在疫情期间人们开始关注健身

It took the spread of a deadly disease across our planet for me to start taking my personal health more seriously.

直到一种致命的疾病在地球上蔓延，我才开始认真对待我的个人健康问题。

And while I set out to strengthen by body, I ultimately ended up more so strengthening my mind.

当我开始加强锻炼时，最终我的意志力也得到了强化。

I hadn’t exercised for its own sake for two decades until I saw my muscles shrivel and my previously straight posture curl into itself like a question mark in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown.

我已经有20年没有锻炼了，直到我看到自己的肌肉萎缩，在疫情初期开始封城的时候，之前笔直的身体就像问号一样卷曲起来。

What started with a pair of dumbbells has grown into a full-fledged home gym, equipped with a variety of barbells, kettle bells, resistance bands and a doorway pull-up bar.

从一对哑铃开始，现在我家已经成了一个成熟的家庭健身房，配备了各种杠铃、壶铃、拉力带和门口的引体向上栏杆。

I didn’t even know what a Russian twist was a few months ago. And when I started doing them, I hated them because they were not only difficult but also hurt.

几个月前我还不知道俄罗斯转体是什么。当我开始做的时候，我讨厌这个动作，因为它不仅很难，而且很痛苦。

Now, I love them and do them almost every workout. They’ve become one of my favorites.

现在，我喜欢俄罗斯转体，几乎每次锻炼都做这个动作。它已经成为我最爱的动作之一。

And I’ve likewise seen my first-set repetitions increase and, at best, in the case of chin-ups, nearly quadruple over the months.

同样地，我也发现第一组练习的重复次数增加了，在最好的情况下，引体向上的次数几个月来几乎翻了两番。

I mostly use a “point of failure” approach, where a set is performed until the muscle can’t complete another rep — until you absolutely can’t lift your chin above the bar or press the barbell all the way up one more time.

我主要使用的是“失败点”的方法，即练习到肌肉完全无法承受下一组动作的时候再结束，比如完全无法把下巴抬到杠铃上方或再一次把杠铃举上去。

This means I keep going, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much I want to stop, until my body gives out. It’s not a matter of doing it until I don’t want to anymore — it’s about going until I literally can’t.

这意味着我要坚持下去，直到我的身体精疲力竭，不管有多疼，不管我有多想停下来。这不是做到我不想再做的问题，而是做到我真的不能再做的问题。

         That’s where mental toughness comes in. Your mind keeps telling you to quit before your body forces you to.

这时候意志力开始发挥作用。在身体强迫你戒烟之前，你的大脑一直在告诉你戒烟。

You have no choice. Well, you do — you could give up at any moment — but you choose not to until you’re forced.

你别无选择。嗯，你有——你随时都可以放弃——但你选择不放弃，除非你被迫放弃。

Then, I take the number of reps I could pull off in the first set, triple it and keep doing sets until I’ve hit that number. Sometimes — rarely — I’ll throw in an extra set or two.

然后，我把第一组的重复次数增加三倍，然后继续做一组，直到达到那个次数。有时，我会再多做一两组，但这种情况很少。

While COVID was a motivator, there were many others, especially as China has become more focused on fitness in recent years.

虽然疫情是一个激励因素，但还有其他很多因素，尤其是近年来中国越来越关注健身。

Even before the epidemic, gym memberships, marathon running and winter sports participation — propelled in no small part by the rev up to the country hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics — have been on the rise alongside fitness-activity diversification, market research shows.

市场调研显示，即使在疫情暴发之前，注册健身会员、参与马拉松和冬季运动的人数(很大程度上要归功于中国作为2022年冬奥会主办地的推动作用)一直在增加，同时健身活动的多样性也在增加。

The number of gyms and customers are swelling in smaller cities, and pricier boutique fitness studios are flourishing in metropolises.

在小城市，健身房和顾客的数量正在激增，而价格昂贵的精品健身工作室也在大都市蓬勃发展。

COVID, as it has coincided with recent information-technology development, accelerated an already ongoing upsurge in downloads of fitness apps, views of exercise and diet livestreams and short videos, and purchases of wearable technology.

疫情，以及最新的信息技术发展，共同加速了健身应用程序的下载、运动和饮食流媒体和短视频的观看以及可穿戴技术的购买热潮。

And China’s brick-and-mortar gyms are increasingly using such technologies as artificial intelligence, the internet of things and big data.

中国的实体健身房也越来越多地使用人工智能、物联网和大数据等技术。

These contemporary high-tech, social and market trends intersect with a traditional cultural focus on health and longevity that’s venerated in ancient poems, folk tales and philosophical texts.

这些当代高科技、社会和市场趋势与注重健康和长寿的传统文化交织在一起，这种传统文化在古代诗歌、民间故事和哲学文本中受到尊崇。

That said, beyond general health, I believe there’s a mental toughness and discipline that many forms of exercise cultivate.

也就是说，除了一般的健康问题，我相信还有一种精神上的坚韧和自律，这是通过各种形式的锻炼所培养出来的。

I chose resistance training for several reasons.

我选择抗阻训练有几个原因。

One is that I look at it a bit like life.

一是我把它看得有点像生活。

You pick up something heavy — literally, a physical weight, or, metaphorically, a responsibility, hardship or tragedy — and you bear it.

你拿起一件沉重的东西，比如，物理上的重物，或者，更为隐喻地说，一种责任、苦难或悲剧，然后你承受住了。

You lift it. And you keep lifting it until you just can’t anymore, in a way that’s beyond your control to choose, continuing until your mind is no longer the limit but the corporeal world is.

你举起它，并且不断地举起它，用一种无法控制自己去做选择的方式，直到你无法忍受，坚持下去，直到你的思想不再是限制，而身体才是。

It damages you. It literally rips your muscles. It makes your psyche feel like it’s burning.

它会伤到你。它真的会撕裂你的肌肉。它会让你的灵魂感到燃烧。

And that, ultimately, makes you stronger in every way.

但这最终会让你在各个方面变得更强大。