A Cup of Green

In the Spotlight: Jack LaLanne, 1914-2011

One year after his death, he still encourages fitness for all

Jack LaLanne dedicated his life to encouraging people to better themselves through nutrition and exercise.  Widely referred to as “The Godfather of Fitness”, LaLanne once joked “I can’t afford to die. It would wreck my image.”  Although he did die, he truly lived his life well and left a legacy that all people can learn from.

AKA François Henri LaLanne

Born: 26-Sep-1914
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Died: 23-Jan-2011
Location of death: Morro Bay, CA
Cause of death: Pneumonia

Jack LaLanne was a juvenile delinquent, once attacking his brother with an axe, and setting his family’s house on fire. In adulthood, he blamed his youthful misbehavior on being fed too many high-sugar foods. At 15, his mother dragged him to hear a speech by nutritionist Paul Bragg (1895-1976), where LaLanne was inspired to reform his eating habits. He eliminated everything made with white flour or white sugar from his diet, and instead ate almost nothing but fruits, vegetables, and fish for the rest of his life. Healthy foods were hard to find, so LaLanne concocted his own recipes, and by the age of 18 he owned a health-food bakery.

At 21, he opened his first gym in Oakland, California. It was 1936, and most doctors at the time warned against working out with weights, believing it could cause a heart attack or ruin a man’s sex drive, but as his gym grew into a chain of fitness clubs there were no reports of members dying or losing interest in sex, and LaLanne, first seen as a crackpot, gradually came to be seen as America’s foremost authority on fitness. To add variety to his customers’ workouts, he devised such now-standard equipment as leg-extension machines and weights on pulleys for lifting. Over subsequent years, he was among the first to produce protein supplements and nutrition bars.

Beginning in 1951, LaLanne hosted and produced The Jack LaLanne Show, TV’s first workout program. On his show, he performed calisthenics, usually with only a chair or table ledge as ‘equipment’, while cheerfully pointing at the camera and urging his audience to “Get up, work out, and feel better”. At first the show aired only in San Francisco, and LaLanne had to buy the air time, as TV executives were sure nobody would want to watch him do exercises. Within a few years, the program was nationally syndicated on ABC, where millions watched LaLanne do exercises until 1985.

After his TV show ended, LaLanne remained in the public eye with a series of fitness stunts, usually performed on his birthday. In 1955, he swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco, while wearing handcuffs. In 1991, for his 70th birthday, he swam a mile while shackled to 70 boats carrying 70 people. Even in his 90s, LaLanne remained in good health, selling juicers in TV infomercials and working out two hours every day — an hour in the gym, and an hour in the pool. He said he had not missed a day of workouts — or had a sugary dessert — since 1930.

“I don’t care how old I live”, he once said, “I just want to be living while I am living!” He was 96 when he died of respiratory failure brought about by pneumonia, in 2011.

Thanks to the Notable Names Database for the biography on a Jack LaLanne, a pioneer for health.

http://www.nndb.com/people/697/000022631/