Fitness Guru Jack LaLanne 1914-2011

[Zoneboy]

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LOS ANGELES – 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.

He maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image."

Former "Price is Right" host Bob Barker credited LaLanne's encouragement with helping him to start exercising often.

"He never lost enthusiasm for life and physical fitness," the 87-year-old Barker told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I saw him in about 2007 and he still looked remarkably good. He still looked like the same enthusiastic guy that he always was."

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.

"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.

[catlover79]

[old grouch]

He lived a long and healthy life.

RIP, Jack.

[MrCleveland]

Was that they guy who did all those juicer commercials?

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

Was that they guy who did all those juicer commercials?

Yes.

[Marvo301]

Jack Lalanne

[dakert]

George Burns lived to be a 100 and I dont remember if he exercised

RIP Jack

[Schmoopie]

Wow, that's sad to hear, but he was such an inspiration to others.

[James28]

I should have saw Mr. LaLanne live to age 100, but instead it was cut an Olympiad too short. He'll never be another George Burns or Bob Hope. Another one gets inducted into the DCS after only 96 years and 4 months.

Now that explains why I have to jump over a confined shark while water skiing every time I turn an age ending with "0".

[80sTrivia]

RIP, Mr. LaLanne...

[ponytail]

Wow. I thought he would out live us all. I remember watching his show as a kid. We would excerise along with him.

[adultescent]

"It's a lifestyle, it's something you do the rest of your life,"

That's very true... I'm not an expert on this subject, but I've had a lifelong interest in it (one of my top 5 interests), and I would say, from what I've learned, 70-75% of the "lifestyle" should focus on diet, and 25-30% on exercise, for best results... 'Commando' Steve Willis, in his book, "No Excuses!", writes, "Nutrition is 99 per cent of it all"... 70%/75%/99% - the point being diet is the key if you want to live the "lifestyle" successfully for the rest of your life...

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by adultescent

That's very true... I'm not an expert on this subject, but I've had a lifelong interest in it (one of my top 5 interests), and I would say, from what I've learned, 70-75% of the "lifestyle" should focus on diet, and 25-30% on exercise, for best results... 'Commando' Steve Willis, in his book, "No Excuses!", writes, "Nutrition is 99 per cent of it all"... 70%/75%/99% - the point being diet is the key if you want to live the "lifestyle" successfully for the rest of your life...

I agree - generally speaking, you really don't burn that many extra calories through exercise -- your ratio sounds just right to me. What the exercise tends to do most is tone you and keep you heart heathy. And if you have glucose tolerance issues like me, the exercise helps your cells to use insulin better. Good eating habits go a long long way -- try eating 1,000 calories of healthy nutritious food like lean protein, fruits and vegetables -- it would likely take you two nice sized meals to get there. But go to the likes of a fast food joint like McDonald's (Burger King, Taco Bell etc) -- and you can rack up 1,000 calories in the blink of an eye. To each their own, but I learned the hard way that most of those joints are basically crack dens for unhealthy eating.

[Janice]

I remember my mother doing jumping jacks with him when I was about five. He was around for a LONG time; born just two years after the Titanic sank. He was a National Treasure. God bless the man.

[Lee]

Rest in peace, Jack LaLanne