Jack LaLanne

LaLanne was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Jennie (née Garaig) and Jean/John LaLanne, French immigrants from Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Both entered the US in the 1880s as young children at the Port of New Orleans. LaLanne had two older brothers, Ervil, who died in childhood (1906–1911), and Norman (1908–2005), who nicknamed him "Jack". which LaLanne attributed to "coronary thrombosis and cirrhosis of the liver". In his book The Jack LaLanne Way to Vibrant Health, LaLanne wrote that as a boy he was addicted to sugar and junk food. He had violent episodes directed against himself and others, describing himself as "a miserable kid ... it was like hell". Besides having a bad temper, LaLanne also suffered from headaches and bulimia, and temporarily dropped out of high school at the age of 14. The following year, aged 15, he heard health food pioneer Paul Bragg give a talk on health and nutrition, focusing on the "evils of meat and sugar". Bragg's message had a powerful influence on LaLanne, who then changed his life and started focusing on his diet and exercise. In his own words, he was "born again". He also began exercising daily (although while serving during World War II as a Pharmacist Mate First Class at the Sun Valley Naval Convalescent Hospital, LaLanne stated that he started bodybuilding at "age 13"). Describing his change of diet, LaLanne stated, "I had to take my lunch alone to the football field to eat so no one would see me eat my raw veggies, whole bread, raisins and nuts. You don't know the crap I went through". Writer Hal Reynolds, who interviewed LaLanne in 2008, noted that he became an avid swimmer and trained with weights. LaLanne went back to school, where he made the high school football team. He later attended college in San Francisco where he earned a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. He studied Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body and concentrated on bodybuilding and weightlifting. ==Fitness career==

Early wrestling career LaLanne won the American Athletic Foundation Wrestling Championship in 1930 and the American Athletic Union medal for wrestling in 1936. He was put on the 1936 Olympic wrestling team but was taken off the team because he was "charging money for exercise" by opening a gym and thus "considered a professional". In 1936, he opened the nation's first health and fitness club in Oakland, California, He invented resistance bands, which he marketed as the Glamour Stretcher for women and the Easy Way for men with different tensions. In 1959, LaLanne recorded Glamour Stretcher Time, a workout album that provided phonograph-based instruction for exercising with an elastic cord called the Glamour Stretcher. As a daytime show, much of LaLanne's audience were stay-at-home mothers. LaLanne's wife Elaine LaLanne was part of the show to demonstrate the exercises and to show that doing them would not ruin the figures or musculature of women. LaLanne also included his dog Happy as a way to attract children to the show. Later in the run, another dog named Walter was used, with LaLanne claiming "Walter" stood for "We All Love To Exercise Regularly". LaLanne published several books and videos on fitness and nutrition, appeared in movies, and recorded a song with Connie Haines. He marketed exercise equipment, a range of vitamin supplements, and two models of electric juicers. These include the "Juice Tiger", as seen on Amazing Discoveries with Mike Levey, and "Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer". The Power Juicer is still sold in five models. LaLanne played the role of "Hercules" in the Christmas television movie, "The Year Without a Santa Claus" starring John Goodman, in 2006, his last acting role. LaLanne celebrated his 95th birthday with the release of a new book titled Live Young Forever. ==Personal health routine==

Diet One of LaLanne's sayings was "If man made it, don't eat it." LaLanne blamed ultra-processed foods for many health problems. For most of his life, he eschewed sugar and white flour while eating many fruits and vegetables, and he ate a mostly dairy-free and meatless diet that included lots of egg whites and fish. He also took vitamin supplements and protein supplements. The New York Times reported in his obituary that he avoided snacks and ate two meals a day, His breakfast, after working out for two hours, consisted of hard-boiled egg whites, a cup of broth, oatmeal with soy milk, and seasonal fruit. Another shake LaLanne consumed consisted of egg whites and soybean with carrot juice, celery juice, and some fruit. One source reported that his lunch was four boiled egg whites, five servings of fresh fruit, plus five raw vegetables. For dinner, he and his wife typically ate a high-protein salad with egg whites along with fish (often salmon) and some wine. He stated, "If I died, people would say 'Oh look, Jack LaLanne died. He didn't practice what he preached.'" He said that since the average person doesn't have the time to exercise two hours per day, he recommended 30-minute workouts, 3-4 times a week, and changing one's routine every 2–3 weeks. He refers to the human bloodstream as a "River of Life", which is "polluted" by "junk foods" loaded with "preservatives, salt, sugar, and artificial flavorings". Relying on evidence from The President's Council on Physical Fitness, he also agreed that "many of our aches and pains come from lack of physical activity". As an immediate remedy for symptoms such as constipation, insomnia, tiredness, anxiety, shortness of breath, or high blood pressure, LaLanne states that people will resort to various drugs: "We look for crutches such as sleeping pills, pep pills, alcohol, cigarettes, and so on." ==Family==

LaLanne was married to his second wife, Elaine Doyle LaLanne, for more than five decades. They had three children: Yvonne LaLanne, a daughter from his first marriage, Dan Doyle, a son from Elaine's first marriage, and Jon LaLanne, a son they had together. Yvonne is a chiropractor in California; Dan and Jon are involved in the family business, BeFit Enterprises, which they and their mother and sister plan to continue. Another daughter from Elaine's first marriage, Janet Doyle, died in a car accident at age 21 in 1974. ==Death==

