MORAN ? It?s what you?d expect in a small gym. Treadmills. Squat rack. Elliptical machine.
But 54 Fitness, located in the 500-person town of Moran, still holds remnants of the building?s previous lives. Tile flooring. Booth seating. A washroom designed for rinsing off grease, not sweat.
Before becoming the town?s fitness center, the gym was a steakhouse. And before that, a gas station.
?There was a lot of grease dirt that had to be lifted up out of the tile,? said Larry Ross, a retired conformance lab manager who helped with the conversion. ?We literally scrubbed each one of these tiles a dozen times.?
Despite the open land and escape from congested cities and suburbs, Kansans living in remote parts of the state often exercise less than city folk. Sidewalks are rare. Driving is more common than walking. And there?s a distinct lack of fitness centers.
Small towns often lack the money for large recreational centers. Or have enough gym rats to tempt a private owner to open up shop.
At least one consequence: higher rates of obesity and other diseases linked to inactivity.
That?s left some communities experimenting with creative, and relatively cheap, ways to help people burn calories.
Farming is becoming increasingly mechanized, even robotized. That?s meant less physical strain on farmers, but also larger waistlines as the job becomes more sedentary.
Those living in small towns aren?t getting much cardio in either. They are less likely to spend any of their off hours exercising compared to those living in cities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rural Kansans are also more likely to live farther away from parks and recreational facilities.
One fix suggested by the CDC includes building more workout centers.
?Even if you want to be physically active in rural areas,? said Geoffrey Whitfield, an epidemiologist with the CDC?s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, ?you might not have the ability to do so because the facilities just don?t exist.?
Rural Kansans run a greater risk of obesity, diabetes and dying from heart disease.
While exercise has been linked to reducing the risk for all those factors, getting a gym to move into ? or stay open ? in a rural town is challenging.
Small, urban and specialized fitness studios have grown in popularity ? think hip-hop yoga and swimming pool spin classes. But small, rural gyms lack the membership numbers needed to pay the rent.
