Jack Lalanne, the father of modern day health and fitness and crucially the Jack Lalanne power juicer, has passed away at the age of 96 due to respiratory failure as a result of pneumonia.

Although now he is probably more well known for ‘unlocking the power of natural juice’ through a series of infomercials as ridiculous as the one embedded below, it turns out he was seen as somewhat of an American hero due to his impact on the fitness industry over there.

He opened his first gym in 1931 when he was still in high school after cutting class to go to a lecture by a nutritionist, whilst his workout show aired for 34 years from 1951 to 1985.

During the show, he often took part in several ridiculous stunts to prove that fitness was not necessarily related to age. These included:

– setting a press up world record in 1956 at the age of 42 by performing 1033 in 23 minutes on live television

– At the age of 62, swimming from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf towing a 450kg boat whilst handcuffed

–  Towing 65 boats across some Lake in Tokyo for his 65th birthday. Apparently each boat was filled with 3000kg of wood pulp!!!

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any videos of these feats but enough sites seem to be reporting them so I’m convinced they’re true. And come on! It’s Jack Lallane. He’s like the Chuck Norris of the fitness world – of course they’re true.

At his 90th birthday party he recently stated that “I can’t afford to die, it would hurt my image.” Nothing could be further from the truth though, as thousands of articles and tributes have spring up all over the internet following his death and it seems that his lifestyle and dedication to fitness (he still began every day with a two hour workout right up until his death) have had a tremendous impact on the people of the world and that he will be well remembered.

To close this up, here’s a cool video of him singing the theme tune to his TV show, both as an old man and as a young fitness buck: