# Fitness Guru Jack LaLanne Dies at Age 96



## Curt James (Jan 23, 2011)

*Jack LaLanne, Rest in Peace*

* Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, 96, dies at Calif. home         *

*             He exercised and ate healthy every day of his life, agent says         *

          MORRO BAY, Calif. — Jack LaLanne, the  fitness guru who inspired television viewers to trim down, eat well and  pump iron for decades before diet and exercise became a national  obsession, died Sunday. He was 96.     
      LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday afternoon  at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast, his longtime  agent Rick Hersh said.

 LaLanne ate healthy and exercised every day of his life up until the end, Hersh said.

 "I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the  best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for," Elaine  LaLanne, Lalanne's wife of 51 years and a frequent partner in his  television appearances, said in a written statement.

 Just before he had heart valve surgery in 2009 at age 95, Jack  Lalanne told his family that dying would wreck his image, his publicist  Ariel Hankin said at the time.

*Television staple* 
LaLanne credited a sudden interest in fitness with transforming his  life as a teen, and he worked tirelessly over the next eight decades to  transform others' lives, too.

 "The only way you can hurt the body is not use it," LaLanne said. "Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it's never too late."

   His workout show was a television staple from the 1950s to the '70s.  LaLanne and his dog Happy encouraged kids to wake their mothers and drag  them in front of the television set. He developed exercises that used  no special equipment, just a chair and a towel.

 He also founded a chain of fitness studios that bore his name and in  recent years touted the value of raw fruit and vegetables as he helped  market a machine called Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer.

 When he turned 43 in 1957, he performed more than 1,000 push-ups in  23 minutes on the "You Asked For It" television show. At 60, he swam  from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco --  handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat. Ten years later, he performed a  similar feat in Long Beach harbor.

 He maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image."
 "I never think of my age, never," LaLanne said in 1990. "I could be  20 or 100. I never think about it, I'm just me. Look at Bob Hope, George  Burns. They're more productive than they've ever been in their whole  lives right now."






Jack LaLanne, seen arriving for his 95th birthday celebrations in 2009,  
hosted a workout show that was a TV staple from the 1950s to the '70s.

*Praised by Schwarzenegger* 
Fellow bodybuilder and former California governor Arnold  Schwarzenegger credited LaLanne with taking exercise out of the  gymnasium and into living rooms.

 "He laid the groundwork for others to have exercise programs, and now  it has bloomed from that black and white program into a very colorful  enterprise," Schwarzenegger said in 1990.

 In 1936 in his native Oakland, LaLanne opened a health studio that  included weight-training for women and athletes. Those were  revolutionary notions at the time, because of the theory that weight  training made an athlete slow and "muscle bound" and made a woman look  masculine.

 "You have to understand that it was absolutely forbidden in those  days for athletes to use weights," he once said. "It just wasn't done.  We had athletes who used to sneak into the studio to work out.

 "It was the same with women. Back then, women weren't supposed to use weights. I guess I was a pioneer," LaLanne said.

 The son of poor French immigrants, he was born in 1914 and grew up to become a sugar addict, he said.
 The turning point occurred one night when he heard a lecture by  pioneering nutritionist Paul Bragg, who advocated the benefits of brown  rice, whole wheat and a vegetarian diet.

   "He got me so enthused," LaLanne said. "After the lecture I went to  his dressing room and spent an hour and a half with him. He said, 'Jack,  you're a walking garbage can."'

 Soon after, LaLanne constructed a makeshift gym in his back yard. "I  had all these firemen and police working out there and I kind of used  them as guinea pigs," he said.

 He said his own daily routine usually consisted of two hours of weightlifting and an hour in the swimming pool.
 "It's a lifestyle, it's something you do the rest of your life,"  LaLanne said. "How long are you going to keep breathing? How long do you  keep eating? You just do it."

 In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Dan and Jon, and a daughter, Yvonne.

From *Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, 96, dies at Calif. home - U.S. news - Life - msnbc.com

*




YouTube Video


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## Built (Jan 23, 2011)

Heaven is going to be a lot fitter soon. 

Mr. LaLanne, at forty:


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## MDR (Jan 23, 2011)

Hadn't heard.  Looks like he lived a long, healthy life.


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## M-Rods (Jan 24, 2011)

RIP Jack, you have inspired so many


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## Burr (Jan 24, 2011)

Curt, you did a nice workup on this.

RIP Jack


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## AmM (Jan 24, 2011)

By example Jack demonstrated that exercise and proper nutrition improved quality of life. He was a positive inspiration to many.


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## I Are Baboon (Jan 24, 2011)

What a pisser.  RIP, Jack LaLanne.


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## Anna_lev (Jan 24, 2011)

very sad...


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## Rodja (Jan 24, 2011)

I saw that this morning and was actually surprised even though he was 96.  I wonder what the cause of death was?


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## Burr (Jan 24, 2011)

Topm of the thread:

MORRO BAY, Calif. — Jack LaLanne, the  fitness guru who inspired  television viewers to trim down, eat well and  pump iron for decades  before diet and exercise became a national  obsession, died Sunday. He  was 96.     
      LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday  afternoon  at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast, his  longtime  agent Rick Hersh said.


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## JerseyDevil (Jan 24, 2011)

He was a true inspiration, a strength and health legend.  Some of this strength feats were unreal.  1000 pushups in 23 minutes?  RIP Jack.


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## TampaSRT (Jan 24, 2011)

Rip!


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## Arnold (Jan 24, 2011)

Fitness Guru Jack LaLanne Dies at Age 96 By Elizabeth Weise and Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY Leaders of the fitness world are remembering Jack LaLanne, who died Sunday at age 96, as a pioneer who set an example all his life that inspired people of all ages. LaLanne, widely considered the founding father of the [...]

