Jack LaLanne
Jack LaLanne
Francois Henri "Jack" LaLannewas an American fitness, exercise, and nutritional expert and motivational speaker who is sometimes called "the godfather of fitness" and the "first fitness superhero." He described himself as being a "sugarholic" and a "junk food junkie" until he was age 15. He also had behavioral problems, but "turned his life around" after listening to a public lecture about the benefits of good nutrition by health food pioneer Paul Bragg. During his career, he came to believe that...
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth26 September 1914
CitySan Francisco, CA
Your muscles know nothing. It's your brain. Exercise is something you've got to do the rest of your life. It's a lifestyle. Dying is easy. Living is a pain in the neck. You've got to work at it.
The brain's preferred source of fuel is glucose/carbohydrates. And when you go on a low-carb/high-protein diet, your brain is using low-octane fuel. You'll be a little groggy, a little grumpy.
Don't talk age! Age has nothing to do with it. One of my guys who started out at my gym is 87 now, and he still does ten bench-press reps with a hundred-pound dumbbell in each hand. He's training to set a leg-pressing record. I put things in the guy's brain way back when, and now he'll never get away from it.
I just want to see how long I can keep this thing going. The easiest thing is dying. Living is a a pain in the butt.
That's what I wanted! I wanted to be an athlete , I wanted the girls to like me, and I wanted to be able to get good grades in school, and this man said I could do all that.
The crusade is never off my mind -- the exercise I do, the food I eat, the thought I think -- all this and how I can help make my profession better-respected. To me, this one thing -- physical culture and nutrition -- is the salvation of America.
You only live once, why be miserable? Fat people are miserable -- you are carrying 50 lbs on your shoulders all day, you get a disease called "pooped-out itis". Don't tell me that they are happy with the way they look and feel. I have to be honest, that is all I have.
I can't die. It would ruin my image.
If you're tired and pooped out all the time, do you have love and compassion in your heart for your fellow man? You don't even like yourself!
I want to move well and comfortably, and enjoy the world around me.
If it tastes good, spit it out!
Sometimes people - especially people over 40 - underestimate what they really are capable of. They believe they're not capable of doing something great. I tell people who are over 40, "I don't want your best. I want better than that. I want better than what you perceive your best is."
Do you know how many calories are in butter and cheese and ice cream? Would you get your dog up in the morning for a cup of coffee and a donut?
You don't have to call it God or Jesus. That's religious humbug to a lot of people, but you've gotta believe that nature and spiritual things surround us. That is what put us here! I thank the universe for that every day of my life.