Kenneth H. Cooper (born March 4, 1931, Oklahoma City)[1] is a doctor of medicine and former Air Force lieutenant colonel from Oklahoma, who pioneered the benefits of doing aerobic exercise for maintaining and improving health.[2][3] In 1966 he coined the term, and his book Aerobics was published in 1968,[4][5] which emphasized a point system for improving the cardiovascular system. The popular mass market version was The New Aerobics (ISBN 0-553-26874-0), published ten years later.

Career

A native of Oklahoma City, Cooper completed a 13-year military career in both the army and air force. During his Air Force career, he devised the simple Cooper test, which could conveniently and quickly establish the fitness level of large numbers of people. Originally the distance run in 12 minutes, it correlated well with the existing concept of VO2 max. Cooper left the Air Force in 1970, when he and his wife, Millie, moved to Dallas to start his companies.

Cooper is the founder of the non-profit research and education organization, The Cooper Institute, which was opened in 1970. Cooper is also the founder of and Chairman at the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas and McKinney, Texas, which comprises eight health and wellness entities.[6]

Cooper received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1986.[7]

Cooper developed the Smart Snack Ribbon guidelines in 2003 for the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo.[8]

Cooper has published 19 books that have sold 30 million copies and been translated into 41 languages. Cooper encouraged millions to become active and helped to launch modern fitness culture. He is known as the "father of aerobics".[9][10]

He and his wife are parents of a son and daughter. Cooper has written about the importance of Christian religious faith in his life.[11][12]

He graduated from the University of Oklahoma (BS, MD) and the Harvard School of Public Health (MPH).

Ideas on exercise and training effect

Cooper studied the effect of exercise in the late 1960s and popularized the term "training effect"[13] although that term had been used before.[14][15] The measured effects were that muscles of respiration were strengthened, the heart was strengthened, blood pressure was sometimes lowered and the total amount of blood and number of red blood cells increased, making the blood a more efficient carrier of oxygen. VO2 Max was increased.[citation needed] He published his ideas in a book, Aerobics in 1968.

The exercise necessary can be accomplished by any aerobic exercise in a wide variety of schedules - Cooper found it best to award "points" for each amount of exercise[16] and require 30 points a week to maintain the Training Effect.[citation needed]

Cooper instead recommended a "12-minute test" (the Cooper test) followed by adherence to the appropriate starting-up schedule in his book. As always, he recommends that a physical exam should precede any exercise program.

The physiological effects of training have received much further study since Cooper's original work. It is now generally considered that effects of exercise on general metabolic rate (post-exercise) are comparatively small and the greatest effect occurs for only a few hours. Though endurance training does increase the VO2 max of many people, there is considerable variation in the degree to which it increases VO2 max between individuals.[17]

See also

Citations

  1. ^ "Kenneth Cooper, MD, MPH". Cooper Aerobics Center. Born March 4, 1931, in Oklahoma City
  2. ^ David Levinson, Karen Christensen MacKey (1999). Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present. Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-195-13195-6.
  3. ^ Duncan, Joyce (2004). Sport in American culture: from Ali to X-games. ABC-CLIO. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-57607-024-6.
  4. ^ Netburn, Deborah (30 March 2009). "Dr. Kenneth Cooper got a nation moving through aerobics. More than 40 years ago, his book touted a new type of exercise". latimes.com. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  5. ^ Cooper, Kenneth H. (January 1969) [1968]. Aerobics. Vol. 14490 (revised ed.). Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-14490-1.
  6. ^ Louie, Elaine (12 July 1995). "At Work With: Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper; The Fit Commandment". nytimes.com. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  8. ^ "Snacking Now Made Easier with Frito-Lay's New Smart Snack Ribbon Label". August 5, 2003. Archived from the original on 2010-01-13.
  9. ^ ""Father of Aerobics" Kenneth Cooper, MD, MPH to receive Healthy Cup Award from Harvard School of Public Health". News. April 16, 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  10. ^ "Dr. Kenneth Cooper and How He Became Known as the Father of Aerobics". Club Industry. September 1, 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Faith and Fitness Magazine Interviews the Father of Aerobics: Does Faith Based Fitness Make Sense Today". churchfitness.com. September 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  12. ^ James MacKey (2009). A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Personal Healing: A Mind, Body, Spirit Approach. iUniverse. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-595-45595-9.
  13. ^ Cooper, K. (1985). The aerobics program for total well-being: Exercise, diet, and emotional balance. Bantam.[page needed][dubious – discuss]
  14. ^ (U.S.), National College Physical Education Association for Men (1959). Proceedings [of The] Annual Meeting. Office of Publications Services, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle.
  15. ^ Perceptual and Motor Skills. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1959.
  16. ^ Cooper, Kenneth H. (1981). Aerobics. ISBN 978-0-553-20992-1.[page needed]
  17. ^ Bouchard, Claude; An, Ping; Rice, Treva; Skinner, James S.; Wilmore, Jack H.; Gagnon, Jacques; Pérusse, Louis; Leon, Arthur S.; Rao, D. C. (September 1999). "Familial aggregation of V̇O2max response to exercise training: results from the HERITAGE Family Study". Journal of Applied Physiology. 87 (3): 1003–8. doi:10.1152/jappl.1999.87.3.1003. PMID 10484570.

References

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