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Before yoga was trendy, before New Mexico Sports & Wellness sported 10,000 members, Albuquerque's criminal ranking surpassed its cardio ranking nationwide.

Mayor Martin Chavez remembers a 1993 campaign surrounded by issues such as crime, teen pregnancy, the city's poor economy, teen suicide - with Albuquerque among the country's worst in all those categories.

Meanwhile, the untapped possibilities for a fit city were masked by a lack of promotion, Chavez said recently.

Chavez saw motivated people, a great climate and enough open space for hundreds of bike trails.

Gardenswartz Team Sales, a sporting goods outlet, teamed with Chavez to promote citywide fitness through pamphlets during the campaign he eventually won.

"If people were to hike, they needed to buy hiking boots from somewhere," Chavez said. "It was a start. There was just so much potential."

Even with such potential for the area, an astute clairvoyant likely wouldn't have predicted Albuquerque to become the nation's fittest city, which Men's Fitness Magazine crowned the Duke City in its Feb. 8 issue. Albuquerque, which jumped from last year's No. 13 to this year's top spot, outdistanced No. 2 Seattle, No. 3 Colorado Springs, No. 4 Minneapolis and No. 5 Tucson.

Albuquerqueans can revel in a haven that is said to generate about $10 million annually in fitness-related retail, according to a sports retailer in town.

This is a trend that likely will continue to expand, city observers say.

"As I look at all these people walking and jogging everywhere I go, it's almost as if people are still getting on the bandwagon," said Jay Hart, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department. "Hopefully, it's only just beginning. I work with at least 100 people on a weekly basis, and almost all of them are fit. People are proud of the community, and that translates into people feeling healthy."

Men's Fitness' criteria for the fittest and fattest cities ranged from eating patterns, the availability of parks and recreational activities and how much time people sit in traffic.

Sorry, New York City. Too bad, Los Angeles.

The city's vast amounts of sunshine and dry, sweat-proof air play the largest role in the city's health craze, Chavez and others say.

Why watch "The Simpsons" when The Smiths can hike La Luz as a family?

But fitness originality doesn't stop with an evening jog through the Bosque or a casual bicycle ride.

Through a Web search, The Tribune found 79 fitness or weight-lifting gyms in the Albuquerque metro area of 816,811 people, according to city-data.com.

In contrast, the city of Hartford, Conn., with a population of 1,183,110, has 39 gyms labeled under a similar search.

New Mexico Sports & Wellness, which has five fitness gyms in Albuquerque, carries 10,000 members and partners with 250 local businesses. An average of 3,000 members walk through Sports & Wellness' doors every day, according to the company's media relations department.

"Every gym I've been to in town, it's always packed," Albuquerque resident Tim Skaar said. "And I've been to numerous gyms. Sometimes you're looking at wall-to-wall people with no room. It must be motivated people."

Sometimes it all comes down to aesthetics - the buff bods in the desert are inspired, much like South Beach residents flaunt on the Florida coast.

Personal trainer Oscar Butler, who teaches a cross-training course called Personal High Intensity Training, said people pay him hundreds of dollars to build up their lungs and trim off the fat.

The reason is simple: a Hollywood look necessitated by the Duke City's favorable climate.

"People want to look better, because they probably wear less clothing for more of the year than they would in other parts of the country," said Butler, an upstate New York native who confirms that wearing two coats in those blistering winters isn't sexy.

"On the East Coast, you stay covered up."

Throwing a Frisbee across one of Albuquerque's 235 parks is an opportune time for men to go shirtless or women to wear a bikini top - typical Albuquerque attire during the summer months.

Part of the city's charm is looking good while uniquely sweating off calories.

Take Marc Benjamin, 31, who should probably need a stick of Right Guard handy when he visits Sauce Liquid Lounge in Downtown every Wednesday night.

Salsa night.

Benjamin, sporting a soaked button-down shirt after an hour in the club, sashays across the floor with only his toes touching the ground, hips jerking from left to right, obliques burning and eyes popping as salsa artists, such as Oscar D'Leon, blare from speakers.

All these body parts working together can burn up to 400 calories per hour, Benjamin said.

"You have to take water breaks," Benjamin said. "It arrives at a great consistency for working out. You always sweat."

Visiting one of Albuquerque's 19 salsa venues is a way the city's culture merges with fitness.

Sometimes Benjamin can't sashay because of the elbows he'll catch from the 238 others surrounding the cramped salsa joint.

After being immersed in the salsa community for almost five years, Benjamin estimates the number of diehards is in the thousands.

If 2,000 people lose 800 calories during one two-hour session per week, that's 160,000 instances of Albuquerque's staying fit without gyms or outdoor activities.

"That just shows how popular salsa really is here," Benjamin said.

Dancing isn't the only creative outlet for exercise in town.

Baggy-jeaned teenagers have five skate parks to choose from, with another planned.

New Mexico Xtreme Sports is a non-profit organization that plans skateboard contests and trips to climbing gyms or ski resorts.

If you visit Hinkle Family Fun Center, you might see a friendly competition over the famous Dance Dance Revolution arcade game.

"The city is learning how to utilize what young kids are interested in, which is a big plus," said Duke City fitness guru Clarence Bass, 69, author of the book "Ripped: The Sensible Way to Achieve Ultimate Muscularity."

Bass is slightly older than Albuquerque's large baby-boomer conglomerate, those born between 1946-64. Though most of Bass' senior-citizen peers don't sport his six-pack abs, one of his favorite Albuquerque activities involves the slow pace of a retiree and a little romance.

Bass and his wife of 39 years, Carol, take slow walks through the foothills or the open space of the West Side three or four times a week as the sun sets.

"Walking brings blood to the brain," Bass said.

It's easy enough for just about every Albuquerquean to do. And if you're not staying fit, you might hear from the mayor.