Jack Lalanne, Godfather of the Nutrition and Fitness Movement, Dead at 96

There he was, in the full glory of black and white -- a handsome, friendly,ultra-energetic man, with slim hips, broad shoulders, and biceps to spare, urging Americans to stop eating garbage, and get a little exercise. He was doing this as far back as 1951. I can remember watching Jack Lalanne when I was a tiny child, maybe three; it was the first time I saw someone do jumping jacks. When they gave him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he did push ups on it.

Several years back, a cyberpal sent me a bootlegged Xerox copy of a Jack Lalanne cookbook from back in the day. What was he recommending? Protein. Meat, and plenty of it. No sugar. Here he is, exhorting his viewers to give up their sugarholism. I bet his disciples really did lose weight and shape up.

Here, from Wikipedia, is a list of some of Jack Lalanne's feats of physical prowess:

* 1954 (age 40): swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, underwater, with 140 pounds (64 kg; 10 st) of equipment, including two air tanks. A world record.

* 1955 (age 41): swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco while handcuffed. When interviewed afterwards he was quoted as saying that the worst thing about the ordeal was being handcuffed, which reduced his chance to Star Jump significantly.

* 1956 (age 42): set a world record of 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes on You Asked For It,[28] a television program with Art Baker.

* 1957 (age 43): swam the Golden Gate channel while towing a 2,500-pound (1,100 kg; 180 st) cabin cruiser. The swift ocean currents turned this one-mile (1.6 km) swim into a swimming distance of 6.5 miles (10.5 km).

* 1958 (age 44): maneuvered a paddleboard nonstop from Farallon Islands to the San Francisco shore. The 30-mile (48 km) trip took 9.5 hours.

* 1959 (age 45): did 1,000 star jumps and 1,000 chin-ups in 1 hour, 22 minutes and The Jack LaLanne Show went nationwide.

* 1974 (age 60): For the second time, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf. Again, he was handcuffed, but this time he was also shackled and towed a 1,000-pound (450 kg; 71 st) boat.

* 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 1,000-pound (450 kg; 71 st) 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, Japan. He was handcuffed and shackled, and the boats were filled with 6,500 pounds (2,900 kg; 460 st) 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): Handcuffed, shackled and fighting strong winds and currents, towed 70 rowboats, one with several guests, from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, 1 mile.

He passed away Sunday at the age of 96; he had still been working out two hours per day until his final illness. He died of pneumonia -- no heart attacks or cancer for Jack.

May we all do so well -- and so much good.