The Blackboard
(July 2002)

“New World Order--Join the Revolution”
By Ron Jones, MS  

There’s a revolution in the air.  It’s a revolution for the new world order in America.  It’s the fitness revolution.  Like a standard revolution, this one is supposed to make things better.  But unlike some other revolutions that kill people if they don’t agree, the revolution of fitness in America seeks to not only preserve life—but to enhance the “quality” of life as well.  The fit people in America are going to take over the country—make no mistake about it.  Why?  Because if Americans want to stay free, we are going to need a more fit and healthy nation to get the job done.  Survival of the “fittest.”  Think about what this means.  We can’t preserve our freedom sitting behind our computers eating hamburgers and using the remote control to do everything from change TV stations to open garage doors.  Preserving our great nation is going to require a lot of fit and healthy people that can fight to preserve what others have died to establish. 

Survival of the fittest…hmmm…it’s time Americans kick them selves in the butt and get moving!  I just interviewed fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne (www.jacklalanne.com) last week for my masters thesis project at CSU, Northridge.  I’m doing my project on exercise and sport psychology.  We have all this information about how great exercise is for improving health, yet we still have about 60% of Americans not getting enough physical activity and about 25% not getting ANY activity at all.  Jack LaLanne was really successful at getting the everyday person at home involved in quality exercise, so I thought this was a guy I needed to talk with.  LaLanne is 87 and lives in Morro Bay just a few hours from Bakersfield.  The guy has a fever for health and fitness like no other!  He was labeled a zealot in his day because he got women doing strength work and people with disabilities exercising in addition to the men.  Now probably most of the doctors who slammed him are dead or not fit enough to even keep up with a LaLanne warm-up!  LaLanne had two major points he wanted me to understand about motivating Americans to exercise: Pride and Discipline.  He said people have lost their pride about their appearance and personal well-being.  LaLanne urges people to not give up on themselves just because they are out of high school or not playing sports.  LaLanne also urges people to have the discipline to get up everyday, “kick themselves in the butt” (direct quote), and get the job done every single day to improve their health with regular exercise and nutritious eating.  It must work—the guy is 87 and in better shape than just about anyone else in America, and he’s been doing it for over 70 years!  I’ll write a future article just on Jack LaLanne and my interview.  LaLanne’s worth a whole article; he’s even getting his own Hollywood star this September 26^th. 

There’s more to the fitness revolution than my opinion or Jack LaLanne.  President Bush announced the “Healthier US Initiative” in late June and there is something about the benefits of exercise every week—it’s hard to keep up with all this good news!  George W. means business when he talks about fitness.  He exercises daily, and his running times are very impressive for a guy 55 with a full schedule fighting world terror.  Something has got to happen to prevent Americans from literally killing themselves with junk food and inactivity, and the President is setting a personal example for all of us to follow.  President Bush and the Department of Health and Human Services reported last week that we spend $117 billion dollars on overweight and obesity.  The amount of American overweight children aged 12-19 has almost tripled in the past 20 years and diabetes rates among people aged 30 to 39 rose by 70%.  Hello!  How much more adipose carnage do we need to get people moving and eating better?!  A little Jack LaLanne would go a long ways right now to improve American security and health.  To learn more about the new Healthier US Initiative, visit the website at: www.healthierus.gov.  The website is simple and easy to use, so check it out. You can also visit my ronjones.org website and search my “Weblinks” section for other reliable health-related websites. 

Emerson once wrote, “The first wealth is health.”  We are the most affluent nation in the world yet bankrupt in terms of national health.  Just this week we had professional baseball player Darryl Kile drop dead of heart attack at age 32.  Doctors said he had 80-90% blockage of two branches of coronary arteries.  It was called a “sudden” death.  There was nothing sudden about it.  People work for years to ruin their health from heart disease and blocked arteries.  Sad but true.  So how’s your “health wealth?”  If you need more motivation to get moving think of Jack.  LaLanne wrote in his 1959 “Your Figure” fitness booklet, “Inactivity is the essence of decay.”  Is it time to put some money in your fitness bank?  Join the revolution.  It’s easy—just kick yourself in the butt, start moving, and eat some food that man doesn’t make in a laboratory.  30 minutes of activity a day is better than dying.  Until next month, have the best of health—and good luck with the revolution!

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