"For 50 years, Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH has inspired millions to exercise for good health since the release of his first best-seller Aerobics in 1968. Today Dr. Cooper is revolutionizing health and fitness again—calling on America and the world to Get Cooperized™. As a leading pioneer of preventive medicine, Dr. Cooper challenges everyone to follow these “8 Healthy Steps” to live better both sooner and later: maintain a healthy weight; eat healthy most of the time; exercise most days of the week; take the right supplements for you; stop smoking; control alcohol; manage stress; get a regular, comprehensive physical exam.
Recognized as the leader of the international physical fitness movement and credited with motivating more people to exercise in pursuit of good health than any other person, Dr. Cooper has long advocated moving the field of medicine away from disease treatment to disease prevention. The Cooper philosophy, “It is easier to maintain good health through proper exercise, diet, and emotional balance than to regain it once it is lost,” has been proven valid in scientific research.
A grandfather of five, Dr. Cooper has become passionately involved in the fight against childhood obesity both locally and globally. In Texas, Dr. Cooper was instrumental in getting physical education back in schools through the passage of Senate Bill 530 that requires enhanced PE activity levels and annual physical fitness testing using FITNESSGRAM®. Since then, The Cooper Institute has partnered with NFL Charities PLAY 60 initiative to bring FITNESSGRAM to students in more than 1,000 schools nationwide, created the Healthy Zone School program and established The Perot International Youth Data Repository containing health-related data from children worldwide. Most recently, The Cooper Institute signed a partnership agreement with the Hungarian School Sport Federation to establish a national platform for youth fitness assessment in Hungary. The new fitness test, modeled by FITNESSGRAM®, will be administered in Hungary to approximately 934,000 in 2,500 schools in 2015.
Stretching his international reach, Dr. Cooper has lectured in more than 50 countries. He is most famous in Brazil having trained the 1970 Brazilian soccer team to a World Cup victory. As a result, jogging is translated as “coopering” in Portuguese. In Hungary, the “cooperteszt” is the name of the national fitness test. In China, Dr. Cooper attended the prestigious Boao Forum in April 2013 where he served on a panel alongside the former Prime Minister of Australia and two Nobel Prize Laureates in Medicine. He had numerous interviews with CCTV and Phoenix Television, two widely watched stations in Asia discussing the benefits of preventive medicine."
