Los Angeles ( CNN ) -- Legendary fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne saved millions of lives by teaching people to eat right and exercise regularly , Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his eulogy for LaLanne on Tuesday . LaLanne , who died last week at the age of 96 , opened the first American health club in Oakland , California , in 1936 , MuscleMag publisher Robert Kennedy said . `` This was the start of the fitness revolution we know today , '' Kennedy said . LaLanne , who spent decades talking about the benefits of exercise , designed the world 's first leg-extension machine , along with several other pieces of equipment now standard in the fitness industry . `` It does n't matter where you go , there is a health club and it all started with Jack LaLanne , '' Schwarzenegger , the bodybuilder , actor and former California governor , said . Other fitness celebrities , including Denise Austin , Lou Ferrigno and Richard Simmons , eulogized the man who inspired their careers . `` I really never cared much for him when I was a kid , because he was everything I was n't , '' Simmons said . `` He was fit . He ate healthy . He had self-esteem . He had a great little body and I was n't ready to accept his message . '' But when LaLanne appeared on the `` Richard Simmons Show '' in 1980 , they became friends , he said . `` I 'm here to pay tribute to a legend , to someone who influenced me and made me a better person , '' Simmons said . LaLanne 's memorial service at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills on Tuesday afternoon was filled with laughter about LaLanne 's evangelical energy in promoting fitness . `` Jack is now in heaven and , of course , that 's going to be very annoying for a lot of people up there , '' Schwarzenegger said . `` It 's not going to be pretty because we know what 's going to happen . '' Residents of heaven have a new wake-up call at 6 a.m. and they are doing `` thousand of push ups and stretching exercises , '' Schwarzenegger said . `` The people are in a state of shock because they were promised if they were good , they could rest in peace , '' he said . `` There will be no resting . '' He joked that LaLanne is French for `` do some push ups , you lazy bastards . '' People doubted what LaLanne was promoting in his early years , he said . They warned `` you could get heart problems , become a narcissist , turn gay , or it could reduce your sex drive , '' Schwarzenegger said . `` How do they explain the fact that Charlie Sheen works out every day , '' he said . `` So that 's nonsense . '' LaLanne swam the San Francisco Bay in handcuffs when he was 41 . He set a record of 1,033 push ups in 30 minutes the next year . At age 70 , he swam the Long Beach Harbor as he towed 70 boats with 70 people in them . Schwarzenegger said he first met LaLanne soon after he moved to Venice Beach , California , as a young bodybuilder . The two worked out together and he soon `` regretted that . '' `` I got so pumped up , I could n't move anymore , '' he said . `` I said , 'This guy is a machine , he 's the real machine , ' '' he said . `` 'This guy 's a monster , he just keeps going and going and going with the exercising . ' '' LaLanne was laid to rest with a weight he was holding in his left hand when he died , said his son , Dan LaLanne .
Denise Austin , LaLanne and Lou Ferrigno also speak at his memorial . Lou Ferrigno started the fitness revolution , CNN publisher says . He invented the modern health club and exercise equipment .