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Jack Lalanne and fitness
Jan. 24th, 2011 11:00 amHe died at the age of 96.
I grew up reading about his birthday feats, mostly because when I started reading a newspaper daily at age 10, the one section I hit cover to cover was Style. He seemed a little cheesy, but very, very fit.
Fitness wasn't a huge thing in my house. My mother would occasionally do dance classes or take a stretching class, but it wasn't something she pursued with any vigor. Dad kept fitter, but was seriously enough overweight -- before the military had weight requirements for officers -- that he developed adult onset diabetes when he was younger than I am now. My sister and I walked a mile each way to school. To qualify for the bus route, you had to live over a mile away, and both our parents worked so being dropped off was impossible.
When Dad developed diabetes, our lives changed. For one thing, it occured just as the new weight/fitness requirements were coming in for the officer corps. Too many officers took up jogging and tried to race for quick weight loss. There was a period in the summer of 1977 when the Pentagon lost at least one officer per day because they were running at mid-day. Some of them made fun of Dad because he was doing his weigh loss slowly. He had a year; he followed his doctor's guidelines. He added swimming to his daily routine and walked his own papers from office to office. At the Pentagon, that kind of walking could add up.
Ten years ago, I weighed around 80 pounds more than I do now. There were a great many reasons for it, including depression. Three people helped me get myself together, physically, more than any others.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jerminating encouraged me to get out of the house when we were house mates. eanja had wanted to start taking yoga and so had I. While we were house mates, she got us to yoga class at least once a week -- often twice a week -- and I started to feel more in control of my body.
The third was Jack Lalanne. ESPN Classic ran his fitness videos from the 1960s at ungodly hours of the night. Usually, I just stayed up late on the computer, but sometimes, I'd watch TV. His shows, unlike some of the more modern ones, were compassionate and encouraging. Cheesy yes, he'd whistle or sing along to the music and the movements weren't strenuous. But I felt better for watching him. I didn't feel like so much of a loser because I could do these easy little exercises for housewives, because I liked his dog Happy, because he didn't judge.
It's taken years for me to get slimmer. I feel better. I (mostly) eat better -- and a lot of that is thanks toeanja, too. But I know that the one thing which has contributed the most to my current sense of well-being is exercise. My office has moved, and I'm trying to find my new walks, so that I don't lose the improvements I've made.
Jack Lalanne contributed a great deal to modern fitness culture, but he also helped me feel better at one of the lowest points of my life. I'm sorry he's gone.
I grew up reading about his birthday feats, mostly because when I started reading a newspaper daily at age 10, the one section I hit cover to cover was Style. He seemed a little cheesy, but very, very fit.
Fitness wasn't a huge thing in my house. My mother would occasionally do dance classes or take a stretching class, but it wasn't something she pursued with any vigor. Dad kept fitter, but was seriously enough overweight -- before the military had weight requirements for officers -- that he developed adult onset diabetes when he was younger than I am now. My sister and I walked a mile each way to school. To qualify for the bus route, you had to live over a mile away, and both our parents worked so being dropped off was impossible.
When Dad developed diabetes, our lives changed. For one thing, it occured just as the new weight/fitness requirements were coming in for the officer corps. Too many officers took up jogging and tried to race for quick weight loss. There was a period in the summer of 1977 when the Pentagon lost at least one officer per day because they were running at mid-day. Some of them made fun of Dad because he was doing his weigh loss slowly. He had a year; he followed his doctor's guidelines. He added swimming to his daily routine and walked his own papers from office to office. At the Pentagon, that kind of walking could add up.
Ten years ago, I weighed around 80 pounds more than I do now. There were a great many reasons for it, including depression. Three people helped me get myself together, physically, more than any others.
jerminating encouraged me to get out of the house when we were house mates. eanja had wanted to start taking yoga and so had I. While we were house mates, she got us to yoga class at least once a week -- often twice a week -- and I started to feel more in control of my body.The third was Jack Lalanne. ESPN Classic ran his fitness videos from the 1960s at ungodly hours of the night. Usually, I just stayed up late on the computer, but sometimes, I'd watch TV. His shows, unlike some of the more modern ones, were compassionate and encouraging. Cheesy yes, he'd whistle or sing along to the music and the movements weren't strenuous. But I felt better for watching him. I didn't feel like so much of a loser because I could do these easy little exercises for housewives, because I liked his dog Happy, because he didn't judge.
It's taken years for me to get slimmer. I feel better. I (mostly) eat better -- and a lot of that is thanks to
eanja, too. But I know that the one thing which has contributed the most to my current sense of well-being is exercise. My office has moved, and I'm trying to find my new walks, so that I don't lose the improvements I've made. Jack Lalanne contributed a great deal to modern fitness culture, but he also helped me feel better at one of the lowest points of my life. I'm sorry he's gone.
