The Oxford Dictionary of New Words: A popular guide to words in ...

1.5 aerobics
'anyone who bought FNN would have to junk the
programming'.
Barron's 24 Apr. 1989, p. 34
This will probably lead to a growth in what the industry
calls 'advertorial'--a mixture of public relations and
journalism, or editorial with bias.
Sunday Correspondent 22 Apr. 1990, p. 27
aerobics noun (Health and Fitness) (Lifestyle and Leisure)
A form of physical exercise designed to increase fitness by any
maintainable activity that increases oxygen intake and heart
rate.
Etymology: A plural noun on the same model as mathematics or
stylistics, formed on the adjective aerobic ('requiring or using
free oxygen in the air'), which has itself been in use since the
late nineteenth century.
History and Usage: The word was coined by Major Kenneth Cooper
of the US Air Force as the name for a fitness programme
developed in the sixties for US astronauts. In the early
eighties, when fitness became a subject of widespread public
interest, aerobics became the first of a string of fitness
crazes enthusiastically taken up by the media. The fashion for
the aerobics class, at which aerobic exercises were done
rhythmically to music as part of a dance movement called an
aerobics routine, started in California, soon spread to the UK,
Europe, and Australia, and even reached the Soviet Union before
giving way to other exercise programmes such as Callanetics.
Although a plural noun in form, aerobics may take either
singular or plural agreement.
Aerobics have become the latest fitness craze.
Observer 18 July 1982, p. 25