How to get fit with minimum time and effort
如何高效率又轻松的锻炼健身
On paper, it seems like a no-brainer – exercise regularly and we can look better, feel stronger and live longer.
有规律的体育锻炼会让我们精力充沛、精神抖擞、健康长寿，这似乎已经成了不争的事实。
In reality, it’s hard for many of us to muster the motivation to see it through. We may start the year with good intentions, only to find that our determination has mysteriously evaporated a few weeks later. And even if we do put in the hard work, we may not be able to see any tangible benefits, leaving us with the nagging doubt that we’ve been wasting our time with a bad regime.
但是在现实中，却很少有人能把运动健身长期坚持下去。开始时，我们在良好意愿的推动下投入健身，但在短短几周过后，当初的动力就逐渐消磨下去。即便有人努力坚持健身，但却有可能很长时间都看不到明显的成效，这就让人不由得怀疑，我们是否在一件无谓的事情上浪费时间。
While there’s no easy way to build a healthier body, science can offer some answers, revealing which strategies will bring out the best results with the least amount of effort. Here are some answers to your more pressing questions.
尽管打造一个健康的身体绝非易事，但是科学家已经告诉我们，采取哪些健身方式能在最短时间内取得最佳成效。以下就是一些关于健身的问答：
DO I NEED TO STRETCH BEFORE I EXERCISE?
我在正式健身前是否应当做拉伸运动？
A quick pre-workout stretch certainly won’t do you any harm, but the evidence suggests it’s probably not that useful either. Three large, randomised trials all show that it won’t reduce your risk of strain or injury. Nor does it reduce the tender soreness you may feel the next morning. If you want to make the most of your time, you'd do better to start and end your session with some light aerobic exercise, which will warm up the muscles and burn some calories at the same time.
快速的热身拉伸运动不会对你造成任何伤害，但是有证据表明，拉伸动作的必要性可能也没那么高。有三次大规模随机试验都证明，拉伸运动既不会降低你遭到肌肉拉伤或损伤的风险，也不会减轻你第二天早晨的肌肉酸痛感。要是想在有限时间里取得最大的健身成效，最好在正式锻炼之前和结束后分别做一套有氧健身操，这会在给肌肉预热的同时消耗掉不少卡路里。
ARE WEIGHTS JUST FOR ATHLETES AND BODY-BUILDERS?
只有专业运动员和健美爱好者才有必要进行负重锻炼吗？
No. Although regular cardiovascular exercise is important, weight training can bring you many benefits that are not just aesthetic. Muscle can regulate your levels of insulin and blood sugar, helping you to fight type 2 diabetes, improving your overall cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of cancer.
不是这样。尽管有规律的心脑血管锻炼很重要，但是负重练习不仅能改善身体线条，还会带来许多额外益处。肌肉能够调节胰岛素和血糖，帮你抵御二型糖尿病，整体提升心脑血管健康水平，并降低患癌风险。
Bulking up may be particularly important for the elderly, who are at a high risk of losing muscle and bone mass, with studies showing that regular resistance training may improve mobility and help to prevent issues like lower back pain and osteoporosis.
对于肌肉和骨骼成分不断流失的老年人，维持肌肉体积则更为重要。有研究表明，长期的力量练习能够提高人体运动机能，并有助于预防腰背部疼痛和骨质疏松症等健康问题。
WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I USE?
我应该吃哪些食品补充健身中的能量损耗？
Health food shops are full of post-workout shakes to help your muscles recover from exertion, but a cheaper alternative may be plain old chocolate milk. It contains the perfect four-to-one ratio of carbs to protein, which helps rebuild the workout tissue, and also helps replace the electrolytes, like sodium, that are necessary for muscle contraction and which are depleted during exercise, causing cramps. And it’s tasty.
健康食品商店里面堆满了能帮你消除肌肉疲劳的运动奶昔。但是你也可以尝尝它的廉价替代品——普通巧克力奶。巧克力奶的糖类和蛋白质之比是完美的四比一，它能够修复疲劳组织，补充钠等肌肉收缩所必需的电解质。电解质会在锻炼过程中不断损失，从而导致肌肉抽筋现象。另外，巧克力奶的味道也非常不错。
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ‘HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING’?
高强度训练是什么概念？
If spending most your free time in the gym doesn’t appeal, High-Intensity Training (Hit) involves short bursts of intense exercise, amounting to only a few minutes a session. The approach does not work for everyone – there’s evidence that around 20% of people find no benefit, while 15% will make huge strides, bringing many of the same benefits as hours of conventional workouts, including improved aerobic fitness and improved insulin sensitivity. This may be due to genetic differences in the ways our cells respond to strain.
要是花费大量时间锻炼仍然不见效果，那么可以试试高强度训练——每次仅持续一两分钟的爆发力锻炼。并非每人都适合高强度训练——有证据显示，高强度训练对20%的人没有效果，而对另外15%的人，短短几分钟的高强度训练则会如同好几个小时的普通训练一样产生极为显著的成效 – 包括明显的瘦身效果和更高的胰岛素敏感性。出现这种差异的原因可能在于不同个体在细胞压力反应上存在的基因差异。
WCIS speaker Michael Mosley put the idea to the test in an article for BBC News, attempting just a few minutes of Hit a week for four weeks. The regime involved warming up on an exercise bike for a couple of minutes, and then going full throttle for 20 seconds. He then repeated the cycle once more before finishing his exercise for the week.
为了给BBC新闻频道撰写一篇文章，“改变世界创想峰会”发言人迈克尔·莫斯利（Michael Mosley）亲自做了一个实验：连续四星期每星期只花几分钟进行骑车锻炼。他首先慢速热身两分钟，然后使出全身力气猛骑20秒。把这一过程再重复一次，就完成了这周的所有锻炼。
In another (slightly more arduous) experiment, participants trying 15 minutes of Hit a week found a 16% drop in their blood pressure and a 17% increase in the amount of oxygen in their blood – a measure of how well their heart and lungs are functioning.
另外还有一项锻炼时间稍长一些的实验。实验结果表明：每周进行15分钟高强度锻炼的参与者的血压下降了16%，血氧含量则提高了17%，这意味着他们的心肺功能得到了极大增强。
Clearly, Hit isn’t for everyone, and you would should consult a doctor if you are unused to strenuous exercise, or on medication, but it may be a good alternative for people struggling to slot gym trips into their already packed schedule.
很明显，高强度锻炼不适合每一个人。要是你以前没有做过这种锻炼或者正在服药，最好先征求一下医生的意见。但对于那些公务繁忙到连去健身房的时间都腾不出来的忙碌一族，这无疑是一个福音。
来源：好英语网
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