He was quite the encouragement to many people over the years including me. Rest in peace good man.
LaLanne would roll his eyes at guys reading newspapers on stationary cycles. That wasn’t exercising. No, for LaLanne, every exercise needed to be done as hard as possible. And he let his muscles know it: “’C’mon, you bastards!’ See, you gotta talk to `em. These muscles are saying, `I can’t do it anymore.’ The hell you can’t! I won’t feed you! You sons of bitches work for me, Jack LaLanne! These muscles are my servants.”
Here are some other lessons to take away from a life well-lived:
LaLanne on pushing hard . . .
“I believe in vigorous, violent, daily, systematic exercise to the point of muscle failure.”LaLanne on habits . . .
“It’s not what you do some of the time that counts, it’s what you do all of the time that counts.”“Exercise is King, nutrition is Queen, put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.”
LaLanne on mental fitness . . .
“Fitness starts between your ears. Your muscles, what the hell do they know? Nothing. It’s brains. If you had to eat carrots the rest of your life, you’d go nuts. It’s variety, see? That’s why I change my workout every 30 days.LaLanne on nutrition . .
“If it tastes good, spit it out.”“Eat right and you can’t go wrong.”
“If man makes it, I don’t eat it.”
“Look at my Corvette, a `98—one of the finest sports cars I’ve ever had. Would I put water in the gas tank? Well, think about the crap people put in their bodies–white flour, sugar, all this processed food. It’s just like using water for fuel.”
LaLanne on abs . . .
“Your waistline is your lifeline.”The scissors exercise: Grip the seat of an armless chair, straighten your legs, lift them as high as you can, then quickly and continuously cross them over each other.
The LaLanne meal plan . . .
Breakfast was always LaLanne’s biggest meal of the day, a blended concoction of juice, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, bone meal, protein powder, and handfuls of vitamins and minerals. He would drink it after his workout, too, when he was too thirsty to mind the awful taste.Lunch was three to five pieces of fruit, vegetable soup, and four egg whites.
Dinner was a salad, plus fresh fish and brown rice.
LaLanne on working every muscle of the body . . .
“Your health account is like your bank account: The more you put in, the more you can take out.”LaLanne claimed to work every one of his 640 muscles in his body every day. That included doing goofy facial contortions and picking up marbles with his toes.
LaLanne on longevity . . .
“I can’t die. It would ruin my image.”“People don’t die of old age, they die of inactivity.”
“Never, ever think of dying. I think of living . . . living, boy, you have to work at it.”
LaLanne on the sexual health benefits of exercise . . .
“I wake up every morning with an erection a cat can’t scratch.”LaLanne on motivation . . .
“Do, don’t stew.”“Anything in life is possible and you can make it happen.”
“We’ll go to Wall-Mart, get some cheesy clothes and shoes like most middle Americans wear then stop at the pound and pick up a Labrador. When we look the part, we’ll go to a nice old country bar in Montana and show them how much admiration and respect we have for the hard working people living there.”
So they did, and found just the place they were looking for in Whitefish, Montana . With the dog in tow they walked inside and stepped up to the bar. The Bartender took a step back and said, “Aren’t you Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi?”
“Yes we are,” said Nancy , “And what a lovely town you have here. We were passing through and Harry suggested we stop and take in some local color.” They ordered a round of bourbon and beers for the house and started chatting up a storm with anyone who would listen.
A grizzled old farmer came in, walked up to the Labrador, lifted its tail and looked underneath, shrugged his shoulders and walked out. A few moments later, in came another old farmer. He walked up to the dog, lifted its tail, looked underneath, scratched his head and left the bar. For the next hour, another dozen people came in, lifted the dog’s tail, and left looking puzzled.
Finally, Nancy asked, “why did all those old farmers come in and look under the dog’s tail? Is it some sort of custom?”
“Lord no,” said the bartender. “It’s just that someone told them there was a Labrador in here with two assholes!”
