Guess what Jack LaLanne, the nation's first fitness guru, has to say about exercise?
"I hate to work out," he confided, "but I like the results, so I do it."
The man who hosted the longest-running TV exercise show in history ("The Jack LaLanne Show," 1951-1985) came to San Francisco this week for his 95th birthday celebration with 100 family members and friends at John's Grill, where a seafood salad has been named for him since the 1970s. He also agreed to do an unusual thing: work out with a reporter, even though he never works out with anyone, even his wife.
Fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne turned 95 years old in September. He took reporter
Carolyn Zinko through a mini-workout at the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco.
So we met at the gym of Parc 55 hotel Tuesday, where the Morro Bay (San Luis Obispo County) resident was staying. LaLanne has professed the benefits of weightlifting and a low-sugar, meat-free diet for 70 years - decades before it was fashionable with the public and health professionals - and he still lifts for an hour and swims 30 minutes, seven days a week.
On this particular day, he'd apparently already worked out (!), so our get-together turned into a training session for me. Before we started, I asked for his thoughts about reading on the treadmill or listening to music at the gym.
"Bull-!" he barked. "I concentrate on what I'm doing. I exercise in the morning to get it over with and get on with my day."
He cheerfully barked orders for various exercises, many of which are listed in his latest book, "Live Young Forever: 12 Steps to Optimum Health, Fitness and Longevity"
Jack LaLanne, 95, guides reporter Carolyne Zinko through a mini-workout.
While demonstrating, he grunted like former tennis champ Monica Seles. He now lifts only 50-pound dumbbells in each hand doing chest presses (still impressive), but said the point isn't how much you lift. It's lifting. Period.
First up were chair squats with no weight - standing, then almost sitting, then standing, up and down, slow, fast and very, very slow.
"I don't care if people are 80 or 85 when they start," he said. "They can double their strength and double their endurance in six weeks. You won't be able to do what you could when you were 20, but do the best you can with the equipment you have."
LaLanne has slowed down in recent years, but suffers no joint pain and only occasional muscle aches. He's had two knee replacements - from football and car crash injuries, not exercise. He's never taken steroids, but did develop his own line of vitamins and of course, his juicer, made famous on late-night infomercials.
My thighs are burning from the chair squats, and I am feeling muscles that I didn't know even existed, but LaLanne doesn't seem to care.
"Working out three or four times a week is plenty for most people, but it's an ego thing with me," he said of his regimen. "I'd like to see how long I can keep it up."
In his prime, he could lift two 150-pound dumbbells doing chest presses and set a record of 1,033 pushups in 23 minutes at age 42.
Next up for me: standing overhead dumbbell presses with 5-pound weights, followed by standing back rows, then triceps kickbacks and then a Kettlebell-type snatch. I squatted while holding a 20-pound weight between my legs, then swung it up over my head as I stood up, over and over.
"Raise your arms! Bring it up higher!" he shouted. "Keep your arms straighter! Breathe! In! Out! In! Out! Faster! Slower! Faster!"
The last exercise? Jackknife sit-ups while balancing on a bench. Ah. I've done these at home watching TV's "The Biggest Loser," so here was something that didn't make me sweat.
"Pretty good!" he granted, patting this 45-year-old on the back.
I was thrilled that this time, he didn't hurt me. Five years ago, testing my flexibility, he grabbed my palms and crossed my hands together behind my back until I yelped and his wife shouted for him to stop.
As LaLanne is fond of saying: "Anything worthwhile takes effort."
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