25 Fittest Cities in America

Men's Fitness magazine has published their list of the 25 Fittest Cities in America.  Not to spoil the surprise, I'll start at the bottom of the list. 

25. Pittsburgh, PA
24. Nashville-Davidson, TN
23. Tampa, FL
22. Fresno, CA
21. Atlanta, GA
20. Oakland, CA
19. Sacramento, CA
18. Washington, DC
17. Austin, TX
16. St. Louis, MO
15. Cleveland, OH
14. Boston, MA
13. Tucson, AZ
12. San Francisco, CA
11. Milwaukee, WI
10. Virginia Beach, VA
9. Omaha, NE
8. Seattle, WA
7. Honolulu, HI
6. Portland, OR
5. Albuquerque, NM
4. Denver, CO
3. Minneapolis, MN
2. Colorado Springs, CO

And the number one fittest city, acording to Men's Fitness....  Drum roll please....

1. Salt Lake City, UT  (my home town, btw...)

The reasons they gave in the article for their decision:

• Approximately 29 percent of Salt Lake City residents exercise with dumbbells. That's 123 percent more than average and the highest rate in our survey.
• A whopping 32.8 percent of Salt Lake City residents run or jog — highest in our survey.
• Residents of Salt Lake City are 363 percent more likely than average to play racquetball, the highest rate in our survey.

Only a couple of the top ten mentioned anything about cycling or mountain biking as a reason for their inclusion in the list, but if you compare this list to the top cycling cities, I'm sure you'll see a similarity.  They may not be in the same location, (Bicycling Magazine recently named Minneapolis as the best cycling city) but they are all up there near the top.  I wonder if that is just a coincidence? 

I won't go through the 25 fattest cities, but hitting the bottom of the barrel, is Miami, FL. (which coincidentally has been named as one of the worst cities for cycling by several lists)

Way to go SLC!!!