Workout Innovator Brings His Positive Message To Chicago.

Reporting
Vince Gerasole

Fitness legend Jack LaLanne, who recently turned 95, was in Chicago Thursday to receive a lifetime achievement award.

Hollywood's Hottest New Starlets Top 10 Smartest And Dumbest Dog Breeds The Tattooed Ladies of Hollywood Hottest Female Athletes Real Or Fake? Does he know the secret of the fountain of youth? Jack LaLanne has been the poster child for working out for more than 70 years.

CBS 2'S Vince Gerasole talked to the fitness guru, who recently turned 95.

American fitness is a $17 billion industry, and if you don't know who started it all, then you don't know Jack.

He still puts most people to shame. Long before "The Biggest Loser," Denise Austin's "Bun Shapers" and decades before Jane Fonda felt the burn, Jack LaLanne was getting Americans pumped up about fitness.

LaLanne's pioneering exercise program ran for 34 years on television. He repeatedly swam handcuffed through rough waters well into his 60s and developed the weight equipment that's now a mainstay in our gyms.

"Health is wealth," he told an audience Thursday in Chicago, where the fitness industry gave him a lifetime achievement award.

LaLanne credits his success to avoiding processed foods and practicing what he preaches. He said he works out every day, even though he admits: "I hate it."

His latest book is called "Live Young Forever." Fans were willing to wait an hour in line for an autograph Thursday.

"He looks like a rock star -- he's solid as a rock himself," Alex Kelley-Martins of Virginia said.

While visiting the health guru who performed 1,000 chin-ups at 45, Gerasole asked for some workout advice. The fitness guru demonstrated his ability to connect with people, making them feel good, as well as look good.

"I can't do the things I could do when I was 21," LaLanne admits. "But I'm doing pretty good for 95."

Here's more ageless wisdom from LaLanne: He believes America could erase childhood obesity by educating kids about healthy eating, starting in kindergarten.

And he says an additional secret to long life is a long relationship. He's been married to the same woman, Elaine LaLanne, for 50 years.
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