Jack LaLanne

Jack LaLanne

LaLanne in 1961
Born Francois Henri LaLanne
(1914-09-26)26 September 1914
San Francisco, California
Died 23 January 2011(2011-01-23) (aged 96)
Morro Bay, California
Cause of death Pneumonia
Resting place Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Residence Morro Bay, California
Nationality American
Occupation Fitness expert, Doctor of Chiropractic, television host, inventor, entrepreneur
Years active 1936–2011
Home town Bakersfield, California
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Television The Jack LaLanne Show
Spouse(s) Irma Navarre (m. 1942–48)
Elaine Doyle (m. 1959–2011) (his death)
Website Official website

Francois Henri "Jack" LaLanne (26 September 1914 – 23 January 2011) was an American fitness, exercise, and nutritional expert and motivational speaker who is sometimes called "the godfather of fitness" and the "first fitness superhero."[1] He described himself as being a "sugarholic" and a "junk food junkie" until he was 15. He also had behavioral problems, but "turned his life around" after listening to a public lecture about the benefits of good nutrition.[2] During his career, he came to believe that the country's overall health depended on the health of its population, writing that "physical culture and nutrition—is the salvation of America."[3]

Decades before health and fitness began being promoted by celebrities like Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons, LaLanne was already widely recognized for publicly preaching the health benefits of regular exercise and a good diet. He published numerous books on fitness and hosted the fitness television program The Jack LaLanne Show between 1953 and 1985. As early as 1936, at age 21, he opened one of the nation's first[3] fitness gyms in Oakland, California, which became a prototype for dozens of similar gyms using his name.[4] One of his 1950s television exercise programs was aimed toward women, whom he also encouraged to join his health clubs.[3][5] He invented a number of exercise machines, including leg-extension and pulley devices. Besides producing his own series of videos, he coached the elderly and disabled to not forgo exercise, believing it would enable them to enhance their strength.[3][5]

LaLanne also gained recognition for his success as a bodybuilder, as well as for his prodigious feats of strength. Arnold Schwarzenegger once exclaimed "That Jack LaLanne's an animal!" after a 54-year-old LaLanne beat then 21-year-old Schwarzenegger badly in an informal contest.[1] On the occasion of LaLanne's death, Schwarzenegger credited LaLanne for being "an apostle for fitness" by inspiring "billions all over the world to live healthier lives,"[6] and, as governor of California, had earlier placed him on his Governor's Council on Physical Fitness. Steve Reeves credited LaLanne as his inspiration to build his muscular physique while keeping a slim waist. LaLanne was inducted to the California Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[7]

Early life

Born in San Francisco, California,[3] LaLanne's parents were Jennie (née Garaig) (1884–1973) and Jean/John LaLanne (1881–1939), immigrants from Oloron-Sainte-Marie in southwest France. Both entered the U.S. in the 1880s as young children at the Port of New Orleans in Louisiana. LaLanne had two older brothers, Ervil, who died in childhood (1906–1911), and Norman (1908–2005), who nicknamed him "Jack."[3][8] He grew up in Bakersfield and later moved with his family to Berkeley, circa 1928. His father died at the age of 58 in a San Francisco hospital,[9] which Jack attributed to "Coronary thrombosis and cirrhosis of the liver." in his book "The Jack LaLanne Way To Vibrant Health" (p. 21, 1960 edition) LaLanne wrote that as a boy he was addicted to sugar and junk food. He had violent episodes directed against himself and others, describing himself as "a miserable goddamn kid...it was like hell."[10] Besides having a bad temper, he also suffered from headaches and bulimia, and temporarily dropped out of high school at age 14. The following year, at age 15, he heard health food pioneer Paul Bragg give a talk on health and nutrition, focusing on the "evils of meat and sugar."[11]

Bragg's message had a powerful influence on LaLanne, who then changed his life and started focusing on his diet and exercise.[12] In his own words, he was "born again," and besides his new focus on nutrition, he began working out daily. Describing his change of diet, LaLanne stated:

