Sitting down at my desk this morning at 6:30am, in advance of a VERY busy work day, as my computer booted up it presented me with the news that Jack LaLanne had died at the age of 96.
Here was the note on CNN if you didn’t see it, or if you’re not familiar with Jack:
Fitness guru Jack LaLanne dies at 96
Jack was a bit before my time, since a lot of his peak stuff was in the 1950’s through the 80’s…he was born in 1914…and since we’ve been talking about push-ups recently…how about over 1,000 push-ups in a bit over 20 minutes 🙂
More recently, you may know him from selling his ‘Power Juicer’ on late night TV.
Jack had a very full life, was well ahead of his time, introducing fitness to the world decades before it was the ‘in’ thing to do…and inspired millions over his lifetime…Jack LaLanne…you are an Ironman!
Started me thinking that as a younger lad, I had a soft spot for the Jane Fonda workout…I had her video (released in 1982) and her book…it eventually sold over 17 million copies…more than any other home video ever…cool!…and she just released a new version last year, after a 15 year hiatus.
And then lead me to think about the 20 Minute Workout…if you were a guy that watched TV at all in Canada in the early 1980’s, you could not have missed the 20 Minute Workout:
20 Minute Workout was a Canadian-produced aerobics-based television program that ran from 1983 to 1984, in which “a bevy of beautiful girls” demonstrated exercise on a rotating platform.
To my ‘early’ exercise heroes…thank you all for your early inspiration: Jack LaLanne, Jane Fonda and the girls on the 20 Minute Workout…I know that Jack would appreciate this little clip…I know that I can’t help but smile watching it myself…here’s a 10 minute version…go ahead and join in!…full screen by clicking on the symbol in the lower right corner
…dang but those girls are in shape 🙂