新的一年，如何将锻炼坚持到底？
作为一名运动医学医生，我常常听到我的病人们说一句类似的话：“医生，我超重了20磅。我有三个孩子，要还房贷，通勤要花45分钟。我知道我要多运动，要减掉几磅，但我似乎方向错了。我该怎么办?”
Many of them, like most Americans, will make getting fit and losing weight a New Year’s resolution. Unfortunately, the odds are overwhelming that they’ll fail.
与大多数美国人一样，他们中的许多人会把健身和减肥当做新年立志。不幸的是，他们失败的可能性非常之大。
Last year, the most common New Year’s resolution was fitness-related. A study published by the Statistic Brain Research Institute last year showed that roughly 50 million Americans pledged to increase activity and lose weight in 2017.
去年，最常见的新年立志是与健身相关的。统计大脑研究所(Statistic Brain Research Institute)去年发表的一项研究表明，约有5000万美国人承诺要在2017年增加运动、减轻体重。
Despite good intentions, success was hard to come by. Two months after pledging to become more active, only 37 percent of people in their 20s and 16 percent over age 50 had kept to their new fitness habit. Behavior change is tough, even when the benefits of such a change are clear.
用意虽好，但成功难得。在发誓要做更多运动的两个月之后，只有37%的20多岁的人以及16%的50岁以上的人把这种健身新习惯保持了下来。即使这有明显的好处，行为的改变仍是十分困难的。
There is no question that exercise plays a role in the prevention and treatment of many diseases across almost every system in the human body. Weekly exercise routines have been shown to reduce rates of depression and anxiety, lessen risk of heart attack and stroke, and reduce the prevalence of diabetes, the most expensive disease in the United States costing more than $100 billion annually. Even cancer rates are affected by exercise: A recent study among 1.44 million subjects showed that regular exercise programs reduce disease frequency in 13 types of cancer including breast, colon and endometrial.
毫无疑问，锻炼对人体中几乎所有系统内的许多疾病都能起到预防和治疗作用。每周的常规锻炼已经显示能减少抑郁和焦虑的发生率、降低心脏病和中风的风险并减少糖尿病的发生率——糖尿病是美国最昂贵的疾病，每年花费超过1000亿美元。就连癌症发生率也受锻炼影响：近期一项针对144万名实验对象进行的研究表明，有规律的锻炼计划能减少13种癌症的发病率，包括乳腺癌、结肠癌和子宫内膜癌。
Is There a Best Type of Exercise?
是否有最佳的运动类型?
The simple answer is: The most effective form of exercise is the type that someone will consistently perform. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise like speed walking or swimming, or 75 minutes per week of intense exercise, like H.I.I.T. (High-Intensity Interval Training) or jogging, is the minimum amount of exercise needed to achieve maximum medical benefit. Beyond that, recent data suggests that a combination of strength, flexibility, balance and intensity all have value. There is no one size fits all equation; the holy grail of exercise is compliance.
回答很简单：最有效的运动形式就是能坚持做下去的那种。据美国运动医学会(American College of Sports Medicine)表示，每周150分钟中等强度的锻炼，如竞走或游泳，或者每周75分钟如高强度间歇训练(HIIT)或慢跑等高强度锻炼，是要实现医疗效果最大化所需的最低运动量。此外，最近的数据表明，力量、灵活性、平衡性和强度的组合都有价值。没有一刀切的方程，运动的终极目标在于持之以恒。
Often, the best way to increase your exercise is to incorporate movement into your everyday life. On average, urban dwellers who commute via walking, biking or public transportation are fitter than suburban commuters who drive to work. Studies have shown that increasing the amount you move every day, by using a standing desk, walking your dog or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
增加运动量的最佳方法往往是将运动融入你的日常生活。通过步行、骑行或使用公共交通出行的城市居民，通常比开车上班的郊区通勤者更加健康。研究表明，通过使用站立式办公桌、遛狗，或选择走楼梯而非乘电梯来增加每日的活动量，都能减少心血管疾病的风险。
So, whether you resolve to work out at your local gym three times a week, take 10,000 steps a day or give your dog an extra walk every day in 2018, commit to something you love and know that your body and mind will benefit.
因此，不论你是立志要在2018年每周去附近的健身房锻炼三次，每天走一万步，还是每天多遛狗，请选一件你喜爱的事情投入，要知道这会使你身心受益。
Now, it’s one thing to make a commitment to exercise, it’s something else — something more difficult — to keep to it.
然后，立志锻炼是一回事，坚持锻炼就是另一回事了，这更加困难。
Here are four proven ways to increase the odds that your resolution will stick in 2018:
以下四种已被证实的方式，能增加你把2018年立志坚持下来的可能性：
1. Make It Social.
1. 把它变成社交
Social interaction has been shown to increase fitness compliance. Suggestions here are to join a group fitness class, a running club or pair up with a friend or neighbor and go together to the at local gym or community center. You can also pair up with your spouse or roommate and work out at home together. Try one of our at-home workouts, which can be done in minimal space with minimal equipment.
