Walk into a fitness center and the clanking of machines surrounds you.  As you start to navigate your way through the maze of machines, you notice that each one you pass is different.  Aside from the machines, you also notice all of the extra exercise equipment and exercise mats you can use.  Also, scattered throughout the fitness center are various people – some are working out intensely on the leg press, while others are doing Pilates on the mats.

Despite the differences in the exercises, most of the people are in the fitness center for a common reason; to feel better, look better and live longer.  Something many of these people don’t know, however, is that their exercise goal was revolutionized less than 100 years ago, by a man named Jack LaLanne.

Before Jack’s fitness revolution, there were many negative ideas regarding physical exercise, like that working out would give people heart attacks or make women look like men.   However, this all began to change when Jack, an overweight 15-year-old who was “addicted to sugar,” attended a lecture by nutritionist Paul Bragg on health and diet.  Here he was told he could turn his life around if he made some lifestyle changes. Motivated by what he heard, Jack took the message to heart.  Over the next few years Jack began to change his lifestyle and began exercise.  Once he saw how this change affected him, he made it his mission to help people help themselves feel better, look better and live longer.

As a result of this mission, in 1936 Jack opened the first modern health studio in Oakland, California.   Despite the opposition, Jack created the first syndicated exercise TV program, “The Jack LaLanne Show.”  The public really took to the show and started to use Jack’s new exercises, such as the “Jumping Jack” and “Fannie Firmer.”

In order to emphasize what exercise and nutrition can do for you, Jack did many crazy stunts.  For example, at age 41, he swam handcuffed from Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  At age 42 he set a world record of 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes.  And at 70, handcuffed and shackled, he towed 70 boats with 70 people for one-and-a-half miles.  These stunts inspired the public to get in shape and accomplish their goals.

Sadly, Jack died last year at the age of 96.  However, his accomplishments in pioneering the exercise revolution will continue to live on in fitness centers around the world.