America's 10 Most Sluggish Cities

America's 10 Most Sluggish Cities
No. 1 : Oklahoma City, OK

David Whelan (From Forbes.com) The most sluggish city in the U.S. has many dubious distinctions: one-third as much park land as most cities; an obesity rate four points above the average; half as many baseball diamonds, rec centers and dog parks as a typical city.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett is used to people saying he's from an obese city. "I'm not saying we shouldn't be last," he says. "There are issues here that are real that we're not running away from. We have an obesity problem." In Oklahoma City almost one in three people weighs in as obese, and the diabetes rate is a sky-high 10.5%. The city lacks farmers' markets, and virtually everyone drives to work.

But Mayor Cornett thinks the city gets unduly penalized because of technicalities in how the rankings are computed. Because the city doesn't run the schools, it can't classify school playgrounds as city-owned parks, as some other metro areas do.

Cornett is working hard to improve the city's ranking. Two years ago the city launched a website, called ThisCityIsGoingOnADiet.com, where 41,000 people have logged on to record how much weight they have lost. The city has made it halfway to its goal of dropping 1 million pounds. Cornett say he personally dropped 38 pounds.

The city only has about half as many parks, tennis courts, swimming pools and recreation centers per capita as a typical city, but is trying to reverse the tide. A recent bond issue, Cornett says, will pay for gymnasiums inside urban schools, 53 miles of bike trails, 450 miles of new sidewalks, a 77-acre city park and a plan to make 180 acres of downtown into a pedestrian mall.

"It is not OK for anyone to be obese," Cornett says. "There needs to be a cultural shift."

Some cities, especially in the South and Midwest, have far more than their share of out-of-shape residents. At least that is what the American College of Sports Medicine's annual fitness index found when it ranked the 50 largest metropolitan areas on a 100-point fitness scale that combines 30 indicators, including acres of park land, death rate from cardiovascular disease, obesity rate and the percentage of residents who bicycle or walk to work. Here are the 10 cities that scored the lowest.

(Click here to view Forbes.com "Top 10 Sluggish Cities" slideshow)

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Fitness in America
In Depth: America's 10 Fittest Cities

David Whelan (From Forbes.com)

Washington, D.C. Tops an Annual Ranking of Which Cities are in the Best Shape

Not all cities are equal from a fitness standpoint. In some big cities one in three people are obese; in others it's only one in five. In some cities there is one baseball diamond for every 10,000 people; in others there are five times as many ball fields.

So says this year's American Fitness Index report, published by the American College of Sports Medicine. It takes the biggest 50 metropolitan areas and ranks them by fitness levels. The top city on the list, now for three years running, is Washington, D.C. The least fit is Oklahoma City, Okla.

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