1/23/2025-On This Day: Jack LaLanne

Jack was more than a nutrition nut, a label slapped on him by some lazy folks. Understand his story and be inspired to push yourself…there’s always more in that tank of yours.

On this day in 2011, the "Godfather of Fitness" – Jack LaLanne – left this earth. (He’s been pumping iron upstairs ever since.)

LaLanne hosted the first and longest-running nationally syndicated fitness TV show, The Jack LaLanne Show, from 1951 to 1985. Jack was widely recognized for publicly preaching the health benefits of regular exercise and a good diet.

So why is Jack LaLanne important to you?

Jack was a physical stud, but more importantly, a mentally disciplined giant…two amazing superpowers for a sales pro like you to study and copy.

Today, in honor of Jack, activate an exercise snack strategy: get up every thirty minutes from your $500 energy-sucking chair and walk outside for 5 minutes.

Or…walk around your home!

OR…do ten pushups!

DO SOMETHING aerobic.

What’s that? …you’re in back-to-backs today?

Well then…you owe TEN minutes of something when you get your next break.

Do not let that vessel of yours atrophy. You need it strong to perform.

Jack LaLanne represents three really important things for sellers to keep top of mind:

1. Maintain strong physical fitness. Obviously, selling is mentally taxing, and physically grueling too. The more fit your body is, the better you can stay sharp and focused for your customers.

2. Sustain your mental discipline. Jack was an incredibly focused and committed man who, as a young child, suffered from headaches and bulimia. He became, in his words, "born again" about nutrition and started working out every day…AT AGE 13! Said Jack, "I had to take my lunch alone to the football field to eat so no one would see me eat my raw veggies, whole bread, raisins, and nuts. You don’t know the crap I went through".

3. Work hard at having a positive attitude. Jack’s attitude drove him to be handcuffed and shackled while he towed 70 boats and 70 people a mile and a half through Long Beach Harbor…at the age of 70!

One more note about Jack (he’s easy to write about). Jack was an entrepreneur. In 1936, he opened the nation’s first health and fitness club in Oakland, CA, where he offered supervised weight and exercise training and gave nutritional advice.

Doctors advised their patients to stay away from his clubs because they were a business totally unheard of at the time. Also, doctors warned that "LaLanne was an exercise ‘nut,’ whose programs would give people heart attacks and make them lose their sex drive."

HA.

Jack LaLanne was a treasure – study him. Be inspired by him. DO like him!

"Win today’s battle" is Jack’s message in this fantastic video from him.

That great mantra was Jack’s guiding light throughout everything he did and taught during his 96 healthy years.

After watching, you’ll want to run through a wall and google other clips of him! (Check out his patented pushup – holy moly!)