Read More...


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## fray5 (Jan 24, 2011)

Saw this on the news about a half hour ago. Man, was he one cool dude! That's what you call living, what that guy did.


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## TooOld (Jan 24, 2011)

YouTube Video


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## Curt James (Jan 24, 2011)

Rest in Peace, Jack!


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## Arnold (Jan 24, 2011)

*My Memoriam to Jack LaLanne!            * 
_Written by Dave Palumbo        _ 

 JBy now,  most of you have heard that 96-year old  Jack LaLanne died at his Morro Bay, California home of respiratory  failure (due to pneumonia).  








But  rather than dwell on his death; let's   reflect on the life he led, without which there  would be no fitness revolution  in this country today.

 Jack LaLanne was the first guy I ever witnessed doing jumping  jacks;  or any exercise for that matter.   I remember as a kid trying to  emulate all the exercises that he performed  on his TV show-- the  longest running exercise program in television history  (1950s to  1970s).  My parents thought I  was nuts; however, I attributed my  immediate attraction to what this funny man  was doing on TV to the  "bodybuilding genes" that were lying dormant inside all  my cells.  Jack  LaLanne awoke that  sleeping giant in me; he piqued my interest in  physical fitness through weight  training, endurance sports, and healthy  eating.   Now, at age 42, I'm the guy doing the "crazy" exercises for  all the young  and impressionable kids out there.  You  see, life really  does go full circle.






The truth of the matter is that most of us in the bodybuilding world    don't even realize that Jack was one of the very first bodybuilders to really  make a name  for himself in the public eye.   He spent countless hours down on  California's Muscle Beach performing  feats of strength and balancing  acts with all the other bodybuilders;  demonstrating that his  ultra-muscular physique (for the time) not only looked  good but was  quite functional as well.  Jack made building your body something that   anyone could (and should) do.

 LaLanne designed the first leg extension machines,  pulley machines  with cables, and the weight selector machines that are found at  almost  every gym in the world.  Jack also  invented a very popular bodybuilding  machine that eventually became known as the  Smith Machine.  By the  1980s, Jack  LaLanne's European Health Spas numbered more than 200 clubs  and he, ultimately,  licensed all his health clubs to the *Bally *corporation.   Today they are now known as Bally Total  Fitness.

Some of LaLanne's impressive feats of  strength that  still, to this day, baffle me are the following:

*1956 (age 42):* Jack set a world record of 1,033  push-ups in 23 minutes on the *You Asked For  It*television  show.

*1959 (age 45):* Jack did 1,000 star jumps and 1,000  chin-ups in 1 hour, 22 minutes and  *The  Jack  LaLanne Show* went nationwide.

*1984 (age 70):* Handcuffed, shackled and fighting  strong winds and currents, Jack towed  70 boats with 70 people from the  Queen's Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to  the Queen Mary, 1 mile.  







IRON MAN writer Lonnie Teper had this to say about LaLanne's death   on  his
Facebook page:

_"Heard the sad news an hour ago...fitness icon Jack LaLanne has   died at 96. I knew him well; IRON MAN co-sponsored his 90th birthday  party in  Santa Monica, where he told me "I can't aff__ord to  die, it would hurt my image." _

 When a  96-year old guy, who still weight trains and swims 2 hours  every day, dies;  there's a certain sense of peace and appreciation for  the lifestyle he promoted  and the iconic image he created that pours  forth from your soul.  You just, intuitively, know that he lived the   good life.  Abraham Lincoln once  said,

_"And  in the end, it's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your  years." _

 Jack LaLanne was one of the few unique individuals whose "life in   years" well-exceeded the "years in his life".   He'll be missed!


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## Lordsks (Jan 24, 2011)

I thought I remember reading somewhere he invented alot of the exercise equipment you see today. He never put a patient on the ones he built.


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## SilentBob187 (Jan 24, 2011)

We lost one of the good ones.  He was an inspiration for how to live a long and healthy life.


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## Anna_lev (Jan 25, 2011)

He was 96 - he proved that fitness can prolong life


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## Gena Marie (Jan 25, 2011)

He was such an inspiration to so many.  It just goes to show that your passion doesn't have to end with age.  RIP


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## Momuscle (Jan 26, 2011)

Great guy!


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## big60235 (Jan 26, 2011)

He has lead a life that only a few could achieve but millions have tried. He has inspired Billion to change the way the live and lead a healthier life style.


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## big60235 (Jan 26, 2011)

I wonder if his death had anything to do with all the "JUICE" he was on???? Seems like that is a universal excuse. 

I know I am a dick - no need to tell me. I just could not help my self.


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## Burr (Jan 26, 2011)

He sold a lot of Juice Machines in his life!


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## Kagigi (Jan 27, 2011)

Ahead of the times for sure.


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## trup9 (Jan 29, 2011)

sure hope i can llok like him when im that old


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## malfeasance (Jan 29, 2011)

Built said:


> Heaven is going to be a lot fitter soon.
> 
> Mr. LaLanne, at forty:


Wow, I had no idea he looked like that at 40!


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## Anna_lev (Jan 31, 2011)

he really looks grate at the photos!


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## Glycomann (Jan 31, 2011)

I wonder if he was up to date on his vaccinations.  He died from pneumonia.  There are vaccines against the most common forms in older people. Sounds like he was still healthy until he got sick. He was sort of Mr. everything natural so I am guessing no vaccines.


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## comingsoon (Feb 4, 2011)

Thanks for contributing for mankind.But we are sad for for him.


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