社交互动已被证明能促进健身习惯的保持。建议是，加入一个小组健身课程、跑步俱乐部或与朋友、邻居一起组队去附近的健身房或社区活动中心。你也可以与你的另一半或你的室友一起在家中锻炼。试一试我们的家庭训练，在最小的空间内使用最少的器材就能完成。
If direct human contact isn’t available, evidence suggests that virtual fitness communities increase exercise compliance. Tracking platforms like Fitbit, Garmin and Strava, as well as newer virtual fitness communities like Peloton, allow people to create social communities that serve a similar purpose to the real thing.
如果无法进行直接的人际交往，证据表明虚拟的健身社区也能促进健身习惯的保持。Fitbit、Garmin、Strava等运动追踪平台，以及如Peloton等允许人们创建社团的新兴虚拟健身社区，都能达到和现实的人际交往类似的目的。
2. Make It Fun
2. 让锻炼变得有趣
It’s not easy to work out when it’s boring. A small study published in Germany last year showed that compared to a “no fun” control group, subjects who were smiling and laughing during exercise were statistically more likely to stick with their exercise program. In runners, a recent study showed that smiling increased running efficiency by more than 2 percent.
坚持无聊的锻炼并非易事。去年在德国发表的一项小研究表明，从统计角度来看，和“无趣”的对照组相比，在锻炼期间微笑和大笑的实验对象更有可能坚持自己的锻炼计划。最近的一项研究显示，在跑步的人中，微笑能使跑步效率提高2%以上。
How to keep your workout feeling fun? Try something new, upbeat and with people who make smiling easy. Also, consider a change of scenery. Physical environment has been shown to make a difference, so look for an exercise location that inspires you.
如何让锻炼给人有趣的感觉?尝试一些新的、快乐的东西，并和经常让你微笑的人一起锻炼。此外，考虑一下变换环境。实体环境已经被证明是有影响的，因此找一个能激励你的锻炼地点吧。
3. Consider an Incentive
3. 考虑激励措施
A meta-analysis of exercise programs concluded that previously sedentary adults respond to incentive. In other words, humans are glorified lab rats who will go through a maze in a certain direction to find sugar water at the end. Figuring out the correct type of incentive makes a difference.
一项对锻炼计划进行的元分析断定，之前久坐不动的成年人会对激励做出反应。换句话说，人类看上去很高级，其实只是一些实验室大鼠，会朝着一个特定的方向穿过迷宫，找到尽头处的糖水。找出正确的激励措施会带来不同。
Your company may offer an incentive program to keep employees fit, including reduced premiums for more active members, businesses creating internal competitions to promote exercise, and health programs offering prizes for those meeting movement benchmarks. The bottom line is that rather than pay for costly diseases such as diabetes and hypertension once they happen, it makes more fiscal sense to pay a smaller cost upfront to reduce disease rates by incentivizing activity.
为了保持员工身体健康，你的公司可能会提供一个激励计划，包括减少更活跃员工的保险费，举办内部竞赛以促进锻炼，还有奖励达到基本运动标准的员工。关键是，从财务上来说，与其在糖尿病和高血压等花费昂贵的疾病发病时买单，不如提前通过激励锻炼的方式，花较少的钱来降低发病率。
If you don’t have access to a companywide incentive program, find a way to encourage your ongoing fitness by prepaying for sessions with a personal trainer or figuring out a personal reward system (such as a special splurge purchase or a smaller, weekly treat) based on exercise compliance.
如果没有参加公司的激励计划，那就想办法通过提前支付私人健身教练的课程费用，或者制定一个以锻炼的落实程度为基础的个人奖励体系(比如买一件奢侈的东西，或每周给自己一个小一些的奖赏)。
4. Commit to a Date-Specific Goal.
4. 确立一个有具体时间的目标
Goals don’t need to be lofty to be effective, but it’s useful to sign up for an event such as a 5K walk, triathlon or ballroom dance competition. By goal-setting, preferably with a target just slightly outside your comfort zone, you’re more likely to stick with a fitness regimen. The best approach here is to jump right in, select a goal and register. Once it’s on your calendar you’ll know where you’re headed and can work to get there in time.
目标不一定要高远才有效，参加5公里步行、铁人三项或交际舞比赛等活动就很有用。通过制定目标，最好是略微超出你的舒适区的目标，你更有可能坚持自己的健身计划。在这个问题上，最好的方法是马上行动、选定目标然后记下来。一旦锻炼被写进了你的日程安排，你就知道自己要去哪里，并能够努力及时实现目标了。
Just Keep Moving
坚持运动
Remember, the most important key to making a New Year’s resolution succeed: commitment.
记住，要让新年计划取得成功，最重要的关键是：坚持。
Starting a group fitness program, running with your spouse or joining a basketball league is an important first step. More important? Keep moving, day after day, step after step. Move when it’s cold, move when you’re tired, move when you don’t want to keep going or even get off the couch. The toughest part of any exercise program is taking the first few steps out the door. Once you’ve taken that first step, it’s much harder to stop.
发起团体健身计划、和配偶一起跑步或加入篮球联盟都是重要的第一步。更重要的呢?日复一日、一步接一步地坚持运动。在寒冷、疲惫、不想动，甚至不想从沙发上起来时坚持运动。任何锻炼计划，最难的都是迈出门那几步。一旦迈出了第一步，要停下来就困难多了。
