【英语生活】少健身，多工作

Once a week, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former chief executive of insurer AIG, leaves his Park Avenue office and travels across New York’s Central Park to a nondescript basement crowded with Rube Goldberg-esque machines in a brownstone building on the trendy Upper West Side. While Mr Greenberg is renowned for his strong views on business, this claustrophobic room is where the 87-year-old builds his remarkable physical strength.

Mr Greenberg is among a small group of busy New York executives who make a pilgrimage to a place called Serious Strength, a gym that specialises in a technique called high-intensity resistance training, to get a complete body workout in just 30 minutes a week. Unlike spending hours jogging on treadmills or pedalling exercise bikes, high-intensity weight training promises all the benefits of aerobics plus more strength in just a fraction of the time of conventional workouts.

“The amount of weight I can push or pull is multiples of my own strength,” boasts Mr Greenberg, who is now chairman and CEO of CV Star & Co, a financial services firm. “I’m exercising more strenuously than I ever have in my life. In just 30 minutes a week you can see progress in what you’re doing and how good you feel.”

While high-intensity weight training has been practised since the 1980s, when an entrepreneur named Arthur Jones began making gym equipment under the Nautilus brand, the technique has only recently garnered sufficient scientific support to back up its many claims of superiority as a workout regimen.

Books such as Body By Science, by a South Carolina-based emergency room physician named Doug McGuff, and The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution, by Fred Hahn, who owns Mr Greenberg’s gym in New York, describe the scientific basis for exercising compound groups of muscles to total exhaustion using very slow movements. In practice, that means five or six exercises done for just five to six super slow repetitions, or just 15 minutes of actual lifting. Some adherents, such as Dr McGuff, believe that just one workout a week is sufficient, while Mr Hahn and others prefer two workouts.

“High-intensity resistance improves blood pressure, increases the level of good cholesterol in your blood, lowers triglicyeride levels, maintains blood sugar, helps with insulin sensitivity and builds not only muscular strength but muscular endurance,” says Mr Hahn.

Dr McGuff, meanwhile, flags up the medical benefits of the high-intensity workout, which he says can help eliminate “diabetes, hypertension, gout, hypercholesterolaemia, and all the consequences of being sedentary and eating a diet of modern food”.

Although exercise fads come and go, high-intensity is in the unusual position of advocating that people actually practise it less. Hardcore bodybuilders have raised doubts about whether the system is really superior to their many hours spent in the gym, but proponents such as Mr Hahn say that while you can build muscle in long workouts, why bother when less time spent in the gym can produce such good results. Proponents also point out that everyone has a genetic limit to how strong they can get or how big their muscles will grow, no matter how much exercise they do.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, the high-intensity method seems to have gained more popularity in Europe than in the fitness-crazed US, where it faded from the cover of magazines after a brief surge in popularity about 10 years ago. Dr McGuff thinks this is partly explained by the fact that recent scientific support for the method comes largely from European and Canadian universities.

“I also think Europe lacks that ‘more is better’ culture that North America has,” he adds. “We have this work ethic where the answer is always do more and do it harder. I think that makes people a lot more sceptical about an exercise system that restricts volume and frequency as a way to get results.”

While it is possible to do a high-intensity workout with barbells or even body weight, most gyms that specialise in high-intensity use machines originally designed by Mr Jones such as Nautilus and Med-X. This is because it can be dangerous to lift a heavy free weight to exhaustion. These machines involve rotation around several joints, working a large group of muscles at one time, reducing the overall time in the gym.

At least initially, the workout consists of what is termed “the big five” – a seated row, chest press, pulldown, overhead press and leg press, each done for about 90 seconds. Dr McGuff says he even gets good results doing just three exercises, provided they are done extremely slowly and to complete exhaustion, followed by several days of recuperative rest.

While 15 minutes may seem like too short a time for a complete workout, this reporter noticed a distinct impact – along with considerable soreness the next day.

One company that has capitalised on the workout’s appeal to businesspeople is Kieser Training, a Zurich-based group that has set up high-intensity gyms in Europe and Asia.

“We target the professional, middle-aged executive who wants to exercise in a serious manner,” says Marcel Haasters, a German who runs the Kieser Training gym in London’s Camden Town. “There is no music, no mirrors on the wall and no juice bar. It’s not for typical gym users but people who don’t like gyms.”

Kieser appeals especially to mobile executives because for a ￡580 annual fee, travelling businessmen can use any gym in the Kieser Training system from Zurich to Australia. The gym uses special machines licensed from the late Arthur Jones’s estate and features rehabilitative training as well as pure exercise.

