way to reach even more people. He was magnetic in that he believed in himself above all others. He was motivational by challenging you to be a better person through your own efforts. He met his wife Elaine at the TV studio where he would do the show. Critics said that it would fold in six weeks, but it stayed on for 34 years.

In 1955 at the age of 40 he was named Professional Mr. America. In order to dispel talk that he was nothing more than a muscle-bound charlatan, he began what would become a regular series of Hurculean feats of fitness, usually around his birthday. Shortly after the Mr. America award he swam from Alcatraz island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco wearing a pair of handcuffs. When he was 45 he did 1000 pushups and 1000 chin-ups in an hour. In 1964 at the age of 60 he repeated his Alcatraz swim, but this time he was handcuffed, shackled with chains and towed a 1000 pound boat.

A most memorable event was in 1974. For his seventieth birthday he towed 70 people in 70 boats for a mile and a half across Long Beach Harbor near Los Angeles. He trained religiously for each of these amazing stunts. He used the "flopping butterfly" stroke, which he developed since movement of his hands and legs were limited.

One could easily draw the conclusion that LaLanne is a fanatic gone to the extreme. He would be the first to admit that his lifesyle isn't for everyone. But the message he is trying to convey is that anyone can improve their current physical condition if they really want to and are willing to do something about it. They don't have to follow his rigorous routine, just get out and walk, lift some weights, and most important for most Americans is changing dietary habits. Replace some of the junk food with healthier foods. LaLanne eats 8 to 10 raw vegetables everyday. The best way to get people to believe in him is to be a living example. At 90 years of age he still works out 2 hours a day, seven days a week. He hasn't had dessert since 1929 and never eats between meals or after 9 p.m.

On September 28, 2002 just after his 88th birthday, LaLanne received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is a popular motivational speaker and often receives standing ovations. He and his wife Elaine travel all over the world giving seminars and lectures on fitness, nutrition and exercise.

"I can't die, it would ruin my image."

Sources:

Jack LaLanne Is Still An Animal (http://outside.away.com/magazine/1195/1f_jack.html)
Jack LaLanne: Isn't Life Just Great (http://www.wie.org/j15/lalanne.asp?pf=1)
Jack LaLanne Interview on Diet & Nutrition (http://www.shareguide.com/LaLanne.html)
Jack LaLanne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_LaLanne)

LaLanne at 81:

"Coaches told some of the pro athletes who wanted to come to me to stay away or they'd get thrown off the team. They said I'd make athletes muscle-bound. One time... it was during World War II, I took the entire University of California football team out to the sand dunes near Cliff House in San Francisco. I grabbed the heaviest guy and put him on my back, and I ran up the dunes. Then I made each of them do it. Nearly killed them! They were heavin' all over the place!"

"I train like I'm training for the Olympics or for a Mr. America contest, the way I've always trained my whole life. You see, life is a battlefield. Life is survival of the fittest... How many healthy people do you know? How many happy people do you know? Think about it. People work at dying, they don't work at living. My workout is my obligation to life. It's my tranquilizer. It's part of the way I tell the truth--and telling the truth is what's kept me going all these years."

"Have you seen some of the crap they're selling as exercise equipment now? ...How about that Suzanne Somers? She should have been thrown in jail for selling the piece-of-crap Thigh Master. It just develops a little muscle on the inner thigh. What good is that? And have you seen Tony Little, the guy who screams on TV? He's like an imbecile. He says you need this little thing to hold you while you do a sit-up. Why does the government let him get away with it?"

"You seen my new book? It's a very understandable book, because the average person has an IQ of about two."

"My speaking career is just huge, and I have plans to do some soups and salad dressings for Hunt and Wesson. Jake just called me about doing something with him and Jane Fonda. Everybody wants me for something. It's making it hard to find enough time to train for the 20-mile underwater swim."

"Don't talk age! Age has nothing to do with it. One of my guys who started out at my gym is 87 now, and he still does ten bench-press reps with a hundred-pound dumbbell in each hand. He's training to set a leg-pressing record. I put things in the guy's brain way back when, and now he'll never get away from it."

