Fitness guru Jack LaLanne had died at his Morro Bay, California home following a battle with pneumonia. He was 96. Jack LaLanne was a pioneer in personal fitness, touting a healthy lifestyle decades before aerobics, spinning and yoga would become fashionable.
A bodybuilder and chiropractor, Jack LaLanne, born Francois Henri LaLanne in San Francisco, designed the cable-operated leg extension machines that are now common in gyms around the world. LaLanne also encouraged women to engage in weight training, even though weights were equated with bodybuilding at the time.
The Jack LaLanne Show began airing on KGO in the Bay Area in 1951. He began performing public feats of strength and endurance, including setting a world pushup record (1,033 push-ups) at age 42 in 1956; and towing 70 rowboats, while shackled, for a mile at age 70.