Steven Bailey, a video games analyst for Screen Digest who lives near the City of London, says he has been doing the Kieser Training for three years and that it has changed his life. “It’s great for people like me who have a sedentary lifestyle and sit at a desk all day,” Mr Bailey says. “Before Kieser I used to collapse around 3pm but now I have a lot more energy.”

Aparticularly impressive piece of equipment offered by Kieser Training looks like something out of the Spanish Inquisition. Once you are strapped down and screwed into the machine, your lower body and hips are immobilised, which allows it to measure accurately the strength of your lower back muscles – which are often the bane of desk-bound executives. The Kieser machine has a computer database that compares your back strength to other individuals of your age group, and is then capable of training your back to make the muscles stronger.

Alastair McLellan, who uses the gym in Camden Town, started the workout about six years ago to help with his bad back. “The fact that I can build this strength in just one short session a week and solve my back problem makes it very good use of my time,” says the 48-year-old editor of the Health Service Journal. “It’s also allowed me to do a lot more exercise – I now cycle to work most days.”

However, the workout’s proponents admit that while the method has many benefits, a high-intensity workout or any gym programme is unlikely to help executives completely lose those unsightly guts gained from years of eating expense-account lunches. For that, dietary changes are the most important ingredient.

每周一次，美国国际集团(AIG)前首席执行官莫里斯?“汉克”?格林伯格(Maurice “Hank” Greenberg)会离开自己位于公园大道(Park Avenue)的办公室，穿过纽约中央公园(Central Park)，来到时髦的上西区(Upper West Side)，走进一栋赤褐色砂石面大楼底层一间另类的地下室——那里堆满了鲁布?戈德堡(Rube Goldberg)漫画风格的器械。现年87岁的格林伯格在商界以观点鲜明而闻名，其格外强壮的体格则是在这间密闭而拥挤的地下室里练出来。

在纽约，有一小群像格林伯格这样工作繁忙的企业高管，他们像朝圣一般，定期造访一间名为“认真力量”(Serious Strength)的健身房，此处专门提供一种名为高强度抗阻力训练的健身训练，学员每周仅花30分钟时间就可以完成一套全身的锻炼。与花数小时在跑步机上慢跑或骑动感单车的有氧运动不同，高强度抗阻力训练不仅具备有氧运动所有优点，还增强了力量训练，同时花费的时间远低于各种传统健身方法。

格林伯格吹嘘说：“我能推拉的重量是我体重的几倍。我现在的训练强度超过以往所有其他训练的强度。每周只需花费30分钟，就能看到自己在训练中取得的进步，这种感觉真是好极了。”格林伯格如今是金融服务公司CV Star & Co的董事长兼首席执行官。

高强度抗阻力训练自上世纪八十年代起就有人尝试，当时一位名叫阿瑟?琼斯(Arthur Jones)的企业家注册了“鹦鹉螺”(Nautilus)这个品牌，开始生产健身器械。不过，直到最近，这种训练作为一套健身方法的优越性才获得了足够的科学支持。

南卡罗来纳州急诊室医生道格?麦古菲(Doug McGuff)所著的《身体的科学》(Body By Science)以及格林伯格常去的那家纽约健身中心的所有者弗雷德?哈恩(Fred Hahn)所著的《慢燃烧健身革命》(The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution)等书，介绍了通过非常缓慢的动作彻底锻炼多个肌肉群的科学原理。在实践中，高强度健身法通常包含5至6组练习，每组以极其缓慢的速度重复5至6次，实际的负重练习时间仅15分钟左右。提倡高强度健身法的人中，有些（如麦古菲医生）认为，每周锻炼一次就已足够，而汉恩和其他人则倾向于每周锻炼两次。

汉恩指出：“高强度抗阻力练习可以改善血压指标，提高血液中良性胆固醇的含量，降低甘油三酸酯水平，维持血糖浓度，并有助于提高胰岛素灵敏度；这种锻炼方法不仅可以增强肌肉力量，还可以提高肌肉耐力。”

麦格福医生则从医学角度指出了高强度健身法的益处。他指出，这套方法可以有助于消除“糖尿病、高血压、痛风和高胆固醇，以及久坐和食用快餐食品所导致的各种不良后果”。

虽然各种健身风潮来了又去，但高强度健身法是少有的倡导人们减少实际锻炼时间的方法。铁杆健身迷们质疑这套方法是否真的比数小时的健身更为有效，汉恩等支持这套方法的人则表示，如果花费更少的健身时间就能取得这么出色的效果，又有什么必要花那么长时间锻炼来增强肌肉呢？支持者们还指出，不论进行多少运动，每个人的强壮程度或者个体肌肉增大的程度都有一个由基因决定的上限。