LaLanne often said, "I can never die; that would ruin my image!" He died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia at his home on January 23, 2011. He was 96. According to his family, he had been sick for a week but refused to see a doctor. They added that he had been performing his daily workout routine the day before his death. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California. ==LaLanne's feats==

''(As reported on Jack LaLanne's website)'' • 1954 (age 40)Swam the entire length of the Golden Gate in San Francisco, under water, with of air tanks and other equipment strapped to his body; a world record. • 1955 (age 41)Swam from Alcatraz Island to Pier 43 in San Francisco while handcuffed. When interviewed afterwards, he was quoted as saying that the worst thing about the ordeal was being handcuffed, which significantly reduced his ability to do a jumping jack. • 1956 (age 42)Set what was claimed as a world record of 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes on You Asked For It, a television program hosted by Art Baker. • 1957 (age 43)Swam the Golden Gate channel while towing a cabin cruiser. The swift ocean currents turned this one-mile (1.6 km) swim into a swimming distance of . However, according to an account of this event published the day after it occurred in the Los Angeles Times, written by Philip Hager, a Times staff writer, LaLanne was neither handcuffed nor shackled if each of those terms has the conventional meaning of "tightly binding the wrists or ankles together with a pair of metal fasteners". Hager says that LaLanne "had his hands and feet bound with cords that allowed minimal freedom". But "minimal" clearly did not mean "no" freedom, since elsewhere in the article Hager describes LaLanne's method of propulsion through the water as "half-breast-stroke, half-dog paddle", which is how you swim with your hands tied. • 1975 (age 61)Repeating his performance of 21 years earlier, he again swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater and handcuffed, but this time he was shackled and towed a boat. • 1976 (age 62)To commemorate the "Spirit of '76," United States Bicentennial, he swam one mile (1.6 km) in Long Beach Harbor. He was handcuffed and shackled, and he towed 13 boats (representing the 13 original colonies) containing 76 people. • 1979 (age 65)Towed 65 boats in Lake Ashinoko, near Tokyo. He was handcuffed and shackled, and the boats were filled with of Louisiana Pacific wood pulp. • 1980 (age 66)Towed 10 boats in North Miami, Florida. The boats carried 77 people, and he towed them for over one mile (1.6 km) in less than one hour. • 1984 (age 70)He towed 70 rowboats, one with several guests, from the Queen's Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, 1 mile. ==Awards and honors==

On June 10, 2005, then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sport. In his address, Schwarzenegger paid special tribute to LaLanne, who he credited with demonstrating the benefits of fitness and a healthy lifestyle for 75 years. In 2008, he inducted LaLanne into the California Hall of Fame and personally gave him an inscribed plaque at a special ceremony. In 2007, LaLanne was awarded The President's Council's Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is given to "individuals whose careers have greatly contributed to the advancement or promotion of physical activity, fitness, or sports nationwide". Winners are chosen based on the "individual's career, the estimated number of lives the individual has touched through his or her work, the legacy of the individual's work, and additional awards or honors received over the course of his or her career". Other honors • 1963: Founding member of President's Council on Physical Fitness under President Kennedy • President's Council of Physical Fitness Silver Anniversary Award • Governor's Council on Physical Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award • The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans • American Academy of Achievement, 1975 • American Cancer Society • American Heart Association • American Medical Association • WBBG Pioneer of Fitness Hall of Fame • APFC Pioneer of Fitness Hall of Fame • Patriarch Society of Chiropractors • NFLAHealthy American Fitness Award • Received an Award from the Oscar Heidenstam Foundation Hall of Fame • Received National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Gold Circle Award commemorating over 50 years in the Television Industry • IHRSA Person of the Year Award • Jack Webb Award from the Los Angeles Police Historical Society • Interglobal's International Infomercial Award • The Freddie, Medical Media Public Service Award • Freedom Forum Al Neuharth Free Spirit Honoree • Lifetime Achievement Award from Club Industry • 1992 (age 78): The Academy of Body Building and Fitness Award • 1994 (age 80): The State of California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award • 1996 (age 82): The Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award • 2005 (age 91): The Jack Webb Award from the Los Angeles Police Department Historical Society; the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award; the Interglobal's International Infomercial Award; the Freddie Award; the Medical Media Public Service Award; Free Spirit honoree at Al Neuharth's Freedom Forum; Inaugural Inductee into the National Fitness Hall of Fame • 2008 (age 94): Inducted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (fellow 2005 inductee of the National Fitness Hall of Fame) and Maria Shriver into the California Hall of Fame ==Filmography==

LaLanne appeared as himself in the following films and television shows: • You Bet Your Life (1961) • Peter Gunn (1960) – LaLanne appeared in an episode with Craig Stevens. • Mister Ed (1961), episode "Psychoanalyst Show" (as "Instructor"), (1963), episode "Doctor Ed" • The Addams Family (Season 2, 1966), episode "Fester Goes on a Diet" • Batman (man on roof with girls, uncredited cameo) (1966) • ''Here's Lucy'' (Season 2, 1969), episode "Lucy and the Bogie Affair" • ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (Episode #5.14, 1971), Guest Performer • Fit & Fun Time (kids TV pilot) (1972) • The Richard Simmons Show (1982) • The Chevy Chase Show • Repossessed (1990) • Amazing Discoveries (1991) • The Simpsons (Season 10, 1999), episode "The Old Man and the 'C' Student" • Beefcake (1999) • ''Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina'' (2003) • "Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed" (2004) • Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (Season 2, 2004) • The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006), Hercules • "How To Live Forever" (Documentary, 2009) ==References==