R.I.P. Jack LaLanne

My earliest memory of Jack LaLanne was watching episodes in the morning of the Jack LaLanne Show in black & white as a little kid. This was well before there were hundreds of channels to choose from, and if nothing else, the man was amusing.

I recall watching this overly enthusiastic middle age man in a jumpsuit jumping up and down and thinking, "how silly."

Until Jack's passing yesterday at the ripe young age of 96, that was about all I thought of Jack LaLanne.

Just goes to show how first impressions can be misleading.

Thanks to widespread news coverage of Jack's passing, I now know just how ahead of his time this fitness icon actually was. A few of his notable achievements include

- Opening the nation's first modern day health club in 1936.

- Becoming an early advocate of strength training for women, the elderly, disabled and (get ready for this one) athletes. Before Jack LaLanne athletes typically avoided strength training as it was thought they would become muscle bound!

- Inventing the forerunners of modern exercise machines, including pulley devices.

He brought fitness to the masses with the advent of TV, well before ExerciseTV and DVDs were around.

“I can’t die,” Jack LaLanne most famously liked to say. “It would ruin my image.”

Not at all Jack, not at all.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan