SIERRA VISTA — Exercise enthusiasts have something to celebrate this year.

In March 1968, the book “Aerobics” by Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper was published. It was a seminal work that earned Cooper the nickname “Father of Aerobics.”

The word “aerobics” does not refer only to dancing in leg warmers and leotards to jazzy, upbeat music.

Janet Bowden, owner of Curves in Sierra Vista and certified Cooper Institute aerobics instructor, said aerobics is any kind of exercise that elevates the heart rate.

Janet Bowden, left, owner of Curves fitness center, leads the way in aerobics with Terry Klaassen, center, and Sally Glidden. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the publishing of Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper’s book, “Aerobics”. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)

“Anything can be aerobics,” she said. “Walking could be aerobics.”

Bowden said she remembers the early aerobics fad when she began doing Jazzercise in the 1970s.

Since then, exercising has evolved into a national trend, with gyms plopped all over cities and almost everyone carrying a health club membership.

Mike Strange, owner of Summit Fitness Center in Sierra Vista, has discontinued using the word aerobics within his gym. Instead, he uses the phrase “group fitness.”

“The term ‘aerobics’ is an old-fashioned term you won’t see in many gyms,” Strange said. “Most people think aerobics is dead, at least aerobics like the Jane Fonda leotard deal. That’s an image that the industry kind of thinks is past. You won’t find leotards in this business anymore.”

With the rise in the fitness craze also came the growing amounts of fast-food restaurants, longer hours at the office, and a constantly developing technology that tends to keep people sedentary.

But there are many in the world who see thinness as the ideal and equate being skinny with being physically fit, which isn’t always the case.

“Starting is the hardest part,” Bowden said. “A lot of people don’t want to go to the gym because of vanity. Everyone who walks in the door leaves with more energy. If you keep the focus on the health and not the look, you have changes that supersede everything.”

Group workouts aren’t just dancing women in front of mirrors anymore either. Activities in a gym can range from step classes to spinning to cardio kickboxing and even yoga.

It’s all about making people feel comfortable enough to exercise.

What Cooper envisioned when writing his book was a way to educate people about types of exercise, duration, and healthy levels of exertion to live a healthy lifestyle and increase the life span.

It all came about when he was 29 and thought he was having a heart attack while water skiing. No one had really researched exercise before, so he decided to do it himself.

After opening The Cooper Institute in 1970 in Dallas, there have been more than 600 articles released about the positive impact of physical activity on a person’s life.

Now Cooper has started focusing his attention on young children and the rise of obesity and type II diabetes.

Sally Glidden, one of the aerobics instructors at Curves, said she has become especially concerned about future generations after noticing the high amounts of lethargy in her own children.

“Obesity is at its height,” she said. “Especially in small kids.”

Over the last 40 years, aerobics has evolved from advocating becoming physically fit to an emphasis on health. This is part of the atmosphere Bowden tries to create at Curves, while also making it a safe haven for women.

As Strange sees it, women enjoy exercising in packs more than men do, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find men in the group fitness classes at Summit Fitness.

“Women are more social than men, and that’s just a cultural fact,” Strange said. “Women like to do things with their friends. We see men, but (the classes are) 90 percent female, depending on the class.”

Even Strange himself remembers the beginning of the aerobics fad, since he used to work out to his own aerobics video about 30 years ago.

“I actually just found it the other day,” he said. “It’s the original Jane Fonda workout tape.”

HERALD/REVIEW reporter Liz Manring can be reached at 515-4682 or by e-mail at liz.manring@svherald.com.