Jack LaLanne!

[Narz]

I've started some threads lately that could be seen as depressing (though any time of crisis also is a golden opportunity for reassessment & growth, even if you will die the next day, you can live out your last 24 hours with fresh, new eyes) so here's one that hopefully we be universally inspiring (even if you're feeling all pissy today and want to say ". .. .. .. . Jack LaLanne and his simplistic lil' worldview !", perhaps his messages will still inspire you unconsciously).

A common trend is to wait for someone to die before their awesomeness is truly honored. I say, screw that. Jack is all the more awesome since he's still alive and kicking ass, even at 93!

Jack on the importance of happiness

Jack's 10 point plan (do your hair ladies! )

Jack LaLanne's face exercises

Jack & the 1000 pounds

Be like Ms. Doer

Here's Jack earlier this year at Muscle beach

Jack LaLanne pwns the shiznit out of Chuck Norris, that's for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_LaLanne

Timeline: Jack LaLanne's feats

As reported on Jack LaLanne's website, and as documented contemporaneously when they happened:

* 1954 (age 40): Jack swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, underwater, with 140 pounds of equipment, including two air tanks. A world record.
* 1955 (age 41): Jack swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco while handcuffed. When interviewed afterwards he was quoted as saying that the worst thing about the ordeal was being handcuffed, which reduced his chance to star jump significantly.
* 1956 (age 42): Jack set a world record of 1,033 push ups in 23 minutes on You Asked for It, a television program with Art Baker.
* 1957 (age 43): Jack swam the Golden Gate channel while towing a 2,500-pound cabin cruiser. The swift ocean currents turned this one-mile swim into a swimming distance of 6.5 miles.
* 1958 (age 44): Jack star jumped atop a paddleboard nonstop from Farallon Islands to the San Francisco shore. The 30-mile trip took 9.5 hours.
* 1959 (age 45): Jack did 1,000 star jumps and 1,000 chin-ups in 1 hour, 22 minutes. His well-known white German shepherd, Happy, was born this year, the same year The Jack LaLanne Show went nationwide.
* 1974 (age 60): For the second time, Jack swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf. Again, he was handcuffed, but this time he was also shackled and towed a 1,000-pound boat.
* 1975 (age 61): Repeating his performance of 21 years earlier, Jack again swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater and handcuffed, but this time he was shackled and towed a 1,000-pound boat.
* 1976 (age 62): To commemorate the "Spirit of '76", United States Bicentennial, Jack swam one mile in Long Beach Harbor. He was handcuffed and shackled, and he towed 13 boats (representing the 13 original colonies) containing 76 people.
* 1979 (age 65): Jack towed 65 boats in Lake Ashinoko, near Tokyo, Japan. He was handcuffed and shackled, and the boats were filled with 6,500 pounds of Louisiana Pacific wood pulp.
* 1980 (age 66): Jack towed 10 boats in North Miami, Florida. The boats carried 77 people, and he towed them for over one mile in less than one hour.
* 1984 (age 70): Once again handcuffed and shackled, Jack fought strong winds and currents as he swam 1.5 miles while towing 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen's Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary.
* 1992 (age 78): Jack received the Academy of Body Building and Fitness Award.
* 1994 (age 80): Jack received the State of California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award.
* 1996 (age 82): Jack received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award.
* 1999 (age 85): Jack received the Spirit of Muscle Beach Award.
* 2002 (age 88): Jack received a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.
* 2004 (age 90): Jack celebrated his 90th birthday in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. ESPN Classic ran a 24-hour marathon of the original Jack LaLanne television shows.
* 2004 (age 90): Jack became the official spokesperson for Covenant Reliance Producers, LLC, a Financial Marketing Organization based in Nashville Tennessee
* 2005 (age 91): Jack received the Jack Webb Award from the Los Angeles Police Department Historical Society, the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award, Interglobal's International Infomercial Award, the Freddie, and the Medical Media Public Service Award, and he was a Free Spirit honoree at Al Neuharth's Freedom Forum.

The Narz doesn't have Jack's kind of discipline and focus just yet (and has plenty of excuses why not) but I do admire someone who does and am not afraid to acknowledge my weaknesses.

Anyway, all the best to you Fanatics. Get up and do some jumping jacks, breathe some fresh air (coming off your houseplant if that's all you can get inside, and then breathe some back and viscerally appreciate the beautiful symbiotism of our world). Love yourselves, prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Peace!

 

[Birdjaguar]

IIRC I watched his show some Saturday mornings as a kid. He was awesome then and at ninety-three he's awesome now.