I had to take my lunch alone to the football field to eat so no one would see me eat my raw veggies, whole bread, raisins and nuts. You don't know the crap I went through.[13]

Writer Hal Reynolds, who interviewed LaLanne in 2008, notes that he became an avid swimmer and trained with weights, and describes his introduction to weight lifting:

He found two men working out in a back room, who kept weights in a locked box. When he asked them if he could use their weights, they laughed at him and said, "Kid, you can't even lift those weights." So he challenged them both to a wrestling match with the bet that if he could beat them, they would give him a key to the box. After he beat them both, they gave him a key and he used their weights until he was able to buy his own.[13]

He went back to school, where he made the high school football team, and later went on to college in San Francisco where he earned a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. He studied Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body and concentrated on bodybuilding and weightlifting.[11]

Fitness career

Health clubs

In 1936, he opened the nation's first health and fitness club in Oakland, California,[11] where he offered supervised weight and exercise training and gave nutritional advice. His primary goal was to encourage and motivate his clients to improve their overall health. Doctors, however, advised their patients to stay away from his health club, a business totally unheard of at the time, and warned their patients that "LaLanne was an exercise 'nut,' whose programs would make them 'muscle-bound' and cause severe medical problems."[11] LaLanne recalls the initial reaction of doctors to his promotion of weight-lifting:

People thought I was a charlatan and a nut. The doctors were against me‍—‌they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive.[5]

LaLanne designed the first leg extension machines, pulley machines using cables, and the weight selectors that are now standard in the fitness industry. He invented the original model of what became the Smith machine.[14] LaLanne encouraged women to lift weights (though at the time it was thought this would make women look masculine and unattractive). By the 1980s, Jack LaLanne's European Health Spas numbered more than 200. He eventually licensed all his health clubs to the Bally company, now known as Bally Total Fitness. Though not associated with any gym, LaLanne continued to lift weights until his death.

LaLanne's gym ownership led to a brief professional wrestling career in 1938. Wrestlers were among the few athletes who embraced weight training, and they frequented his health club. LaLanne wrestled in the Bay Area for only a few months. He was well respected enough that he was booked to wrestle to a draw against some big name opponents rather than lose, despite his lack of experience. LaLanne was friendly with such performers as Lou Thesz and Strangler Lewis.

Books, television and other media

Jack LaLanne in 1961

LaLanne presented fitness and exercise advice on television for 34 years. The Jack LaLanne Show was the longest-running television exercise program. According to the SF Chronicle TV program archives, it first began on 28 September 1953 as a 15-minute local morning program (sandwiched between the morning news and a cooking show) on San Francisco's ABC television station, KGO-TV, with LaLanne paying for the airtime himself as a way to promote his gym and related health products. LaLanne also met his wife Elaine while she was working for the local station. In 1959, the ABC network picked up the show for nationwide broadcast, which continued until 1985.

The show was noted for its minimalist set, where LaLanne inspired his viewers to use basic home objects, such as a chair, to perform their exercises along with him. Wearing his standard jumpsuit, he urged his audience "with the enthusiasm of an evangelist," to get off their couch and copy his basic movements, a manner considered the forerunner of today's fitness videos.[11][15]:watch In 1959, LaLanne recorded Glamour Stretcher Time, a workout album which provided phonograph-based instruction for exercising with an elastic cord called the Glamour Stretcher.[16] As a daytime show, much of LaLanne's audience were stay-at-home mothers. Wife Elaine LaLanne was part of the show to demonstrate the exercises, as well as the fact that doing them would not ruin their figures or musculature. LaLanne also included his dog Happy as a way to attract children to the show. Later in the run, another dog named Walter was used, with LaLanne claiming "Walter" stood for "We All Love To Exercise Regularly."

LaLanne published several books and videos on fitness and nutrition, appeared in movies, and recorded a song with Connie Haines. He marketed exercise equipment, a range of vitamin supplements, and two models of electric juicers.[17] These include the "Juice Tiger", as seen on Amazing Discoveries with Mike Levey, and "Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer".[18] It was on the show that LaLanne introduced the phrase "That's the power of the juice!" However, in March 1996, 70,000 Juice Tiger juicers, 9% of its models, were recalled after 14 injury incidents were reported.[18] The Power Juicer is still sold in five models.[19]

LaLanne celebrated his 95th birthday with the release of a new book titled, Live Young Forever.[20] In the book, he discussed how he maintained his health and activeness well into his advanced age.

