Iron Man
Jack LaLanne turns 90 on Sunday.
If you're under 30, you probably only know Jack LaLanne as a brand name seen on a chain of gyms or a juice extractor. But for those of us who grew up in the '60s and early '70s, Jack LaLanne was Mr. Fitness. He was the original TV exercise guru — before there was a Jake Steinfeld or Tony Little or Billy Blanks or (dare I say it) Richard Simmons, before Suzanne Somers was hawking Thighmasters, before Jane Fonda workout tapes, before Aerobicize put Showtime on the cable map, even before anyone had ever heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack LaLanne was the man who pumped you up. He was on the tube touting healthy eating and vigorous exercise long before anyone else. He once did a thousand pushups on a TV show without breaking a sweat.
And, given his remarkable longevity, I guess it's worked for him.
I met Jack LaLanne in person once, about 25 years ago. His son Jon and I lived in the same dormitory at Pepperdine University. (Don't make a big deal out of that. We weren't like best buds or anything. We lived on opposite ends of the building, and probably said all of three words to each other the entire time.) It was arrival day at the beginning of my sophomore year, and Mr. LaLanne was there helping Jon move in. He's not a tall man — he's a few inches shorter than I am, and I'm only five-eight and change — but he was built like a fire hydrant and had a handshake that could turn coal into diamond.
You get the idea sometimes that a lot of the well-known fitness touts are sneaking chesseburgers and taking the escalator when no one's looking. But I'm convinced Jack LaLanne is the real McCoy. He's apparently still in pretty solid shape at an age when most people are...well...dead. I hope he lives another healthy decade or two. Me, I'll order the medium fries instead of the supersized today, in honor of his birthday.
If you're under 30, you probably only know Jack LaLanne as a brand name seen on a chain of gyms or a juice extractor. But for those of us who grew up in the '60s and early '70s, Jack LaLanne was Mr. Fitness. He was the original TV exercise guru — before there was a Jake Steinfeld or Tony Little or Billy Blanks or (dare I say it) Richard Simmons, before Suzanne Somers was hawking Thighmasters, before Jane Fonda workout tapes, before Aerobicize put Showtime on the cable map, even before anyone had ever heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack LaLanne was the man who pumped you up. He was on the tube touting healthy eating and vigorous exercise long before anyone else. He once did a thousand pushups on a TV show without breaking a sweat.
And, given his remarkable longevity, I guess it's worked for him.
I met Jack LaLanne in person once, about 25 years ago. His son Jon and I lived in the same dormitory at Pepperdine University. (Don't make a big deal out of that. We weren't like best buds or anything. We lived on opposite ends of the building, and probably said all of three words to each other the entire time.) It was arrival day at the beginning of my sophomore year, and Mr. LaLanne was there helping Jon move in. He's not a tall man — he's a few inches shorter than I am, and I'm only five-eight and change — but he was built like a fire hydrant and had a handshake that could turn coal into diamond.
You get the idea sometimes that a lot of the well-known fitness touts are sneaking chesseburgers and taking the escalator when no one's looking. But I'm convinced Jack LaLanne is the real McCoy. He's apparently still in pretty solid shape at an age when most people are...well...dead. I hope he lives another healthy decade or two. Me, I'll order the medium fries instead of the supersized today, in honor of his birthday.
SwanShadow was randomly pounding the keyboard at 9:42 AM
2 insisted on sticking two cents in:
Jack LaLanne ROCKS! I hope I'm as good in shape as him at half his age.
I *am* almost half his age and I...hmmm. Well, never mind.
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