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Jack La Lanne Biography

Bodybuilder / TV Personality

Jack La Lanne hosted a nationally syndicated TV exercise show from 1951 until 1985, preaching good nutrition and physical fitness long before it was popular in the United States. Impressed by a lecture on nutrition which he heard at age 15, La Lanne eventually opened a health club in Oakland, California in 1936. He invented what are considered to be the first modern weight machines for exercising, and his TV show was decades ahead of its time. To draw attention to the powers of physical fitness, La Lanne performed many famous publicity stunts over the years, including doing 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes and, on his 70th birthday, towing 70 boats carrying 70 people while swimming handcuffed and shackled.

Other celebrity fitness enthusiasts include Charles Atlas, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jane Fonda.

Blog posts mentioning Jack La Lanne:

• Still Pushing