Famous muscleman, fitness guru, and living well advocate Jack LaLanne passed away yesterday at the age of 96 due to complications arising from a bout with pneumonia. Remember his work with this collection of videos and links.

LaLanne was the inventor of the health club, opening his first in Oakland, California in 1936. An inventor as well as an fitness guru, LaLanne is credited with among other things inventing several varietys of both exercise equipment and polymetric exercises themselves, including the famous Jumping Jack.

LaLanne was also an early fixture of television, where his The Jack LaLanne Show ran for 34 years. On the show, Jack would run a scaled-down version of his famous workout routine and through this he is credited as being one of the first to encourage women to exercise and build strength through weighlifting.

Here's a clip from The Jack LaLanne Show which demonstrates both his motivational and teaching style, as well as his famous showmanship.

Later in his career, LaLanne used his strength and showmanship for advocacy purposes, attempting to show people all that the human body was capable of through his brand of healthy liviing. This was primarily done through feats of strength such as towing 13 boats which represented the original 13 colonies of the United States for one-mile through Long Beach Harbor in California while both handcuffed and shackled.

A 1995 Outside Magazine profile of LaLanne paints perhaps the clearest picture of who the man was, and is well-worth a read.

If anything, LaLanne is a commendable figure for practicing what he preached, The only way you can hurt the body is not use it, he said. Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it's never too late.

LaLanne is survived by his wife of 51 years, Elaine.

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