‘Improve Yourself!’: remembering Jack LaLanne

Fitness guru, Jack LaLanne died Sunday at age 96. Long before Richard Simmons and the South Beach Diet, LaLanne was urging people to get in shape. He set a world record in pushups, had a fitness show, and opened a gym in Oakland. He performed fitness stunts for his fans, lifted thousands of pounds, and swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf while handcuffed and towing a one thousand pound boat.