Jack LaLanne Still Fit at 95

Jack LaLanne is clearly doing something right. On Wednesday, the fitness guru celebrated his 95th birthday in San Francisco and proved that the lifestyle regime he's been pushing since the 1930s must at least sorta work.

"I'm an inspiration, I'm perspiration, I practice what I preach, I work out two hours a day," LaLanne told ABC7 in San Fran.

LaLanne celebrated his big day at John's Grill, his favorite restaurant in the city, where he and dozens of VIP guests munched on the popular Jack LaLanne Salad topped with "Jack's Special Dressing."

Lalanne, still eager to show off his fitness prowess, reportedly wowed the crowd by doing 95 jumping jacks and 95 push ups (as people half his age held their head in shame.) "If you believe in something, live it," he explained to the San Francisco Chronicle.

LaLanne has been walking -- and flexing -- the talk for decades. He opened his first gym way back in 1936, at age 22, and when it didn't become an instant hit he sought to educate people about the importance of exercise, first reaching out to local cops, firefighters and school kids, and eventually landing a daily television show in 1951, which ran until 1985.

Almost as good at publicity as exercise, the buff showman earned tons of press at age 40 when he swam from Alcatraz to shore while handcuffed. Twenty years later he towed a boat loaded with weights, and he even beat Arnold Schwarzenegger in chin-ups and push-ups when the governator was in his muscular prime.

Today, Lalanne still works selling juicers, writing books and spreading his fitness message.

"I work at living," he told the Chronicle. "Most people work at dying. Dying's easy."

Amen.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Cremisino via Wikimedia Commons.