Jack Lalanne died at the age of 96 this week, and there have been many tributes to him. But I haven't heard of him being spoken of as a women's health hero. But that's how I think of him.
When Lalanne begin spreading his fitness gospel, there were few out there doing likewise. The kind of fitness he championed -- using weights, pushing yourself to the limit, was initially viewed as "too much," for men, so certainly it wasn't a message for women, who were thought of back then as being delicate.
But that's the thing about Jack Lalanne - he never differentiated. He had no separate messages for men, or for women. Or for you people, or those who were older. When he talked about health and fitness, he was talking about all of us -- men, women, kids -- even his beloved white German Shepard, Happy. Living a healthy lifestyle was for everyone.
And genetics? Don't get Jack started. His father died at 50. But, as he said in an interview when he was 91, "I don't care how long I live. I just want to be LIVING while I am living. I want to be able to do things. I want to look good, and I want to get my message out to the people."
And so he did -- he got his message out to ALL of the people. Thanks, Jack!
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