Jack LaLanne Speaks…We Should Listen
I think most of us have heard of Jack LaLanee before, he is amazing. As he turns the ripe young age of 94 tomorrow, he is still active, working out, swimming and mentally sharp as a tack (which is rare nowadays with the aging population). It’s amazing to see someone not only that old, although he may not like being called old so I’ll say “aged” instead, but more importantly functional, strong and smart as ever. Jack has been around a long time preaching the benefits of exercise and proper nutrition and a true motivator at heart. He’s a walking lesson for everything he preaches, so let’s see some more from him below. These are all his words:
Everything you do in life, I don’t care, good or bad–don’t blame God, don’t blame the devil, don’t blame me, blame you. You control everything! The thoughts you think, the words you utter, the foods you eat, the exercise you do. Everything is controlled by you.
You have to take care of your 640 muscles, and the number one thing is exercise. You can eat perfectly but if you don’t exercise, you cannot get by. There are so many health food nuts out there that eat nothing but natural foods but they don’t exercise and they look terrible. Then there are other people who exercise like a son-of-a-gun but eat a lot of junk. They look pretty good because the exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom!
Twelve to seventeen minutes is plenty on the treadmill–if it’s done fast. That’s all you need for cardiovascular benefit. You don’t need to spend that extra time unless you are over weight and you need to burn off extra calories. Do it vigorously, like somebody is chasing you. You’ve got to do it hard. Otherwise, if you just take it easy and do it longer, you are spending all that time when you don’t need it. Use that extra time with your weights instead.
(On Swimming for Exercise) You should do it against the clock. Say you are going to do 30 laps in 15 minutes. Then you try to do it each day a little faster. That is putting demands on the body, and that is how you build up. You keep up your energy instead of going downhill.
Too many people make excuses like I am too old, or I don’t have the time, or it costs money. Then when they get sick they go to the doctor and want a shot in the backside to make them healthy. Many so-called spiritual people, they overeat, drink too much, they smoke and don’t exercise. But they do go to church every week and pray “Please help my arthritis. Please help me bring up my strength, make me young again.” But tell me, can God go to the gym to work out for you? God helps those that help themselves. You have to do it!”
(On Organic Foods) It’s a bunch of bull. How do you know what’s really organic? Today, there’s all these impurities in the water and the air. The water for the fruits and vegetables has junk in it. If you get enough vitamins and minerals out of normal food and whole grains, and you get enough proteins and exercise (that’s the key) then nature builds up a tolerance to all of these things. It’s survival of the fittest. You can’t have everything perfect, that’s impossible, but the fit survive. The fit can handle the impurities in the air and in the water, but the poor people who are sick, it really affects them more.
In fact, if you’ve got a big gut and you start doing sit-ups, you are going to get bigger because you build up the muscle. You’ve got to get rid of that fat! How do you get rid of fat? By changing your diet. You can’t get rid of it with exercise alone. You can do the most vigorous exercise and only burn up 300 calories in an hour. If you’ve got fat on your body, the exercise firms and tones the muscles. But when you use that tape measure, what makes it bigger? It’s the fat!
Yes, exercise is the catalyst. That’s what makes everything happen: your digestion, your elimination, your sex life, your skin, hair, everything about you depends on circulation. And how do you increase circulation?
Now, you listen to some of these so-called sports-medicine experts today–%@*&! It’s just shtick. It’s just something else to sell. Warming up is the biggest bunch of horse%@$# I’ve ever heard in my life. Fifteen minutes to warm up! Does a lion warm up when he’s hungry? ‘Uh-oh, here comes an antelope. Better warm up.’ No! He just goes out and eats the sucker. You gotta get the blood circulating, but does the lion cool down? No, he eats the sucker and goes to sleep. And that is the truth.
I don’t care how old I live; I just want to be LIVING while I am living! I have friends of mine that are in their 80’s and now they are in wheelchairs or they’re getting Alzheimer’s. Who wants that? It’s terrible. I want to be able to do things; I want to look good; I don’t want to be a drudge on my wife and my kids. And I want to get my message out to the people. I might live forever or it may seem like that. I tell people I can’t afford to die; it will wreck my image!
So, anyone still not feeling motivated or have any excuses left?
On another note which is interesting, Jack is also a firm believer of fasting of some sort every now and then. He was taught the importance of it by the health crusader Paul Bragg who wrote the book The Miracle of Fasting. (Side Note Paul Bragg is also a strong supporter of the use of Apple Cider Vinegar, so much he has his own line of it). In the book it states “Jack LaLanne, the original TV Fitness King, says “Bragg saved my life at age 15 when I attended the Bragg Crusade in Oakland, California.”. Interesting enough, you can actually read that book online here for free!
