The godfather of modern fitness, Jack LaLanne, died this week of complications stemming from pneumonia. Â LaLanne was responsible for a long string of events that many argue was responsible for the entire existence of the fitness movement in the United States.
He opened his first health club back in 1936, and was criticized for suggesting not only that resistance training could help fitness, but that women should do it, too. Â LaLanne was an extremely high-energy man and was one of the first people to publicly suggest that depression and fatigue could be alleviated with exercise. Â He practiced what he preached, working out daily until his health would no longer allow it. Â He will be greatly missed.