Somewhere in the great gym in the sky, Jack LaLanne, the pioneer of the modern physical fitness movement who died yesterday, is probably doing fingertip press-ups. Or perhaps, having dedicated the majority of his life to sculpting his body, he is lying back and finally helping himself to an ice cream sundae — he reportedly last ate dessert in 1929. The former scenario is altogether more likely.
LaLanne, who died aged 96 from pneumonia, went from being a puny weakling to the world press-up record-holder. But his obsession with diet and exercise wasn’t confined to personal improvement, as he co-opted Americans to join him in his quest for physical perfection. He espoused bodybuilding and the virtues of lifting weights, at a time when few had access to them. The Jack LaLanne show, in which he demonstrated his fingertip press-ups (see below), plus other exercises more suitable for mere mortals, and educated viewers on how to eat healthily, ran from 1951 until the 1980s.
He designed his own gym equipment and used his television show to promote his Power Juicer, which found its way into many US kitchens, and is still going strong today. The juicer, for fruit and raw vegetables features in a number of the affectionate tributes to LaLanne on Twitter today, where his death is one of the top 10 worldwide trending topics.
@Arolplease tweeted: “I will juice me some fresh orange, carrots & apples using the revolutionary Jack Lalanne Power Juicer in honour of Mr. Lalanne & his fitnezz.”
His philosophy on food, echoed in various modern-day diets, can be summed up by his LaLanneisms: “If man makes it, don’t eat it,” and “If it tastes good, spit it out”.
In 1936, LaLanne started his own gym with a juice bar and health food store. It was a prototype for the modern health club — and soon there were 100 of them nationwide.
His physical feats included completing 1 000 push-ups and 1 000 chin-ups in 86 minutes in 1959, and in 1984, when aged 70, towing 70 boats 1,5 miles in Long Beach harbour, while he was shackled and handcuffed. Nearly 30 years earlier he swam from Alcatraz island to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, also in handcuffs.
Well into his 90s, LaLanne exercised for two hours a day. A typical workout would be 90 minutes of weight-lifting and 30 minutes of swimming. He celebrated his 95th birthday with the release of a book titled Live Young Forever and one of his sayings was: “I can’t die. It would ruin my image.”
As @MarylandMudlfap tweeted in tribute: “Jack LaLanne will carry his own casket at his funeral.”
Did he inspire you to lead a healthier lifestyle? Or do you think the obsession with diet and exercise he perpetrated has gone too far? — guardian.co.uk