Why Jack LaLanne is The Man and always will be

“People don’t die of old age, they die of neglect.” — Jack LaLanne

At 93 this dude still makes us all look like sniveling blobs. We should only age so well.

Photos and commentary on Mercola.com

The link above also has interesting comparison of some Hollywood physiques and how they’ve aged. In my mind this sort of illustrates the problem between “physique-appearance culture” and “physique-fitness culture”.

Many people get into shape just to look good, and the effect, while temporarily satisfying, does not have the kind of existential longevity that a genuine dedication to wellness — inside and out — provides. Eventually having ripped abs is just kind of boring, or the wedding that requires you to squeeze into the dress is over. Moreover you are oriented exclusively towards “being skinny” rather than “being truly well”.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look good; it’s just that on its own it doesn’t have staying power nor does it usually contribute to understanding your own body and how it works, or how to keep it running at peak efficiency. (Indeed, people fixated on some abstract notion of “looking good” often run their bodies into the ground.)

In a “skinny/ripped” paradigm you avoid things like “bad foods” (which you then often consume in a frenzy of guilt and shame, without really understanding why they shouldn’t be consumed); in a wellness paradigm you embrace things that allow you to optimize your overall health. You seek — and go towards — fitness and health, and the tools and strategies that get you there. You don’t fear — and avoid — “being fat” or “eating bad foods”.

And in a wellness paradigm, you still end up looking good anyway!