How Fit is America?

Posted July 4, 2008 at 04:00 PM by Donnell Peavy

Section: In The News, His Health, Physical Health, Lifestyle Health

Here is an out of the box idea for people who lack the motivation to exercise or need to exercise more – pick a sport you enjoy and engage in it several times per week. The percentage of Americans who engage in regular exercise activity is already ridiculously low at a mere 15%, but the portion who engaged in sports activities such as dancing, basketball, baseball and golf reported longer durations of exercise than those who did the usual gym routines such as lifting weights, using cardio machines and even yoga. Education also seems to play a role, as it was shown that people possessing some sort of college degree were more than twice as likely to exercise than those with a high school diploma or less.

Perhaps what’s even more alarming is that the fifth of the population that works out is not evenly distributed throughout the country. An article posted in the USA Today earlier this year discussed the nation’s fittest and fattest cities. According to the study, sin city – Las Vegas – is the fattest city in the nation…for the second year in a row. The fittest city is Colorado Springs, being the home of the Olympic training facility and several military bases. The city boasts more health food stores per capita than any other city in America. If you want to find out how fit your city is or isn’t, check out the entire listing.