Your questions for the "Father of Aerobics"
Kenneth Cooper, M.D., has something like "Rock Star" status at Indiana University Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
A pioneer in preventive health, Cooper's 1968 book Aerobics, not only introduced a new word and fitness concept, but launched millions of people onto a pathway to better health by inspiring them to get moving. The idea of preventing disease rather than just treating it is integral to the decades of research conducted at the Cooper Institute in Dallas -- as well as to the research occurring at HPER, where the prevention component of IU's life sciences efforts is actively underway.
"Dr. Cooper was the first to really encourage active lifestyles as a means of improving health," said Joel Stager, professor in the Department of Kinesiology.
Cooper will give a free, public address on April 4 at 7 p.m. in the Frangipani Room at the Indiana Memorial Union. This address will follow a daylong symposium -- really a celebration -- of HPER research, focusing on obesity, aging well and ways people can live healthier lives. The symposium, geared toward both scholars and lay people, also is open to the public and free.
Active for Life will run a Q&A with Cooper next month featuring questions submitted by our readers. What do you want to know? Your questions can be as general or specific as you choose and can range from medical to the political -- Cooper currently is working to pass legislation in Texas geared toward addressing childhood obesity. For more information about Cooper, please visit these Web sites, http://www.cooperaerobics.com/institute/ and http://www.cooperaerobics.com/default.aspx.
Send your questions for Cooper to traljame@indiana.edu.
Stager is an exercise physiologist and director of HPER's Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming. One of his ongoing research projects looks at the health benefits achieved from an extremely active lifestyle, focusing specifically on Masters swimmers. He and his research team are finding that regular and fairly intensive swimming (roughly 2-3 miles three to five days a week) can substantially delay the decline of such age markers as blood pressure, muscle mass, blood chemistry and pulmonary function.
"The outcomes that we're illustrating, in terms of the health benefits of this active lifestyle, is something that Dr. Cooper has been preaching for 40 years," Stager said.
For more information about the symposium or public address, contact Debra Kent at dskent@indiana.edu and 812-855-3686.
When submitting a question for Dr. Cooper to traljame@indiana.edu, please include your name, hometown and occupation -- or preoccupation (runner, golfer, regular walker).
