Jack LaLanne Day Events
Here's a description of some of the happenings on the first annual Jack LaLanne Day, 26 Sep 2009 (95th birthday):
San Franscisco Bay Area Group Feat of Strength, 26 September 2009, 9:00am
Steve Trutane (instigator of this website) invites other SF Bay area folks to join him in a group activity as part of this first annual Jack LaLanne Day. The plan is a unique bike tour (with some extra challenges thrown in) around the East Bay and in SF that take us by some of the areas where Jack LaLanne started his fitness business and was active in his hey-day: he started out in Berkeley, had two gyms in Oakland, a TV show in San Francisco that ran for 34 years, and did numerous feats of strength in the SF Bay waters on his birthdays. Here's the current plan for the route for our group feat of strength (still open to suggestions):
  • Meet on the Berkeley pedestrian I-80 bridge (here's a map) at 9am on Saturday 9/26 with your bike and a BART pass (the BART leg of the route will cost $3.10 one-way). We'll kick things of with 95 jumping jacks (which Jack popularized).
  • Bike into Oakland, passing by the site of Jack's first gym there at 409 15th Street. After some sidewalk pushups, we'll swing by the site of his second gym at 17th and Franklin en route to the 19th street BART station nearby.
  • BART over to SF, with an optional round of pullups on the overhead hand rails on the train.
  • Exit at Montgomery and bike to 590 Howard Street to stop by Lalanne Fitness, an awesome crossfit gym owned by Jack's great nephew Chris LaLanne. (Chris will be out of town, but we'll poke our heads in briefly to say hi anyway. Though he will be there in the evening to attempt a feat of his own. See below.)
  • Bike through the city to the Golden Gate bridge (likely route: 2nd Street to Embarcadero to Fort Mason, to Chrissy field). We will include two stops:
    1. Near the KGO-TV ABC Broadcast center (900 Front Street): we'll stop directly across from it on the Embarcadero between piers 9 and 11 and will attempt some fingertip pushups or face exercises or both, your choice.
    2. Then continue to the exercise station near the East end of the Marina Green for more fun: do 95 reps (or as many as you can) of some combination of situps, pushups, pullups, dips, etc.
  • Bike across the GG bridge, stopping at the halfway point to do another 95 jumping jacks.
  • Bike up into the Marin Headlands park, to the end of Conzelman road. This hill will probably be the most challenging part of the ride, but we'll be rewarded with some good ocean views and if it's clear, we might be able to sight the Farallon Islands (where Jack rowed from in one of his feats, in '58 or '59).
  • Bike back across the GG bridge into SF, reversing our route and convening at Aquatic Park, where the swimmers among us will cap off the adventure with a refreshing swim in the Bay, wetsuits and handcuffs optional (hey, Jack didn't wear a wetsuit for his Bay swimming feats ;-).
    • If you are planning to swim, bring along at least a swim cap, goggles, small towel, an extra pair of bike shorts (for post-swim), and bike lock. We can leave our locks at AP during the bike ride out. If we're lucky, maybe someone who is not swimming will volunteer to watch our bikes and hold Steve's camera, so lock may not be necessary. We'll see.
  • Dry off and convene at nearby eatery/pub (to be determined).

Assuming there will be more participants besides Steve in this event, the plan is for everyone to stick together during the ride -- no one will be dropped, and safety will be the priority. Part of the goal here is to spread the word about Jack's message and what we're doing, so a larger, cohesive group will be more noticeable than a bunch of spread-out riders and exercisers. Steve will bring some signage to let onlookers know what we're up to.

Chris LaLanne's feat of strength, 26 September 2009, 8:30pm.
Chris is going to do 1000 pullups and 1000 pushups at his Lalanne Fitness studio in San Francisco. Here the event information and here's a map for the location of his studio (590 Howard Street). Jack did this feat 50 years ago on his 45th birthday in one hour and 22 minutes. Chris is inviting folks to come watch and cheer him on.

See This article in the Examiner.com for a description of how it went.

Photo shoot with Chris LaLanne, 17 September 2009, 4:30pm.
SF Bay area folks: Meet at LaLanne Fitness, located in SF at 590 Howard Street on Thursday 9/17 at 4:30pm for a group photo with Chris, if you are planning to participate in the SF Bay area group feat of strength or are interested in appearing in a local news story about this project. Wear something sporty.

Party at Sports Basement in Sunnyvale CA on 18 September 2009, 6-8pm.
Here's a flier for my shopping party where you can get 20% off any item in the store. Sports Basement is providing snacks and drinks. I will start it off with a little presentation about TeamLaLanne.org and TeamHuman.org and will go over the plans for the group feat of strength in the SF Bay area. (Note that this is on Sep 18th not Sep 26th, so that you can use it to gear up for JLL Day!)

If you are in San Francisco, there is similar happy hour shopping party at the Sports Basement in the Presidio. Here's the Evite for that, being hosted by fellow GGTCer Tara Rooney.