Ruckus: Coming to a Fit (and Fat) City Near You!

Do you live in a fit city? In recent years, a lot of focus has been placed on Americans’ waistlines. The main reason being that obesity dramatically affects a person’s overall health while increasing their chances of developing life threatening diseases like diabetes. Many attribute American’s weight gain to a sedentary lifestyle and love of fast-food.

Men’s Fitness magazine recently compiled a list of 25 of the fittest and fattest cities in the nation. Each list was based on a multitude of factors. The research yielded some interesting factors into what makes a “fat city”. Take, for example, #1 on the list—Houston. Thirty-four percent of its residence is overweight. That number becomes less shocking when you see the factors as to why:

• The city lacks a comprehensive mass transit system that inherently adds more movement to a person’s day. It should also be noted that mass transit correlates to cleaner, more breathable air.
• The city has over 1,034 fast-food restaurants (the most in the country).
• Lastly, Houston’s environment plays a big role.  On average, the city experiences over 100 days of 90 degree plus temperatures along with relative humidity. That makes a workout in outdoors feel like a workout in a sauna.  Because of this, few make the effort to go out and be active.

When you look at the rest of the city on the “fat list”, it’s easy to see patterns like high number of fast-food restaurants, lack of mass transit and high use of cigarettes and alcohol. When combined with sedentary lifestyles, a recipe of self-destruction is born.

But what makes a fit city?

The obvious indicators are active citizens and an active culture. Upcoming Ruckus city, Boston, rounds out the top 5 fittest cities in America. Bostonians spend 92% less than the national average on fast-food. Boston also has an engaged mass transit system and active culture that keeps its residence on the move.

So does that mean that all of our Ruckus cities are “fit cities”? Not necessarily.

We are looking to help change the way America works out—in both the “fit” and “fat” cities.  We made sure to schedule Ruckus mud runs in a variety of cities—from the East to West coasts and all areas in between no matter “fit” or “fat” they may be.  As a matter of fact, three Ruckus cities are on the “fat” list (#20 Atlanta, #22 Kansas City, #23 St. Louis). Our goal here at Ruckus is to motivate communities by stimulating an active culture and showing how fun exercise can be! Just because these cities are on the fat list now doesn’t mean they’ll stay on the fat list forever! Bringing Ruckus to a city is the first step in the right direction! 

What cities should Ruckus come to next? Leave a comment!