97-Year-Old Elaine LaLanne Achieves Surprising Fitness and Fame in the US through Regular Exercise and Movement

97-year-old grandmother Elaina Lalanne still does 20 sit-ups regularly, even when she washes her face she also moves her body. Then she will go to her private room to practice some other exercises. She says, “20 minutes of exercise every day makes me feel more cheerful”.

At the age of 97, Lalanne always reminds herself every morning: “You have to believe that you can do it”. This belief not only helps her maintain physical activity beyond the obstacles of old age but also helps her live a life younger than her age by decades.

She is the wife and also the partner of Jack LaLanne, who is considered the father of the modern fitness movement and the host of a 34-year fitness TV show, from 1951 to 1985. When her husband performed, she worked backstage, supporting him in managing the TV show, fitness equipment sales, food, as well as a chain of gyms with 100 locations across America.

Since her husband passed away in 2011, she has published 2 books in the past 4 years and is participating in the production of a documentary film about her and her husband’s life.

She was born in 1926 when there were few people in America who exercised. But now she has become evidence of how lifelong exercise habits can make people look and feel younger. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Elaine dreamed of a career in the entertainment industry. In the mid-1940s, she traveled to the West Coast of the United States to San Francisco, where she immersed herself in the television industry, eventually becoming a producer and co-host of a daily live variety show – a rarity in an era when most women in the industry only played secretary roles.

At that time, as a single mother at the age of 27, she also smoked, ate candy, didn’t spend much time exercising and eating nutritionally. One day in 1951, the owner of a local gym called Elaine’s studio and said that their person – Jack LaLanne – could perform push-ups throughout her show. That was also the occasion for the couple to meet each other. He performed push-ups continuously throughout the 90-minute program, while the host continued her regular duties.

Immediately after they met, Jack walked up to Elaine’s desk in the studio and criticized her for eating donuts and smoking. Fitness historian Ben Pollack wrote in 2018: “She literally blew him away: She took a bite of a donut and blew smoke in his face”.

But over time, she not only fell in love with Jack but also became convinced of his diet and exercise regimen. Exercise transformed Jack from a weak youth to a fitness athlete. This made Elaine think, “I don’t want to become sluggish as I age”.

When they became a couple, their fitness story became even more famous. She joined her husband in exercising and running a business in vitamins and resistance band products. 

Exercise and physical activity changed her life. After the age of 92, Elaine also fell a few times, but thanks to her strong physique from gym workouts, she was able to recover. She also often practices stretching and hanging from a bar. She uses exercise equipment that both she and her husband used for most of their lives, including the weightlifting machine Jack designed in the 1930s and the treadmill that the couple bought in the early 1970s. She emphasizes: “You have to move. If you don’t move, you will become stagnant”.

Admiring the pictures of her at the age of 97, many people are amazed at her incredible flexibility.