2018 American Fitness Index — we’re 72!

was Gilbert (#93). Our five other cities included #58 Glendale, #61 Scottsdale, #72 Phoenix, #76 Chandler, and #81 Mesa.

Like any ranking results, it’s tempting to love them if you rank high and to discredit them if you rank low. That’s not a good way to look at these scores though. What these numbers should do is to get us to think about what we want our cities to look like as we grow. This hits home for us in Arizona because Phoenix and Buckeye recently got Census Bureau recognition for being among the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. We should want to live in a healthy city and we should prioritize health and physical fitness to make that happen.

Consider Arlington, Virginia, which now ranks #1. Arlington ranks high (in part) because it has an impressive rate of parks per 10,000 residents. More parks means more opportunities for physical activity.

This is doubly impressive when you consider that the cost of real estate there is much higher than for us on average here in the Valley. We need to ensure that our current building boom (which is heavy on “luxury” apartments) includes allocation of land for safe recreation.

Another highly-ranked city on the ACSM’s list is Washington, DC which now ranks #3. I used to live in DC and my gym back there (VIDA Fitness) is not happy about being knocked down from #1 - a spot held for three consecutive years.

VIDA partnered with Washington’s Parks and Recreation department to “Take Back #1” and has co-sponsored health expos, free workouts, and nutrition classes to re-claim the title. While we wait for the 2019 results to come in, we should note that friendly competition between cities can have health-improving outcomes.

So how about it Phoenix? “We’re 72!” does not have a good ring to it but we have to start somewhere. How about trying for #50 next year? That spot is currently occupied by none other than Los Angeles, California.

Can we at least be healthier than L.A.? We can if we learn from other cities. We can start biking or walking to work (it’s not like it’s going to rain), we can cut our consumption of tobacco products (a lot of which is smuggled into the state), and we can eat more fruits and vegetables (many of which are grown right here in Arizona). Even getting more sleep and addressing our mental health problems would boost our ranking.

The ACSM’s American Fitness Index (co-sponsored by the Anthem Foundation) can be downloaded for free at www.acsm.org Get your copy today and learn more about how Arizona cities can be healthier places to live.