The American College of Sports Medicine has tallied the statistics to rank 15 of America's largest metropolitan cities. Which cities were deemed the fittest? Which fell at the bottom, and why?

The goal of the fitness index is to give a quick glimpse of the health status of America's metropolitan areas. Ultimately the ACSM hopes to help cities achieve a higher level of physical activity and healthy eating habits. The reports about each city include strategies for improvement. The top five cities were:

• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Boston, MA
• Washington D.C.
• Atlanta, GA

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Fitzness Fiends is a section devoted to you, the reader! We all have learned so much on our path to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! Fitzness Fiends are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect, some are not. All have health on the mind. Please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Lauren Rinck

Age: 23

Occupation: Consumer Product Sales Representative for Hormel Foods

How often do you exercise? Every day.

What type of exercise do you do? Road Biking, Running, Cardio, Circuit Training, Spinning, Swimming

What gets you to workout, even when you're feeling lazy? Exercising and fitness is just something that is a priority for me, something I look forward to. I love how I feel afterward as well! I can see results as I continue to place emphasis on working out. My ultimate goal is to race in an Iron Man, so I continually strive to push myself in that direction.

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Gotta love top 10 lists, right? Even if they're on gross topics, like which American city could fill an Olympic sized swimming pool with sweat in less than three hours? Well here's a list that couldn't be more appropriate for the height of summer: the top 10 sweatiest cities in America (and yes, #1 can fill the pool -- yuck!).

1) Phoenix, AZ
2) Las Vegas, NV
3) Tucson, AZ
4) Dallas, TX
5) Corpus Christi, TX
6) San Antonio, TX
7) Austin, TX
8) Shreveport, LA
9) Houston, TX
10) Waco, TX

An Arizona city may have the #1 spot, but looking at this list Texas is the sweatiest state by far!



Via Gadling

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With all of life's many distractions -- especially at this festive time of year -- if your workout isn't fun, it's likely to get pushed aside for something more engaging. Whether you're in a rut after years of working out, or still haven't found an entertaining fitness outlet, the solution to your problem could be as simple as a little motivated movin' and shakin'.

At least that's what worked for Sophia Dembling, a Dallas writer and long-timer exercise enthusiast who had become bored with her tired old fitness routine. By picking up a DVD full of short, well-taught dance routines, and taking a 10 minute boogie breaks "whenever the mood strikes her," Dembling has found a way to bring fun back into her daily exercise.

How do you keep your fitness routine interesting?

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