Jack LaLanne: America’s ‘Godfather of Fitness’

When one thinks of physical fitness celebrities, names like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Simmons, and Denise Austin come to mind. Missing from that list is the “Godfather of Fitness,” the man who more than any other influenced the importance of daily exercise, weight training and good nutrition.

Many of the ideas taken for granted today linking physical fitness to living a healthy life are credited to Francois Henri “Jack” LaLanne. LaLanne was born to San Francisco-based French immigrant parents in 1914.

LaLanne was just 21 years old when he founded the first modern health club in the United States during the Great Depression. Measuring only 5-foot-6, LaLanne’s giant 75-year career started with a health club. He became known as a fitness guru, gym owner, inventor, television host, author and inspirational speaker.

There’s no better evidence of the soundness of LaLanne’s lifelong philosophy than the fact he lived to age 96, passing away in 2011 from respiratory failure due to pneumonia. Prior to that he joked that he could never die, saying “it would ruin my image.”

LaLanne was so devoted to daily exercise that he did his daily workout the day before he died on Jan. 23, 2011.

The Spark That Started It All

When he was 15-years-old, LaLanne was a “junk food junkie” and “sugarholic.” By his own admission he was 30 pounds underweight, suffered from blinding headaches and mood swings, and dropped out of school due to his health and failing grades. LaLanne said all that changed when he attended a lecture by Paul C. Bragg, a renowned healthy food advocate of that era.

Upon learning about LaLanne’s daily diet of cakes, pies, and ice cream, Bragg told him bluntly, “Jack, you are a walking garbage can.” From that point forward LaLanne turned over a new leaf; he overhauled his entire diet, studiously avoiding sugar, white flour, and processed foods. He also exercised daily and made spreading the message of physical fitness his life’s work.

Six years later in Oakland, California, LaLanne opened his Jack LaLanne’s Physical Culture Studio. The club consisted of a weight exercise area with equipment LaLanne designed himself; large mirrors for members to watch their workouts; a nutrition and health products area, and a juice bar, also believed to be the first of its kind.

LaLanne is credited with inventing or popularizing some of the weight equipment found in clubs today, including cable pulley machines; leg extension devices; resistance bands, and early versions of the Smith machine. A barbell fixed on vertical steel rails used to do squats, bench presses, calf raises and other barbell movements without the aid of a spotter.

Later renamed Jack LaLanne European Health Spas, his health clubs eventually expanded to more than 200 locations nationwide by the 1980s before becoming part of Bally’s Fitness. However, it was his reputation as television’s first fitness trainer, beginning in 1951, that helped LaLanne become a familiar face and household name.

Big Showbiz Break

In 1951 a California television general manager was seeking a host for an exercise show aimed at housewives. After LaLanne demonstrated some simple exercises doable with a chair and said he could also share nutrition advice, the Jack LaLanne show was born.

Housewives loved the show. They loved LaLanne. The show went national in 1958 and aired weekday mornings, making LaLanne and his wife Elaine the face of physical fitness nationwide. The show ran for 34 years and 3,000 episodes, making it the longest running exercise program of its era.

LaLanne later expanded into video production with recordings utilizing the same format as his television show: simple workouts emphasizing bending, reaching, and leg lifts built around common household items like chairs, towels, and broomsticks. LaLanne’s name also became synonymous with jumping jacks.

LaLanne continued to appear as a motivational speaker and on television after his show ended in 1985, including in infomercials promoting health products such as his own juicer.

LaLanne believed aging was not an excuse to stop moving; it was a reason to stay active. He believed senior inactivity hurt the body more than proper exercise. He was adamant that people could improve at any age with correct exercising techniques. He was among the first to encourage women and the elderly to lift weights when doctors at that time cautioned against it.

You Are What You Eat

For more than 75 years LaLanne was fastidious about his diet. In a 2003 interview with the Denver Post, he said his breakfast was a soy drink with 50 grams of protein. For lunch he’d eat five pieces of fresh fruit and four egg whites. Dinner consisted of salad with at least 10 raw vegetables, brown rice, and three ounces of fish, usually salmon. He never snacked between meals.

LaLanne often warned his audiences about the danger of ultra-processed foods when he’d quip, “If man made it, don’t eat it.” Decades later, medical science proved him right.

No man deserves more credit for emphasizing the importance of cardiovascular exercise, weight training and nutritional awareness than the former “sugarholic” turned fitness godfather. Jack LaLanne’s can-do spirit and dedication to American health can be seen throughout the modern fitness industry today.

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