AARP Muscle Babe

Jack Lalanne is 94 today (Sept. 26, 2008). I am old enough to remember watching his show as a kid on our old B/W TV broadcast from the Los Angeles area during the early 1960s. I enjoyed his show and loved to exercise along with him. He has been my life-long hero… I am lucky enough to have a personally signed autographed photo of him that I keep down in my weight room. His positive outlook on proper nutrition and exercise was way ahead of his time but he is the greatest living testiment to his teachings. The following text is from his website (www.jacklalanne.com). Be sure to check out his website for his radio and video shows available online.

Jack LaLanne is America’s Number 1 Physical Fitness Expert and Guru, and is often called the “Godfather of Fitness”. Jack admits it was not always this way. “As a kid,” he flatly states, “I was a sugarholic and a junk food junkie! It made me weak and it made me mean. It made me so sick I had boils, pimples and suffered from nearsightedness. Little girls used to beat me up. My mom prayed… the Church prayed.” It was at the age of 15, when he heard pioneer nutritionist Paul Bragg speak at the Oakland City Women’s Club in San Francisco Bay Area, Jack finally realized that he was addicted to sugar. Bragg promised Jack if he would exercise and eat a proper diet he could regain good health. Jack listened attentively and was fiercely determined to walk away from that lecture ready to build a totally new Jack LaLanne.

He discovered that the Berkeley YMCA had a set of weights and began experimenting with them and before long, Jack was able to attain the muscular, healthy body of his dreams. “I became a voracious reader and I absorbed everything that would help me to improve myself.  Gray’s Anatomy was my bible. During college, I studied pre-med to become a medical doctor and I also went to Chiropractic College and graduated; however, I was more interested in helping people by convincing them to take preventative measures, before they became ill.”  Resolving to help others find the secrets to health and fitness, LaLanne opened the nation’s first modern health studio in 1936 on the third floor of an old office building in Oakland, California, paying $45 per month for rent. Jack was a mere 21 years old. “I was 40 years ahead of my time,” he said, “but by then I knew more about the workings of the muscles in my body than most doctors. People thought I was a charlatan and a nut,” Jack says, “The doctors were against me – they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive.  Women would look like men and even varsity coaches predicted that their athletes would get muscle bound and banned them from lifting weights. I had to give these athletes keys so they could come in at night and work out in my gym.  Time has proven that what I was doing was scientifically correct; starting with a healthy diet followed by systematic exercise and today everyone knows it. All world class athletes now work out with weights, as do many members of the general public, both male and female.”

Over time, Jack began to formulate a basic approach to physical fitness and nutrition. His methods would be scientifically sound as he developed the first prototypes of exercise equipment presently available in contemporary health spas.  His inventions include:  the first leg extension machine and the first pulley machines using cables and the first weight selectors. He was the first to have women work out with weights and he also encouraged the disabled and elderly to exercise for health. “There are 640 muscles in the human body,” Jack explains, “and I take every one of them into account as I plan each exercise routine.”

  –Jack at age 71.

Jack’s reputation began to spread and by the early 1950’s, he was given the opportunity to utilize the new medium of television to reach even more people. Ever the innovator, Jack used television to reach out to millions of Americans everywhere with his gospel message of get out of your chair, work out and feel better. He was magnetic and the public responded! His motivational message spread across the country like wildfire and his show was an instant nationwide hit! Jack LaLanne believes in daily, vigorous, systematic exercise and proper diet. “My top priority in life is my workout each day.” Jack LaLanne lives by what he says to others, and he has been doing it for over 75 years.  Much of what Jack LaLanne has advocated through his teaching and beliefs has become common knowledge today. Today’s doctors and fitness experts all acknowledge daily systematic and proper diet as the principle keys to a longer healthier life.

  — Jack at age 88

When asked about the difference between then and now, Jack laughs and replies with a gleam in his eye, “It is most gratifying for me to see that everything that I was preaching and advocating for over 75 years has come to fruition. Then I was a crackpot and a charlatan, today I am an authority… and believe me I can’t die, it would ruin my image.”

  –handcuffed & pulling boats on one of his many birthday feats!

JACK LA LANNE FEATS

1954 Age 40: Swam the length of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge underwater with 140 pounds of equipment, including two air tanks… an undisputed world record.

1955 Age 41: Swam, handcuffed, from Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, CA.

1956 Age 42: Set a world record of 1,033 pushups in 23 minutes on “You Asked for It, a TV Show with Art Baker.

1957 Age 43: Swam the treacherous Golden Gate Channel, towing a 2,500-pound cabin cruiser. This involved fighting the cold, swift ocean currents that made the 1 mile swim a 6 ½ mile test of strength and endurance.

1958 Age 44: Maneuvered a paddleboard 30 miles, 9-½ hours non-stop from Farallon Islands to the San Francisco shore.

1959 Age 45: Completed 1,000 pushups and 1,000 chin-ups in 1 hours and 22 minutes. “Happy” is born and The Jack LaLanne Show goes nationwide

1974 Age 60: Swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf, for a second time handcuffed, shackled and towing a 1,000-pound boat.

1975 Age 61: Swam the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater, for a second time handcuffed, shackled and towing a 1,000-pound boat.

1976 Age 62: Commemorating the “Spirit of ‘76”, swam 1 mile in Long Beach Harbor, handcuffed, shackled and towing 13 boats (representing the 13 original colonies) containing 76 people.

1979 Age 65: Towed 65 boats filled with 6,500-pounds of Lousiana Pacific wood pulp while handcuffed and shackled in Lake Ashinoko, near Tokyo, Japan.

1980 Age 66: Towed 10 boats in North Miami, Florida filled with 77 people for over a mile in less than 1 hour.

1984 Age 70: Handcuffed, shackled and fighting strong winds and currents, towed 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, 1 ½ miles.

1992 Age 78: Academy of Body Building and Fitness Award

1994 Age 80: State of California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award

1996 Age 82: Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award

1999 Age 85: Spirit of Muscle Beach Award

2002 Age 88: Jack receives his very own star on the Hollywood Blvd. Walk of Fame

2004 Age 90: Jack celebrates his birthday with a major media blitz in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.  ESPN Classic runs a 24 Hour marathon of the original Jack LaLanne Shows

2005 Age 91: Received the Jack Webb Award from the Los Angeles Police Historical Society, the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award, Interglobal’s International Infomercial Award, the Freddie, Medical Media Public Service Award, and he was a Free Spirit honoree at Al Neuharth’s Freedom Fourm.

Jack LaLanne’s Birthdate is September 26, 1914

   –Jack and his lovely wife, Elaine.
“Exercise is King, nutrition is Queen, put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.” –Jack Lalanne
Happy Birthday and God Bless You, Jack!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.