Jack LaLanne received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro magazine on Oct. 15 at the Club Industry Conference in Chicago. Jack LaLanne, now 95 years old, also offered the keynote address at the conference we joined in the second week of october.

“You can’t offer a Lifetime Achievement award in this industry without giving it to Jack LaLanne,” says Pamela Kufahl, editor of Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro. “He was an advocate of exercise long before it was popular. His TV exercise shows and his advocating of strength training for women and athletes were new concepts at the time, but now, we have whole networks devoted to exercise shows, and strength training is commonly recommended for women and athletes.”

LaLanne was a sickly boy, but at the age of 15, after hearing nutritionist Paul Bragg speak, he turned his life around through exercise and healthier eating. In 1936, at age 21, he opened a health studio in California.