Jack LaLanne dies at 96

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

LOS ANGELES – Jack LaLanne was prodding Americans to get off their couches and into the gym decades before it was cool. And he was still pumping iron and pushing fruits and vegetables decades past most Americans' retirement age.

The fitness fanatic ate well and exercised — and made it his mission to make sure everyone did the same — right up to the end at age 96, friends and family said.

LaLanne died Sunday at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast, longtime agent Rick Hersh said. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.

"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.

Lalanne, who had heart valve surgery two years ago, maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image."

"He was amazing," said 87-year-old former "Price is Right" host Bob Barker, who credited LaLanne's encouragement with helping him to start exercising often.

"He never lost enthusiasm for life and physical fitness," 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.

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[one...two...tree 2,762]

I remember seeing his exercise show in the mornings when I was only about 5. He'd use just a chair and he'd demonstrate all these different exercises. He was way ahead of his time. RIP.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The guy was insane. Every year he added another rowboat to this swim, towing them while handcuffed.

On his 70th birthday, he celebrated by a mile-long swim, in which he towed 70 rowboats filled with 70 people. LaLanne pioneered Health Gyms and has a number of nutritional and exercise products on the market - all of which made him a wealthy man. But Jack LaLanne, the muscle mogul, with the 45-inch chest and the 28-inch waist, says he cares nothing for material rewards. "I never thought about making money in my life. This is a capitalistic country and if you do a good job, you will be compensated. In the future I want to open a chain of health food restaurants, write some more books and do some more television. I love inspiring people to be healthy, happy, strongerr."

http://www.bragg.com/about/famousfollowers.html

He was also a Capitalist. Who knew?

Edited January 24, 2011 by Some Old Guy

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Captain Oates 911]

Fittest corpse in the cemetery !

[thongd4me 69]

I have currently in my possession "Season 3" of the Addams Family TV show.

In the 1st episode on the 2nd disc, Uncle Fester goes on a diet and guess

who makes a house call to give Fester the astronaut training manual?

Jack LaLanne - I forgot how good he really looked when he was young.

He was always classy, a gentleman and never full of himself, despite his

obvious showmanship.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Everyone loved Jack LaLanne, he will certainly be missed.

[Captain Oates 911]

Never heard of the geezer. If I was going to do all that keep fit agony I would want to get to more than 96 as a reward

Edited January 25, 2011 by Alan the Red

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Never heard of the geezer. If I was going to do all that keep fit agony I would want to get to more than 96 as a reward

He died from complications of pneumonia. There are people a lot younger than 96 who have died under similar circumstances. Pneumonia can really kick anyone's #######, but as you get older, your body's ability to withstand the effects are greatly diminished. I'm sure he would have lived much longer had he not caught a cold that led to the pneumonia.

[Captain Oates 911]

He died from complications of pneumonia. There are people a lot younger than 96 who have died under similar circumstances. Pneumonia can really kick anyone's #######, but as you get older, your body's ability to withstand the effects are greatly diminished. I'm sure he would have lived much longer had he not caught a cold that led to the pneumonia.

Vitamin C - get your health from a bottle, try not move much and keep a low mileage body.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Vitamin C - get your health from a bottle, try not move much and keep a low mileage body.

Anyone over the age of 65 should keep their flu shots up to date and then avoid contact with sick people.

[Captain Oates 911]

Anyone over the age of 65 should keep their flu shots up to date and then avoid contact with sick people.

You mean Republicans ?

Flu shots are a waste of time - they are effective against a small % of flu viruses and wear off well within 6 months

Good for profits though so form a line !

The people who died of the great flu in 1919 were aged in their early 20's - mostly returning soldiers - and old people either don't get it or don't get it hard (coz they have an immunity build up and have been exposed to it many times)

I know of no old people dying of flu - but plenty die of pneumonia brought on by broken bones and bad posture and their wives not agreeing to enough sex

Edited January 25, 2011 by Alan the Red

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Never heard of the geezer. If I was going to do all that keep fit agony I would want to get to more than 96 as a reward

Geezer? LaLanne could tear you a new one even at 96. Keep fit agony? Think of that when you're lying in a hospital bed drooling out your last days.

Vitamin C - get your health from a bottle, try not move much and keep a low mileage body.

And die of coronary disease, sounds like a plan.