Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, often called the Father of Aerobics, developed an exercise system in the late 1960s that revolutionized the exercise habits of America and the whole world. He is the visionary who created the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, Texas, (the mission), and developed a high-energy staff (his team of missionaries) committed to spreading his mission of health and wellbeing worldwide. The Cooper Institute was established to conduct research into the effects of fitness and exercise on a person’s overall wellbeing, and then to transfer that knowledge into educational and other outreach service programs which could be a positive force for health through the world.

This unique memoir is the fascinating story of Dr. Cooper’s mission to help people develop a physically active lifestyle that would have profound implications for their health and wellbeing, and encourage a fuller and longer life. Not intended to be a comprehensive history, it is the story of the process, and of the highly diverse group of fitness and health professionals from different backgrounds and skills who came together to make it happen. The memoir contains the reflections of Dr. Tom Collingwood, Roger Reynolds, and Dr. John Poteet, telling of their personal experiences in the many projects and services they were involved in over their thirty-five years at the Cooper Institute.

Adult fitness exercisers and fitness professionals who are interested in learning more about how helping others to be physically active can translate to a variety of human benefits, this book is for you.

Over the past 50 years the Cooper Institute has published over 700 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of highly respected medical journals. Additionally, the Cooper Institute possesses the largest data base in the world in regards to physical fitness, exercise and well-being.