Editing Aerobics (section)

==History==
{{See also|Aerobic exercise#History|Exercise#History|Fitness culture}}
[[Image:Aqua Aerobics.JPG|thumb|A water aerobics class at an Aquatic Centre]]

Both the term and the specific exercise method were developed by Dr [[Kenneth H. Cooper]], an exercise physiologist, and [[Pauline Potts|Col. Pauline Potts]], a physical therapist, both of the [[United States Air Force]]. Cooper, an exercise enthusiast, was puzzled about why some people with good muscular strength were prone to perform poorly at activities such as long-distance running, swimming, and bicycling. He began using a [[bicycle ergometer]] to measure sustained performance in terms of a person's ability to use oxygen. In 1968, he published ''Aerobics'', which included exercise programs using running, walking, swimming and bicycling. At the time the book was published there was increasing awareness of the need for increased exercise due to widespread weakness and inactivity. Cooper published a mass-market version ''The New Aerobics'' in 1979.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/aerobics-kenneth-cooper-to-receive-harvard-healthy-cup-award/|title="Father of Aerobics" Kenneth Cooper, MD, MPH to receive Healthy Cup Award from Harvard School of Public Health|date=2008-04-16|work=News|access-date=2018-10-08 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.clubindustry.com/forprofits/dr-kenneth-cooper-and-how-he-became-known-father-aerobics|title=Dr. Kenneth Cooper and How He Became Known as the Father of Aerobics|date=2008-09-01|work=Club Industry|access-date=2018-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009052640/https://www.clubindustry.com/forprofits/dr-kenneth-cooper-and-how-he-became-known-father-aerobics|archive-date=2018-10-09|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Aerobic dancing was invented by [[Jacki Sorensen]] in 1969, inspired by Cooper's book. Sorensen began teaching her method and spreading it throughout the U.S. in the hands of hundreds of instructors in the 1970s. At the same time, Judi Missett's [[Jazzercise]] was taking off in the form of dance studio franchises in the U.S.<ref name=Black2020>{{cite book |last=Black |first=Jonathan |date=2020 |title=Making the American Body: The Remarkable Saga of the Men and Women Whose Feats, Feuds, and Passions Shaped Fitness History |pages=111–113 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=9781496209504 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBbaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT111}}</ref> Aerobics gained greater popularity, spreading worldwide after the release of ''[[Jane Fonda's Workout]]'' video in 1982, sparking an industry boom.<ref name=Hendricks2018>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAVnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA526 |page=526 |last=Hendricks |first=Nancy |date=2018 |title=Popular Fads and Crazes Through American History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440851834}}</ref>