He was a sickly and skinny kid during school, the classic ’97 pound weakling.’ He wore thick glasses, arch supports and a shoulder brace. He was so self-conscious about his appearance that he dropped out of school.

His future seemed extremely gloomy. Then one day he attended a health lecture and decided he wanted his future to be different from his past. So he began to exercise two hours each and every day. He changed his junk food diet to a health food diet.

Slowly he changed his appearance, and his Self-Respect.

Through all of this he changed his future. The change was so great that he opened up one of the first health club studios in the United States. He went door-to-door in Oakland, California, promoting his new exercise business.

From the 1950′s through the 1980′s, he performed multiple feats of strength and endurance. His first such stunt was an underwater swim the length of the Golden gate Bridge, loaded with 140 pounds of equipment, in 1954. He went on to stage many attention-getting events, including completing over a thousand push ups in a little over 20 minutes, and towing 65 boats filled with thousands of pounds of wood pulp in Japan.

He made such and international reputation in the fitness industry that many people still think of him as “Mr. Exercise.” He also ran a chain of over 100 health Spa’s of which he later sold. He drove around in his $150,000 car and attributed his success to the change in his Self-Respect brought about by the exercise program he started as a teenager. His name is Jack LaLanne.

Jack LaLanne would be the first to tell you it starts with your Self-Respect. He would also tell you that you can change your Self-Respect. In fact, he would agree with your choice to take Martial Arts, if only for that reason.

Taking Martial Arts can help you change and see yourself for what you really can become.