The Annual American Fitness Index was released today showing whether or not your city is the fittest in the United States, according to USA Today.
Minneapolis-St. Paul, also known as the Twin Cities, took home the top spot once again—for the third year in a row.
The Index was created by researching the 50 biggest cities—by population—in the United States.
The health aficionados who made the index, which was released by the American College of Sports Medicine, looked at a bunch of factors such as exercise, smoking, the accessibility of health care, chronic health issues, and the city’s obesity rate.
Outdoor factors—such as how easy or hard it is to access parks, farmers’ markets, and recreational centers or facilities— were also taken into account.
Walt Thomson is a professor of exercise physiology at Georgia State University and the head of the group that designed the index.
"What Minneapolis has done brilliantly is put their resources where residents can use them effectively to maintain a high level of physical activity,” he said.
According to Thompson, Minneapolis excels in putting up baseball fields, playgrounds for kids, dog parks and golf courses. The city also puts more funding per capita into its park than a number of other cities in the U.S. to the tune of $227 per person.
"We really believe that if people don't have the environment to exercise, they probably won't," Thompson added.
Coming in second on the list was Washington D.C.
The last two spots were taken by Detroit and Oklahoma City (where, due to the devastation of the tornado, fitness is probably the last thing on everyone’s mind as of right now) respectively.
According to Barbara Ainsworth, vice chairwoman of the fitness index and a professor in the school of nutrition and health promotion at Arizona State University, Phoenix, both cities are working to better the fitness situation for their residents.
Thompson advises city officials to implement at least minor changes to help improve the health of their constituents. He suggests having smoking banned from all public places and requiring every kid to participate in some type of physical education until they leave high school.
For more information including the rankings of the 50 cities, click here.
