Jack LaLanne, 93, still spreads gospel of exercise

WASHINGTON (Reuters Life!) - Jack LaLanne, who became a fitness guru to a generation of American housewives, still works out two hours a day and stays away from white flour and sugar -- even at the age of 93.

Considered the father of the modern fitness movement, LaLanne began preaching the value of exercise and eating raw vegetables long before Jane Fonda urged women to "feel the burn."

"I can't die," LaLanne likes to say. "It would ruin my image."

LaLanne said his diet includes 10 raw vegetables daily, eight egg whites, fruit, brown rice and 100 percent whole grain bread -- when he has bread.

"A glass of wine is wonderful," LaLanne told Reuters, pointing to research linking wine to the health of the French.

"They don't get drunk, they have a glass of wine or two."

On the day of interview LaLanne said he swam for 30 minutes and lifted weights for 90 minutes. He alters his workout routine every 30 days.

"Everything I do, I do to muscle failure," he said.

When he was young LaLanne was depressed and moody. In desperation, when he was 14 years old, his mother took him to hear health lecturer Paul Bragg, who urged followers to exercise and swear off processed foods.

The young LaLanne stopped eating white flour, sugar and most fat while eating more fruits and vegetables. By age 15, he had built a backyard gym of climbing ropes, chin-up bars, sit-up machines and weights.

LaLanne opened the nation's first modern health club in Oakland, California in 1936. It had a gym, juice bar and health food store. Soon there were 100 gyms nationwide.

A bigger challenge followed -- getting the first generation of television couch potatoes to try jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups.

The "The Jack LaLanne Show," which went national in 1959, showed housewives how to work out and eat right. It became a staple of daytime television in the United States during its 34-year run.

But one person he could not convince to work out was his father, who died at age 50.

"I tried to get my dad to exercise but he just said, 'Oh, that's for you young folks,'" LaLanne said.

To promote his shows, gyms and juicers, LaLanne has done a series of stunts. When he was 45, in 1959, he did 1,000 push-ups and 1,000 chin-ups in 86 minutes.

In 1984, aged 70, LaLanne had himself shackled and handcuffed and towed 70 boats 1.5 miles in Long Beach Harbor.

LaLanne said his focus was always to help people the way Bragg had helped him.

"Billy Graham is for the hereafter, I'm for the here and now!" he said. "The good old days are right now! Focus on this moment! Enjoy life!"