Exercise guru and fitness fanatic Jack LaLanne died at 96 yesterday from respiratory failure due to pneumonia. He later did 6000 sit ups.
Lalanne, who had heart valve surgery in 2009, recently that "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image." He credited a sudden interest in fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and built an empire over the next eight decades as a result. "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 program ran from the 1950s to the '70s. He also founded a chain of fitness studios that bore his name, much like his raw fruit and vegetable juicer. When he turned 43 in 1957, he performed more than 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes on the TV show "You Asked For It". At 60, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco — handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat. He performed a similar feat in Long Beach harbor a decade later.
LaLanne was born in 1914 and was a self proclaimed sugar addict, but the turning point occurred when he heard a lecture by pioneering nutritionist Paul Bragg, who advocated the benefits of brown rice, whole wheat and a vegetarian diet. Soon after, he changed his diet and constructed a makeshift gym in his back yard, testing exercises and routines on local firemen and police who worked out there. 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."
Lalanne, who had heart valve surgery in 2009, recently that "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image." He credited a sudden interest in fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and built an empire over the next eight decades as a result. "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 program ran from the 1950s to the '70s. He also founded a chain of fitness studios that bore his name, much like his raw fruit and vegetable juicer. When he turned 43 in 1957, he performed more than 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes on the TV show "You Asked For It". At 60, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco — handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat. He performed a similar feat in Long Beach harbor a decade later.
LaLanne was born in 1914 and was a self proclaimed sugar addict, but the turning point occurred when he heard a lecture by pioneering nutritionist Paul Bragg, who advocated the benefits of brown rice, whole wheat and a vegetarian diet. Soon after, he changed his diet and constructed a makeshift gym in his back yard, testing exercises and routines on local firemen and police who worked out there. 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."
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