January 23, 2011. By 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 re
flect 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 afford 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!
