Resolving to help others find the secrets to health and fitness, La Lanne opened the nation's first modern health studio on the third floor of an old office building in Oakland, California, paying $45 per month for rent. That was in 1936, and Jack was 21 years old. "I was 40 years ahead of my time," he said, "but by then I knew more about the workings of the muscles in my body than most doctors. People thought I was a charlatan and a nut," Jack says.

"The doctors were against me - they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive; women would look like men. Even the coaches predicted that athletes would get muscle bound and didn't want them to work out with weights. I had to give them keys so they could come in at night and work out. What I was doing was scientifically correct, starting with a healthy diet and now everyone knows it. Today all the world class athletes work out with weights."

As the years went by, Jack began to formulate a basic approach to physical fitness and nutrition. His methods would be scientifically sound. Jack developed the first models of the exercise equipment that is standard in the health spas of today: the first leg extension machine, the first pulley machines using cables, and the first weight selectors. He was the first to have women work out with weights. He also encouraged invalids and the elderly to exercise for health. "There are 640 muscles in the human body," Jack explains, "and I take every one of them into account as I plan and demonstrate an exercise routine."

Jack's reputation began to spread and by the early 1950s, he had taken to the new medium of television in order to reach even more people. Ever the innovator, Jack used television to reach out to millions of Americans everywhere with his gospel message of get up, work out, and feel better. He was magnetic! He was a motivator! Jack La Lanne believes in daily, vigorous, systematic exercise and proper diet. "My top priority in life is my workout each day." Jack La Lanne lives by what he says to others, and he has been doing it for more than 60 years!

Still as energetic and flamboyant as ever, La Lanne's current hobby is golf, a sport he took up at age 50. He almost gave it up, however, when he was involved in a head-on automobile accident, resulting in severe injuries to his left knee. Doctors told him his golfing days were over. Once again, he proved he could overcome adversity. "I started golfing again several years ago and shot my age four times when I was 73 and five times at 74.

"Now at 85, it's getting easier to shoot my age," Jack jokes. "It just shows what the mind will do...remember, if the mind can conceive, the body can achieve. If you have an injury or a weak spot, you can still work around it, and other parts of the body will adapt."