与人们的直观感受或许相反的是，高强度健身法在欧洲人中似乎比在热衷于健身的美国人中更受欢迎。大约10年前，高强度健身法曾在美国短暂地流行过一阵子，随后便逐渐不再出现在杂志封面上。麦格福医生认为，部分原因在于，近期支持高强度健身法的科学研究成果主要来自欧洲和加拿大的大学。

麦古菲医生补充道：“我认为还有一个原因是欧洲人没有北美人那种‘越多越好’的观念。我们的健身理念永远是锻炼时间越长越好、强度越大越好。我认为，这使得民众更倾向于对一套将控制健身时长和频率作为取得效果途径之一的健身模式持非常怀疑的态度。”

虽然高强度健身可以用杠铃甚至身体本身的重量为负重，但绝大多数专门提供这种训练的健身房使用由琼斯发明的“鹦鹉螺”或Med-X等牌子的健身器械。这是由于用尽全力推举一个未被固定的重物可能造成危险。这些器械在多个关节点配有旋转式设计，可以同时活动多个肌肉群，进而缩短了健身总时间。

至少在初始阶段，高强度健身法包括一套被称为“五大类”的训练——即坐姿划船、推胸训练、下拉训练、推肩训练和蹬腿训练五组，每组训练做1分半左右。麦古菲医生表示，他只做三组训练也取得了很好的效果，但前提是这些动作必须以极慢的速度完成并且用尽全力，之后辅以几天的恢复性休息。

虽然十五分钟似乎不足以彻底锻炼一次，但本文记者在尝试后发现效果非常明显，并在之后的一整天都感到肌肉非常酸痛。

一些公司已经开始利用这套健身方法吸引商务人士成为自己的客户，总部位于苏黎世的基泽健身(Kieser Training)就是其中之一。该集团在欧洲和亚洲成立了多家高强度健身中心。

基泽健身伦敦肯顿集市(Camden Town)店负责人、德国人马塞尔?哈斯特斯(Marcel Haasters)表示：“我们的目标客户是希望认真锻炼的中年企业高管。健身房里不放音乐，墙上不装镜子，也不设果汁吧。我们这里不是为典型的健身房用户设计的，而是为不喜欢健身房的人设计的。”

基泽对于经常出差的企业高管来说很有吸引力，从瑞士苏黎世到澳大利亚，到处都有基泽的健身房。花费580英镑办理年卡之后，就可以在出差的时候去当地的任何一家基泽健身房。基泽健身房使用的特制器械，由已故的阿瑟?琼斯旗下企业取得授权。该健身房还专门提供康复训练以及单纯的健身训练。

传媒分析公司Screen Digest的电子游戏分析师史蒂文?贝利(Steven Bailey)住在伦敦金融城(City of London)附近。他表示，自己已在基泽健身锻炼了三年，这也改变了他的生活。贝利说：“基泽非常适合像我这样不爱动并且终日伏案的人。在去基泽锻炼之前，我通常在下午三点左右就感到精疲力竭，而现在我的精力充沛多了。”

基泽健身房里有一款器械格外引人注目，看起来就像是西班牙宗教法庭上使用的刑具。一旦你坐上这台器械上并扣紧皮带，你的下半身和臀部就不能动了，这台器械借此能够准确测出你下背部肌肉群的力量——整日伏案工作的企业高管这个部位通常比较薄弱。基泽的这台器械还有一个计算机数据库，可以将你的背部肌肉力量与相同年龄段的其他人进行比较，并能够通过训练增强这一部位的肌肉。

阿拉斯泰尔?麦克莱伦(Alastair McLellan)6年前开始去基泽肯顿集市店健身，以缓解自己的背部问题。这位今年48岁的《健康服务期刊》(Health Service Journal)编辑表示：“每周仅一次的短时间训练能让我变得这么强壮多并解决我的背部问题，这很节约时间。这还使我有时间进行更多的运动——现在我几乎每天都骑自行车上班。”

但高强度健身法的支持者们承认，虽然这套方法益处多多，但单凭这一套方法或其他任何一套健身计划，都不太可能帮助企业高管们消灭长年享用公司报销午餐带来的难看肚腩。要想消灭肚腩，改善饮食结构才是最重要的方法。

译者/马拉