I’ve noticed that Darrin over at Dad’s Dish Retro Blog. (who, by the way, is one cool dude!) has been doing some awesome blogs as of late where he is reminding us of some forgotten folks from years gone by. What a great concept! There are so many great entertainers and famous folk from our era that have all but slipped into obscurity, so it’s great to remember them and to even see what they’re up to these days.
When I was a kid, I remember my mom watching TV and using a chair or the table and watching this guy in something like a leotard. He was stretching, and breathing, and bending and stretching his arms and legs – this was before there was anything even remotely like “working out” for the masses. Only real athletes did that.Of course, she was watching the incredible Jack Lalanne. Many younger people today might only know him as that really old guy who’s on an infomercial selling a juicer. Jack Lalanne is the original fitness guru. He is more dedicated to a life of health and exercise than anyone else. He ONLY eats right, he ALWAYS exercises, and he’s a TOTAL optimist because he constantly lets us all know that we can do the same. The title of this blog is just one of his many sayings of health!
When he started his show back in 1951, it was the thought that it would be short lived. It became nationally syndicated and ran for 34 years! I remember my mom responding to his encouragement of “Get up, work out, and feel better!” Being kids, we just had fun bouncing around and thinking this was fun and new. He really was the father of modern workout videos.
He routinely performs feats of amazing strength and endurance every year on his birthday. You know – little things like swimming to Alcatraz while wearing handcuffs; Or setting a record of 1033 push-ups in 23 minutes! (That’s an average of 45 per min.); Or swimming while towing 10 row-boats with 77 people on board more than a mile in less than an hour. You can read all about him here. You can even watch videos from his original show and exercise right along with him! Grab a chair! We would all do a lot better if we did only a quarter of what he does!Ok - I'm done blogging - back to my ice cream.
2 comments:
I actually had no idea who he was until I found out that he'd passed away yesterday. His body was unreal, that's for sure. Judging from the more recent pictures I've seen, he still looked pretty good, right up until the end.
Jack was one studly senior citizen in his later years. My father-in-law was a member of one of Jack's gyms.
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