To leave it all, lets see some of his old TV show clips. The first is on how we can stop being “so tired” every day (which is still an issue today considering what coffee, energy drinks and stimulant sales are!).
And Jack’s simple 10 point plan to feeling, looking and living better.
Note: the above quotes were taken from this article on Shareguide.com and (warning this next article is not SFW/kids and is Jack completely uncensored!) this interview in Outside Magazine.
Main Page Picture from Healthoid
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I know quite a few of gurus in the IF/Paleo/CrossFit circle would disagree with Mr. LaLanne’s opinion on exercise over nutrition as well as the quality of foods.
Any thoughts?
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This is a great post!
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Zach,
He seems to go back and forth saying excercise is necessary then says nutrition is necessary then that excercise is necessary. I think that it is safe to say that Mr. Lalanne thinks that both are important. On another note, has anyone tried Jack LeLanes arms out pushups (the ones in the picture in the post)? They are rarther difficult.
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Yeah, I guess there is a fair bit in what Jack says that’s at odds with more nuanced and recent thinking about exercise and nutrition. Certainly as a paleo dude and reader of research literature I could pick some holes in his speech if I wanted to. But on the other hand, this guy is from another era, so I tend to cut him some slack and look for the overall message, which is one I do agree with. My take home from what he says is that you need to take responsibility for making things happen and not be seduced by people who try to make it complicated, because it is in fact very simple.
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Good comments, as I do believe Jack is not saying exercise or nutrition is not important (did I just do too many double negatives?). As far as rankings go, you could go back and forth on that all day….for example take a person bed ridden given the best foods in the world….and an athlete (like say Michael Phelps) and let them eat junk food. In the end the person bed ridden loses muscle and the athlete looks great. Exercise can certainly “make up” for a not so perfect nutritional profile, but I don’t think nutrition can make up for lack of proper exercise with the same effect (esp in retaining muscle mass and strength as one gets older). Then you could also say you only need to exercise right 3x a week and nutrition takes up all the other time, so by time allotment alone nutrition plays a much bigger role, esp for weight loss. I think his main point to all is both are important, but not enough people get exercise into their daily lives so it should be a bigger priority…and the old saying is true when it comes to muscle, use it or lose it.
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Edit note: Paragraph added to article above on Paul Bragg and Jack LaLanne. Book link to Bragg’s Miracle of Fasting online for free. Highly suggest reading it!
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My favorite ones:
“…the number one thing is exercise.”
“(Run) vigorously, like somebody is chasing you.”
Actually they are all great!
Cheers,
-Yavor
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>At age 96 (I believe)
Tomorrow, September 26th, Mr. LaLanne will become 94. Wikipedia knows it all…
Cheers,
Püppinette
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Pup: thanks my math was a bit off, will make the change and funny enough….I did this post originally not even realizing his BDay is tomorrow….talk about timing.
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This is a lot of common sense stuff that is good to be reminded of every so often, but the part about organic foods is just silly and potentially dangerous for people who are inclined to take the word of a celebrity seriously.
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[...] Read the full article here. [...]
Great point, Zach. I’d have to agree.
Jack makes it pretty clear that he thinks exercise is the most important aspect of constructing a healthy body.
I like to say that what you eat is 80% of the equation. Of course exercise is important, but for weight maintenance especially nutrition is more important.
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Found your article via MizFit Online. Oh my gosh, the quote about warming up nearly made me laugh tea out my nose! (Probably because I skimp on the stretching and warming up before exercising.) No wonder he’s lived so long…not only does he eat right and work out like mad, he’s a feisty dude!
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[...] I read this website and found a cool article that shows quotes from one of the great fitness gurus – Jack LaLanne. Peep it out. [...]
I have never met Jack,
But I have been around people that occasionally work out with him. These folks are at the other end of the health spectrum. I have seen professional basket ball players try to keep up with these folks. They wind up gasping for breath, even throwing up. These folks jog 10 miles in San Francisco, then go to the gym. They supplement at extreme levels.
So nutrition and exercise to them are inseparable. That should be our commitment as well, maybe not as extreme.
Arbie
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Actually, Mr. LaLanne sums up everything he says above in one statement, ”exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom!”
Thanks for the post.
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Jack is truly one of my heroes. Great post and thanks for sharing the link to his book!
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[...] done at a high-level of intensity, it would beat any professionally written program out there…Jack Lalanne says it good here: “Twelve to seventeen minutes is plenty on the treadmill–if it’s done fast. That’s [...]
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i wish i could meet Mr. Lalanne and ask him to be my mentor…these quotations are so straightforward and direct to the point, no bs, just like how fitness should be
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and that’s why we love him….no BS….there’s enough of that crap in mainstream already.
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