Health and fitness have been priorities for Troy Aikman since he retired. His playing career was tough, and it took a toll on the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback’s health. His connection with the fitness and wellness industry goes back more than a decade. In 2014, the Cowboys legend partnered with IDLife, becoming an official spokesperson for the nutritional supplement company.

The partnership gave Aikman an early opportunity to use his reputation as an elite athlete to promote a business centered around nutrition and healthier living. More than a decade later, Aikman’s interest in the industry has continued to evolve. What began with representing a nutritional brand has gradually become a larger part of his post-football business interests, particularly as he has remained focused on health and fitness.

Now, the Hall of Fame quarterback is taking that involvement a step further. Aikman now co-owns Qualia Life Sciences, a wellness company that manufactures supplements for healthy aging, sleep, and cognition. The company announced the news on its Instagram page.

“I didn’t just become a Qualia endorser,” Aikman says on the official website of the company. “I became a Qualia co-owner. It works that well for me.”

Qualia believes that unlike other supplement companies that target particular symptoms, their products instead target all the contributing physiological systems. MMA fighter Gray Maynard and former MMA Champion Forrest McKenzie are other athletes who have been loyal to Qualia for their health.

This marks Aikman’s latest venture in the industry after partnering with IDLife in 2014. The Cowboys legend kept that ball rolling in 2021 in partnership with Taos Bakes, a snack company focused on wholesome ingredients. Aikman was drawn to the brand because of its focus on making healthier snacks without giving up taste. Even Erin Andrews has campaigned for the company.

Aikman played during a time when football was still very physical. He was noted to have 11 concussions in his 10-year-long career. He suffered a serious one in the 1993 NFC Championship, and the hit was hard enough to wipe his memory clean of that game. He has no recollections of it even today. He ultimately had to retire in 1994, plagued with back problems after a weightlifting accident that caused a herniated disk in his lower back.

“It was hard to come back and feel great for the next game,” Aikman told Muscle and Fitness. “That’s what’s been so impressive to me with Tom Brady (who was able to resume his career after a season-ending injury), to be able to come back and do it again the next week. That’s a challenge.”

After retiring from the NFL, Aikman continued to stay active and exercise regularly. In his 2021 GQ interview with Clay Skipper, he said how duing COVID-19 quarantine, he decided to take his fitness even more seriously.

“When you say you’re in the best shape of your life, usually what that means is that you’re old,” Aikman said. “You don’t hear 20-year-olds saying, ‘I’m in the best shape of my life!’ But I feel really good. I think it’s as healthy as I’ve ever been, physically, mentally and emotionally.”

Aikman told Front Office Sports in 2025 that he has been interested in health, wellness, and biohacking for five years now. He continues to stay fit with exercise, focuses on hydration, and also does hyperbaric therapy, sauna, cold plunges, and even red light therapy. He pairs all of that with intermittent fasting and hot yoga.

In July this year, he successfully did barbell squats for the first time since his back injury. The former Dallas quarterback also prioritizes his mental health now.

“I had my family and I got two amazing girls. But there was something that just was always kind of nagging at me and I don’t know what it was,” he told Dallas Innovates. “And I just felt like, ‘Why am I not more content and happier?’ I wasn’t miserable or anything like that, but it was just this overriding feeling that I would have.

“And so, meditation–I thought, well, maybe this is the answer. So I got into meditation and it’s been really, really good for me and I’ve learned a lot.”

Aikman added that had he practiced meditation during his playing career, he would have been a “better teammate.”

Now that he is a co-owner of a wellness company, he is all set to bring in more positive changes.