Why Jack Lalanne was an inspiration to me
Below you see a couple of videos I shot many years ago in Anaheim, California. I’m sharing this video with you now because Jack Lalanne, One of my heros, has passed away on January 23, 2011. Now personally, I’m of the opinion that a no amount of words that I type into this little blog of mine could never do justice to this incredible man or what he meant to the world. I could write and write for days and still only scratch the surface of how Jack Lalannes contributions to health and fitness have changed our world for the better. So rather than wax on philosophic about Jack I thought I would allow you to hear a little bit from the man himself because I want you to experience this talk as I did. Standing there in the audience watching Jack in his prime and being caught up in his incredible energy and vitality. (Yeah he’s like 80 here, but with Jack, that’s still considered prime)
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jack Lalanne: Jack was one of only a handful of people (Joe Weider, Ray Wilson and Paul Bragg and Forrest Shaklee among them) whom literally invented the fitness industry in this country and created the very definition of what we now think of as physical fitness today. The man is a legend. Did you know that the very first modern gym in this country was created by Jack Lalanne all the way back in 1936! It was located in Oakland, California, (Jack was just 21 back then.) and it featured gadgets and gizmos and equipment that no one had ever seen before… because Jack Lalanne had invented them himself! (Of course, not everybody understood the need for a gym back then as we do now.) As Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commented during Jacks tribute service the other day, “Back then in 1936 people would complain that it was ridiculous to charge people to exercise… ‘we can do that at home1′ some people cried… but then, you would point out to them that Jacks Gym and it was full of people and they would shut up” Well, the fitness gym phenomenon caught on as we all know and now you can find gyms literally anywhere you go in the world.
Later in life Jack began selling his famous juicer. That juicer probably saved thousands of lives. Drinking pounds of whole fresh fruits and vegetables everyday to stay fit sound like anyone else you know? Yup. Jack did it first. Though I personally encourage blending over juicing for reasons I wont go into here, Jack was so far ahead of his time its silly. I had to smile when I saw Conan O’Brien’s “21 juicer salute” to Jack the other night. It was an amusing, yet appropriate tribute. Richard Simmons went a different route. He had the whole audience at Jacks farewell ceremony stretch out, reaching for the sky. “That is how we honor him” Simmons said.
My tribute to Jack is living my life as an example for others to follow as he did. That is how I honor him. We’ll miss you Jack.
We’ll miss you Jack Lalanne.