Personal health routine

Diet

LaLanne blamed overly processed foods for many health problems. For most of his life, he advocated primarily a meat and vegetable diet; eating meat three times per day with eggs and fruit in the morning and many servings of vegetables in the afternoon and evening.[21] For six years he was a Vegetarian. In his later years, he appeared to advocate a mostly meatless diet but which included fish (see Pescetarianism),[22][23] and took vitamin supplements.[24][25][26]

In his television programs, he recommended the following meal plan; Breakfast: fruit, eggs and/or meat, and whole wheat toast . Lunch: Big salad, and meat/fish. Dinner: Big salad, two vegetables, meat/fowl, and fruit.

He ate two meals a day and avoided snacks. His breakfast, after working out for two hours, consisted of hard-boiled egg whites, a cup of broth, oatmeal with soy milk and seasonal fruit. For dinner, he and his wife typically ate raw vegetables and egg whites along with fish. He did not drink coffee.[5]

LaLanne said his two simple rules of nutrition are: "if man made it, don't eat it", and "if it tastes good, spit it out."[27] He offered his opinion of the average person's diet:

Look at the average American diet: ice cream, butter, cheese, whole milk, all this fat. People don't realize how much of this stuff you get by the end of the day. High blood pressure is from all this high-fat eating. Do you know how many calories are in butter and cheese and ice cream? Would you get your dog up in the morning for a cup of coffee and a donut? Probably millions of Americans got up this morning with a cup of coffee, a cigarette and a donut. No wonder they are sick and fouled up.[1]

Exercise

When exercising, he worked out repetitively with weights until he experienced "muscle fatigue" in whatever muscle groups he was exercising, or when it became impossible for him to go on with a particular routine. "Training to failure" is now commonplace. LaLanne moved from exercise to exercise without stopping. To contradict critics who thought this would leave him tightly musclebound and uncoordinated, LaLanne liked to demonstrate one-handed balancing. His home contained two gyms and a pool which he used daily.[5] He also dismissed warmups, calling them "shtick" and "something else to sell": "15 minutes to warm up? Does a lion warm up when he's hungry? 'Uh oh, here comes an antelope. Better warm up.' No! He just goes out there and eats the sucker."

LaLanne receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 at Muscle Beach in Venice Beach, California

He continued with his two-hour workouts into his 90s, which also included walking.[28]

He often said, "I'd hate to die; it would ruin my image." Similarly, he stated, "If I died, people would say 'Oh look, Jack LaLanne died. He didn't practice what he preached.'"[5] When asked about sex, LaLanne had a standard joke, saying that despite their advanced age, he and his wife still made love almost every night: "Almost on Monday, almost on Tuesday, almost on Wednesday..." He explained his reasons for exercising:

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.[1]

He also added "I know so many people in their 80s who have Alzheimer's or are in a wheelchair or whatever. And I say to myself 'I don't want to live like that. I don't want to be a burden on my family. I need to live life. And I'd hate dying; it would ruin my image.'"

LaLanne summed up his philosophy about good nutrition and exercise:

Dying is easy. Living is a pain in the butt. It's like an athletic event. You've got to train for it. You've got to eat right. You've got to exercise. Your health account, your bank account, they're the same thing. The more you put in, the more you can take out. Exercise is king and nutrition is queen: together, you have a kingdom.[29]

Views on food additives and drugs

LaLanne often stressed that artificial food additives, drugs, and processed foods contributed to making people mentally and physically ill. As a result, he writes, many people turn to alcohol and drugs to deal with symptoms of ailments, noting that "a stream of aches and pains seems to encompass us as we get older."[30]:114 He refers to the human bloodstream as a "River of Life", which is "polluted" by "junk foods" loaded with "preservatives, salt, sugar, and artificial flavorings".[30]:167

