«We do not stop exercising because we grow old – we grow old because we stop exercising.» Dr Kenneth Cooper – Editorial 4/2019

Abstract

In 1968, Air Force Colonel Cooper wrote his first bestselling book, Aerobics, and sparked a fitness revolution. The general public got an idea of the multiple benefits of physical activity and exercise to improve or recover health and function. He developed his knowledge and training principles in the military, aiming to help soldiers stay fit and healthy. This led to the development of a fitness test most of us remember only too well: the 12-minute Cooper test. In 1970, retiring from the military, he founded the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, which has hosted an Institute responsible for much of the research we have on the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and health outcomes, through the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Studies. These were pursued under the leadership of Pr Steven Blair [1] and became the largest ongoing observational study on fitness and health, with countless publications on more than 112’000 subjects.