LaLanne at 84:

"Thoughts are things. Negativity is what kills you... It's tough to do, but you've got to work at living, you know? Most people work at dying, but anybody can die; the easiest thing on this earth is to die. But to live takes guts; it takes energy, vitality, it takes thought. . . . We have so many negative influences out there that are pulling us down. . . . You've got to be strong to overcome these adversities . . . that's why I never stop."

"...most Americans these days—they want to overeat, overdrink, smoke and not exercise, and then they go to the doctor saying, "Give me a magic shot, doctor, so I can feel better and look better." They all want that, but as I said, there is a price to pay. Living is tough, it's hard, and most people, especially religious people, spend too much time on their spirituality, hoping that this spiritual thing is going to do something for them. It doesn't work that way!"

"When I opened my first official health club in 1936, I'd go to Oakland High School at noontime. I'd pick out the fattest kid I could find, and I'd get his phone number and his address and his name, and I'd pick out the skinniest kid I could find, and get his phone number, his address and his name. I'd go to fifty kids' homes, and I'd sign up fifty out of fifty—I never missed. I'd tell their parents, "I'm going to save this kid's life, he's going to have the greatest life anybody can have, and if he doesn't sign up, he's going to miss out on it." Then I'd tell those kids, "If you wear clean clothes, you're not going to be a follower, you're going to be a leader. I want you to cut your hair, I want those clothes to be neat and clean, and if you get lower than a C grade in school, you're OUT." Come to think of it, I was their guru—I was their mother, their father, their best friend, their everything. I knew about their sex life, about how much money they spent, their aches and pains and all their problems. They came to me, I was their consultant, and we were family. And I worked those kids, I'll tell you you wouldn't believe it. It's a wonder some of them didn't die!

So that's how I get my reward. Can you put a price on a life? If you can save somebody's life, get that person to reduce their weight or get these older people working out, well, look what you've done—you've saved a life, the most precious thing there is!"

"Now a lot of people say, "Oh, I don't have the time." Or, "Oh, but I don't like it, Jack." But you know, I try to get to the gym by five in the morning, and I work out for two hours. To leave a hot bed and a hot woman to go to a cold gym—now that's dedication! And I've never heard this once—knock, knock, knock on the window in my gym: "Jack, this is Jesus, I'll work out for you today!""

LaLanne at 90:

"I get so ticked off. People are so misinformed these days. They tell you to eat no starch, no fats, to sell a diet, to make money. Where can you get a better food than nuts and grains? ...Would you give your dog a cigarette and a doughnut for breakfast every morning? People think nothing of giving themselves that for breakfast, and they wonder why they don't feel good."

"The average person who is 70 or 80 is over the hill... They're fat, they're racked with aches and pains. Then you get people over 90 who are running marathons, because they worked at living. I have a lot of energy and you know why? Because I use it. It's use it or lose it, and it's believing in something. Most people just go through life existing, waiting for retirement. That's the death knell."

"If you can't afford a half hour three or four times a week taking care of the most priceless possession, your body, you've got to be sick. You're stupid."

"It's a pain in the backside. I hate to work out. I hate it but I like the results."

LaLanne at 91:

"My whole career, doctors and so-called experts called me a crackpot and charlatan... But I was right."

"I train two hours every day. I do an hour and a half of weight training, then maybe a swim or a walk. I like change. I change my program every 30 days. You know, you get bored. The only thing I don't change is my wife."

"Sitting around on your big fat gluteus maximus talking about the good old days. The good old days are right this second. You've got to exercise VIG-OR-OUSLY! Life is tough. Life is a challenge. Life is a battlefield... . Life is an athletic event, and you must train for it."

"It is unconscionable what's being done to kids. It's a sin. Kids have to be taught to have pride and discipline. Exercise has to be compulsory. What's a good education and making good money if you don't have your health?"

"If man makes it, I don't eat it. I practice what I preach. I eat 10 raw vegetables, 5 pieces of fruit, egg whites and fish for protein, and whole grains. Finally, if you can't have a sense of humor, you're dead."