Relying on evidence from The President's Council on Physical Fitness, he also agrees that "many of our aches and pains come from lack of physical activity." As an immediate remedy for symptoms such as constipation, insomnia, tiredness, anxiety, shortness of breath, or high blood pressure, LaLanne states that people will resort to various drugs: "We look for crutches such as sleeping pills, pep pills, alcohol, cigarettes, and so on."[30]

Family

LaLanne was married to Elaine Doyle LaLanne for over 50 years. They had three children: one from his first marriage (Yvonne LaLanne), one from Elaine's first marriage (Dan Doyle), and one together (Jon LaLanne). Yvonne is a chiropractor in California; Dan and Jon are involved in the family business, BeFit Enterprises, which they and their mother and sister plan to continue.[3][10][31] Another daughter from Elaine's first marriage, Janet Doyle, died in 1974 at age 21 in a car accident.[32]

Death

LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia at his home on 23 January 2011. He was 96. According to his family, he had been sick for a week, but refused to see a doctor. They added that he had been performing his daily workout routine the day before his death.[33][34] He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.[35]

Timeline: LaLanne's feats

(As reported on Jack LaLanne's website) These accounts are not necessarily entirely accurate descriptions of what LaLanne actually did. See the 1974 Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf swim (below) for an illustration of the difference between the website account and objective reporting of the same event.

Awards and honors

On 10 June 2005, then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sport. In his address, Schwarzenegger paid special tribute to LaLanne, who he credited with demonstrating the benefits of fitness and a healthy lifestyle for 75 years.[41] In 2008, he inducted LaLanne into the California Hall of Fame and personally gave him an inscribed plaque at a special ceremony.

In 2007, LaLanne was awarded The President's Council's Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is given to "individuals whose careers have greatly contributed to the advancement or promotion of physical activity, fitness, or sports nationwide." Winners are chosen based on the "individual's career, the estimated number of lives the individual has touched through his or her work, the legacy of the individual's work, and additional awards or honors received over the course of his or her career."[42]

