Toledo 81st out of 100 on Fitness Index

Toledo, Ohio.

It's time to have a talk, Toledo. We just ranked 81st out of of the 100 largest U.S. cities in the 2026 in the American Fitness Index. Yikes!

I was honestly surprised when I read this from the Toledo Blade, August 2, 2026. We have an amazing Metroparks system, we're right on Lake Erie, and a pretty large network of YMCAs and community fitness programs. What the heck is going on?

Drilling into the data reveals even more. As Amezquita reports:

The city placed 41st in community and environmental factors, which measure access to parks and recreational facilities, but fell to 94th in personal health, a category that includes physical activity, chronic disease, smoking, nutrition, and sleep.

In other words, infrastructure is not the problem. We got the spaces and places to exercise.

The article emphasizes make better personal choices to improve our health and fitness. Basically, we need to start exercises, get to our routine health screenings, stop smoking, eat better and prioritize sleep. Which, sure, we all need to do, but I'm going to call out an elephant in the room:

Oppression

Being kept from health isn't always about physical barriers or lack of access. It is also how systemic oppression creates such high levels of stress, anxiety/depression, and negative self-beliefs that trying (and keep up with) exercise feels not only impossible, but maybe even frivolous.

Oppression creates statements and beliefs like:

• I'm not fit enough to start.

• It is more important to prioritize time (with my kids, at my job, etc.)

• I need to lose weight first

• Everyone will laugh at me and stare

• I can't afford to workout

• I'll never feel better

• I'm too busy

Exercising takes time and bandwidth to focus on yourself, and when you feel like you are constantly in an emergency it gets cut off the list. Physical inactivity is a symptom of oppression. It is also a way to keep systems of power in place through marginalization. If we're sick and weak, we're not effective at fighting back, you know?

Toledo is a diverse, working class city. I love it deeply, but we have we have increasingly high rates of poverty. Like many other large-ish post-industrial city, we also struggle with gentrification, racial and gender violence, and public education crises. Currently, our homeless shelters are full, and first time homelessness is up 50%. So, while we also have green spaces, recreation areas, parks, community programs and resources, we are also living in persistent social and economic stress and violence.

So, how do we respond?

Public health messaging and education campaigns about exercise are important, but they aren't highly effective. Rather than listing all the things we "should do" and chastising ourselves for bad choices, I think we should reframe exercise as social justice.

In many ways, we've been living in what children's book author called "The Emergency"

in The Mysterious Benedict Society. "The Emergency" is a widespread, vague global crisis causing mass panic, anxiety, and societal breakdown. It is later revealed to be an artificial, manufactured panic created by the villain Dr. Curtain using a mind-controlling broadcast machine called the Whisperer. In other words, there was no real "emergency," rather the villain manufactures social inequality, panic, and anxiety in order to control the population.

Image from The Mysterious Benedict Society TV series, based on the book by Trenton Lee Stewart.

The effects of living in constant social and economic stress is real. So, we need real, valuable, and achievable reasons to turn our attention from "the emergency" for a moment and towards ourselves. We know we should, but have to feel like we can.

Here are some ideas to help start reframing exercise.

• Each workout is taking back control.

• Taking time to exercise is saying "no" to the constant emergency you are put in.

• I have the right to take up space, to be here, in this class/gym.

• I'm starting exactly where I need to

• Each new "win" or "personal record" is a reaffirmation that you are capable of doing hard things

Honestly, if you keep up with consistent exercise for a few weeks, most people start reporting they feel more capable, clearer, and confident. Pay close attention to your body during this time and feel everything. It might feel easier to face the existential dread of the morning, or you might find you have enough energy to attend that voting rights event. The point is....you'll start to feel like you can do life.

We need to create a culture that believes everyone can and should enjoy exercise. It's not a privilege, exercise is a body necessity, something we are all entitled to have. When only certain people feel they can exercise, marginalization is happening through lack of exercise. Toledo, we have the resources and access, now we have to believe that we deserve it and claim it.