Jack LaLanne

"I was the worst, most sickly kid of all – 30 pounds underweight. The girls used to beat me up. Actually I was a mean kid, early on because I had no self-esteem."

"That's what I wanted! I wanted to be an athlete, I wanted the girls to like me, and I wanted to be able to get good grades in school, and this man said I could do all that."

"I was a whole new human being, he said of this transformation. I liked people, they liked me. It was like an exorcism, kicking the devil outta me!"

"When I first started out, I was considered a crackpot, [he said]. The doctors used to say, 'Don't go to that Jack LaLanne, you'll get hemorrhoids, you won't get an erection, you women will look like men, you athletes will get muscle-bound — this is what I had to go through."

"People thought I was a charlatan and a nut, [he remembered]. The doctors were against me — they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive."

"My show was so personal, I made it feel like you and I were the only ones there. And I’d say: Boys and girls, come here. Uncle Jack wants to tell you something. You go get Mother or Daddy, Grandmother, Grandfather, whoever is in the house. You go get them, and you make sure they exercise with me."

"There is no fountain for youth. What you put in your body is what you get out of it. You would not feed your dog a coffee and doughnut for breakfast followed by a cigarette you will kill the damn dog."

"God gives us the power to act for ourselves, but let me tell you something. At five in the morning I have never heard this [he says mimicking a knock on the door]. Hello Jack, this is Jesus. I will work out today."

"Well it is. It is a religion with me. It's a way of life. A religion is a way of life, isn't it?"

"The crusade is never off my mind — the exercise I do, the food I eat, the thought I think — all this and how I can help make my profession better-respected. To me, this one thing — physical culture and nutrition — is the salvation of America."

"I care more than — you cannot believe how much I care! I want to help somebody!"

"Jesus, when he was on Earth, he was out there helping people, right? Why did he perform those miracles? To call attention to his profession. Why do you think I do these incredible feats? To call attention to my profession!"

"Mr. LaLanne said he performed his exercises until he experienced “muscle fatigue,” lifting weights until it was impossible for him to continue. It produced results and, as he put it, “the ego in me” made the effort worthwhile."

"It tasted terrible, so I mixed it with prune juice and fruits. Nobody thought about it until then. We made the guy a millionaire."

"It would wreck my image."

"I can’t die, [he most famously liked to say]. It would ruin my image."

"Anything in life is possible and YOU make it happen!"

"I hate to work out. [...] I’d rather take a beating. To leave a hot bed and a hot woman to go into a cold gym at five in the morning—that takes discipline. But I like the results. Results, results, results."

"When he was 15, his distressed mother dragged him to a lecture on healthful living being given by nutritionist Paul Bragg."

"But Bragg offered salvation to LaLanne: He could be "born again" and be the healthful and strong person he wanted to be — if he changed his ways."

"At 21 years of age he opened North America’s first modern gym."

"At 21 years of age Jack developed the first models of exercise equipment, and these are standards in gyms today."

"He was the first to have women work out with weights - a radical idea."

"He also encouraged the disabled and elderly to exercise for health, a bizarre concept at the time."

"Jack from whom the term “Jumping jack” and description of a muscular person as “jacked” are both derived, is well known for his birthday feats."

"At age 70 the guy towed 70 boats carrying 70 people across the Long Beach harbor, with both arms and feet shackled."

"If men are from Mars and women from Venus, what planet did Jack come from? Jack insists he is from planet earth."