Fitness Guru Jack LaLanne Dies at 96

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Jan 23rd 2011 11:00PM

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 on 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, said his longtime agent Rick Hersh.

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.

LaLanne (pronounced lah-LAYN') credited a sudden interest in fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and he worked tirelessly over the next eight decades to transform the lives of others.

"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. In recent years, he touted the value of raw fruits 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."

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.

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Comments

(242)

Monday 24 January

By Just Steve

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My Mother and Grand Mother both watched him in the 1050's and 60's, and I always wondered how this older man could do all that physical stuff so easily?

I know now it's hard work to stay in shape, and its mental toughness to stick to a healthy diet!

Thanks Jack for letting us learn from you what it takes to live to 96!

By Lillie

I remember when I was 5 years old watching Jack on television and doing his exercises. He was one reason I was so flexible as a kid, then as an adult. He was a person to look up to. I appreciate the good he has done for countless thousands of people by example.

By tssssboomsplat

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

who the hell wants to live to be 90

By Snot Bunny

I'll guess that a lot of 89 year olds would.

By iansmomliz

I want to live to 100! So there! :-)

By allwillsee1day

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TO Snot Bunny,

THAT was a good one.

Tuesday 25 January

By Jacqueline Anderson

Dear LaLanne family and all of his fans,
Many years ago, I exercised with Jack and his wife, Elaine and gorgeous white dog,"Happy" while watching his famous fitness program on television. Then, I joined his health studio in San Diego, California. I was only 21 years old then and needed to get my body truly healthy and fit. My diet became totally healthy and I exercised at his club daily.
Miss you already, Mr. LaLanne. God Bless you and your family!!!

By Mike

Also one of Jack LaLanne's feats, but not mentioned was that he pulled a box car on a railroad track with a rope between his teeth, maybe about twenty years ago. His exercise show perhaps spawned a lot of the current-day exercise programs and show hosts that we see today on television... He was a good man; RIP, Jack

By Dan

The lines of people at 227 Golden Gate Avenue when Channel 7 was there in San Francisco. When they let people see Jack it was awesome. This little guy who exercised on television with a chair and jump rope, a local guy from Oakland.

By HostileLogic

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God Bless you, Jack! Rest in peace.

By William R. Adams

First off : I loved Jack La Laine and his "can do it" attitude, Secondly: I don't exercize, but not because I scoff at the benifits to be derived. Only because Iam sad to not have anyone to love. (As reasons go..that should do). But Back to Jack, Didn't ever meet him but would have been an honor to have known him..I think that sums it up and really says it all..Don't you think? william.

William,
YOU are whom YOU love! Take care of yourself, you could get benefits from just a little exercise! Get out and walk around the block, get out and meet people!
If you love yourself, then you will be loved!
Now, get out there and get moving!
God Loves You, and guess what, Jack did too, and he would tell you the same thing as I have here!

By Jeff

Take care Jack god bless and good night thanks for all the great years you gave us.

By Bob

He was decades ahead of everyone else in the health and exercise field.

By Joey Ramone

I think he looked like a chimp .

By Lynxx

To Joey Ramone: I think you SOUND like an idiot. Bet you're not all that swell looking either. Grow up.

By cjimmrun

I grew up in the Bay Area, Jack was a staple - As a kid I can remember heading out for school and my Mom [84 now] would on the livingroom excercising in her `skivies' with Jack and his white sheperd [breed?]on the `tube'

She `blew out' six kids [I was 10lb 1oz at birth] and has managed to keep in excellent condition to this day doing what she learned from Jack!

She still exercises daily hasn't thanks to Jack!
God Bless `em
Wished he'd have researched those juicers a little better though ...

By shopping2scale

Thank you for inspiring me to move.... We all love you, rest in peace.

By Bert Donnelly

Sad... He helped start it all, along w. Charles Atlas, Paul Bragg & others. I remember once as a kid - seeing a brief appearance by Jack LaLanne on a pbs re-run of Groucho Marx's early 50's tv gameshow "You Bet your Life"; when the topic of health & nutrition came up, Jack explained that he took vitamin supplements regularly. At this point the tv studio audience just began to GUFFAW & WAIL W/laughter, extended laughter. It was borderline surreal in watching it. I couldn't believe that people would be that shocked, perhaps that ignorant or naive that vitamin supplements may be good for us... just a touching J.L. memory & another example how he helped millions through his education of us as a nation, always trying to help everyone be at their best, always. He also always delivered a short phrased positive AND powerful affirmation to everyone @ the end of his first tv-exercise show - a hope & an inspiration to his audience that we all be our best and truly take care of ourselves.
He was a national icon & will be missed.

By Logdog

Jack is a true hero and inspiration for all young and old. May God rest his soul and carry on his work in the after world.

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