Is NJ lazy when it comes to exercise? It’s complicated

New Jersey just lost a fight no one knew we were in. And somehow we lost it to Delaware.

An Apple Heart & Movement study on how much exercise each state gets ranked us in not the laziest position, but also not the best. But good lord, couldn’t we have done better than Delaware? I mean, Joe Biden is from Delaware. If we can’t beat Joe Biden wearing Lycra in a bike race, then there’s no hope for us.

Read More: New Jersey is healthier than you think

About the study

The study was a collaboration between the American Heart Association and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. It tracked Apple Watch and iPhone data from people across the nation between 2021 and 2024.

Nj.com reports the study looked not only at how many minutes per day of exercise each state gets, but also what their mean VO2 max is. That’s the measurement of the maximum oxygen delivery and utilization for cardiovascular exercises. The higher the better.

Where New Jersey landed is complicated.

We were definitely not in the top 10 for fitness. But we were far better than the bottom half.

In VO2 max, we ranked in 14th place. Ours averaged to 35.60. Could be better, but it could be worse.

As far as which state works out the most with formal exercise? There we tied for 12th place with our average number of minutes per day exercising being 33.90. Time spent exercising was a three-way tie between New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.

Mississippi, always seeming last in good things, was dead last in exercise, getting only 22.90 minutes per day.

District of Columbia gets the most workout minutes daily, with 43.40.

Informal exercise

I would posit that we in New Jersey get more minutes of exercise, just informally. Like running away from seagulls trying to swarm your food. Good cardio despite the frustration of 78 traffic backups. And good anaerobic time physically throwing salesmen off our porches.

As I said, it’s complicated.