Other honors

Interviews

Filmography

LaLanne appeared as himself in the following films and television shows:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 d'Estries, Michael (24 January 2011). "Jack LaLanne: The first fitness superhero". Mother Nature Network. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  2. ↑ Tuttle, Dave (August 2006). "Report: Jack LaLanne: "Godfather of Fitness" Still Going Strong at 91". Life Extension. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Luther, Claudia (23 January 2011). "Jack LaLanne obituary: Jack LaLanne dies at 96; spiritual father of U.S. fitness movement". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "Still Going Strong". Newsweek. 20 February 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Goldstein, Richard (24 January 2011). "Jack LaLanne, Father of Fitness Movement, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  6. ↑ "Schwarzenegger calls LaLanne 'most energetic man in the room'", KSBY.com, 24 January 2011Archived January 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Andrew Dalton (23 January 2011). "Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, 96, dies at Calif. home". U-T San Diego.
  8. ↑ Reitwiesner, William Addams (date unknown). Ancestry of Jack LaLanne. Retrieved from http://www.wargs.com/other/lalanne.html.
  9. ↑ "John Lalanne". Berkeley Daily Gazette. Deaths. 18 September 1939. p. 13.
  10. 1 2 Kuruvila, Matthai; Demian Bulwa (24 January 2011). "Jack LaLanne, fitness pioneer, dies at 96". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture vol. 3, St. James Press (2000) pp. 81-83
  12. ↑ "Paul C. Bragg". The Natural Health Perspective. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  13. 1 2 "Jack La Lanne – A Berkeley (not Oakland) Original", Berkeley Daily Planet, Jan. 25, 2011
  14. ↑ "Fitness guru Jack LaLanne has passed away". digitaljournal.com. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  15. ↑ Jack LaLanne Show video Archived 16 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ Jack LaLanne's Glamour Stretcher, NYTimes Exercise Product History
  17. ↑ Jack LaLanne, Media Fitness Guru, Dies at 96 – Wall Street Journal Published 24 January 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  18. 1 2 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission CPSC, National Media Corporation Announced Juice Tiger Recall Program Archived 11 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ↑ "Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer™ - Free Shipping! Exclusive New Model". powerjuicer.com. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  20. ↑ LaLanne, Jack (2009). "Live Young Forever". Robert Kennedy Publishing. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  21. ↑ Video on YouTube
  22. ↑ McManis, Sam (19 January 2003). "Raising the bar / At 88, fitness guru Jack LaLanne can run circles around those half his age". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  23. ↑ Hughes, Dennis. "Interview with Jack LaLanne / Legendary Fitness Expert, Health Pioneer, Diet and Nutrition Innovator". Share Guide. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  24. ↑ Jack LaLanne's 10 Health Habits. The Daily Beast. Published 24 January 2011. Accessed 31 January 2011.
  25. ↑ Jack Lalanne: 81 Going On 60. The Sun Sentinel. Published 14 March 1996. Accessed 31 January 2011.
  26. ↑ CNN Transcript – Larry King Live: Jack La Lanne Discusses a Life of Health and Fitness. Aired 17 July 2000, 9:00 p.m. ET. Accessed 31 January 2011.
  27. ↑ "Jack LaLanne -LaLanneisms". JackLaLanne.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  28. ↑ "Fitness guru Jack LaLanne still going strong at 89". CNN.com. 19 January 2004. Archived from the original on 4 September 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  29. ↑ Siegel M.D., Andrew. Finding Your Own Fountain of Youth: The Essential Guide to Maximizing Health, Paul Mould Publ. (2008) p. 191
  30. 1 2 3 LaLanne, Jack. Revitalize Your Life: Improve Your Looks, Your Health & Your Sex Life, Hastings House (2003)
  31. ↑ Weise, Elizabeth; Nanci Hellmich (25 January 2011). "Fitness guru Jack LaLanne dies at 96". USA Today. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  32. ↑ Goldman, Stuart (1 October 2009). "Jack LaLanne Receives Lifetime Achievement Award". ClubIndustry.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  33. ↑ "Fitness Guru Jack LaLanne Dies at 96". 24 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  34. ↑ "Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, 96, dies at Calif. home". Associated Press via MSNBC. 24 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  35. ↑ Jack LaLanne at Find a Grave
  36. 1 2 3 "A Fitting Life for Jack LaLanne" Orange Coast Magazine, August 1986
  37. ↑ Grace, Francie (14 January 2004). "LaLanne: Pushing 90, Pumping Iron". CBS. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  38. ↑ "Bicentennial Swim". Modesto Bee. 21 October 1976. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  39. ↑ Squires, Sally (12 June 2007). "A Fitness Icon Keeps His Juices Flowing". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  40. ↑ "Jack LaLanne Fit As Ever At 70". Lodi News-Sentinel. UPI. 19 November 1984. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  41. ↑ "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Announces California Council on Physical Fitness and Sports"Lauphing Place, 14 June 2005
  42. ↑ Press Release President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 3 May 2007Archived September 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  43. ↑ "Famous Fitness Fads" AARP, 10 December 2010
  44. 1 2 Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy, Andrews McMeel Publishing (2008) p. xxxi
  45. ↑ Behar, Joy. When You Need a Lift, Random House (2007) p. 171
  46. ↑ "Jack LaLanne Shall Shame Us With His Old-Man Energy No Longer". New York Magazine. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  47. ↑ National Fitness Hall of Fame Class of 2005. Retrieved on 23 November 2008. Archived 13 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  48. ↑ "Jack LaLanne – 2008 Inductee of the California Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 23 May 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
  49. ↑ "2008 California Hall of Fame Ceremony Information". Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  50. ↑ "The California Hall of Fame 2008 Exhibits". The California Museum. Archived from the original on 2 December 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  51. ↑ Video on YouTube
  52. ↑ "Jack LaLanne". IMDb. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  53. ↑ "Latest Titles With Jack LaLanne". IMDb. Retrieved 27 August 2015.

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