It took the spread of a deadly disease across our planet for me to start taking my personal health more seriously.
直到一種致命的疾病在地球上蔓延，我才開始認真對待我的個人健康問題。
And while I set out to strengthen by body, I ultimately ended up more so strengthening my mind.
當我開始加強鍛煉時，最終我的意志力也得到了強化。
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.
我已經有20年沒有鍛煉了，直到我看到自己的肌肉萎縮，在疫情初期開始封城的時候，之前筆直的身體就像問號一樣卷曲起來。
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.
從一對啞鈴開始，現在我家已經成了一個成熟的家庭健身房，配備了各種杠鈴、壺鈴、拉力帶和門口的引體向上欄桿。
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.
幾個月前我還不知道俄羅斯轉體是什么。當我開始做的時候，我討厭這個動作，因為它不僅很難，而且很痛苦。
Now, I love them and do them almost every workout. They’ve become one of my favorites.
現在，我喜歡俄羅斯轉體，幾乎每次鍛煉都做這個動作。它已經成為我最愛的動作之一。
And I’ve likewise seen my first-set repetitions increase and, at best, in the case of chin-ups, nearly quadruple over the months.
同樣地，我也發現第一組練習的重復次數增加了，在最好的情況下，引體向上的次數幾個月來幾乎翻了兩番。
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“失敗點”的方法，即練習到肌肉完全無法承受下一組動作的時候再結束，比如完全無法把下巴抬到杠鈴上方或再一次把杠鈴舉上去。
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.
這意味著我要堅持下去，直到我的身體精疲力竭，不管有多疼，不管我有多想停下來。這不是做到我不想再做的問題，而是做到我真的不能再做的問題。
That’s where mental toughness comes in. Your mind keeps telling you to quit before your body forces you to.
這時候意志力開始發揮作用。在身體強迫你戒煙之前，你的大腦一直在告訴你戒煙。
You have no choice. Well, you do — you could give up at any moment — but you choose not to until you’re forced.
你別無選擇。嗯，你有——你隨時都可以放棄——但你選擇不放棄，除非你被迫放棄。
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，我把第一組的重復次數增加三倍，然后繼續做一組，直到達到那個次數。有時，我會再多做一兩組，但這種情況很少。
While COVID was a motivator, there were many others, especially as China has become more focused on fitness in recent years.
雖然疫情是一個激勵因素，但還有其他很多因素，尤其是近年來中國越來越關注健身。
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.
市場調研顯示，即使在疫情暴發之前，注冊健身會員、參與馬拉松和冬季運動的人數(很大程度上要歸功于中國作為2022年冬奧會主辦地的推動作用)一直在增加，同時健身活動的多樣性也在增加。
The number of gyms and customers are swelling in smaller cities, and pricier boutique fitness studios are flourishing in metropolises.
在小城市，健身房和顧客的數量正在激增，而價格昂貴的精品健身工作室也在大都市蓬勃發展。
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，以及最新的信息技術發展，共同加速了健身應用程序的下載、運動和飲食流媒體和短視頻的觀看以及可穿戴技術的購買熱潮。
And China’s brick-and-mortar gyms are increasingly using such technologies as artificial intelligence, the internet of things and big data.
中國的實體健身房也越來越多地使用人工智能、物聯網和大數據等技術。
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.
這些當代高科技、社會和市場趨勢與注重健康和長壽的傳統文化交織在一起，這種傳統文化在古代詩歌、民間故事和哲學文本中受到尊崇。
That said, beyond general health, I believe there’s a mental toughness and discipline that many forms of exercise cultivate.
也就是說，除了一般的健康問題，我相信還有一種精神上的堅韌和自律，這是通過各種形式的鍛煉所培養出來的。
I chose resistance training for several reasons.
我選擇抗阻訓練有幾個原因。
One is that I look at it a bit like life.
一是我把它看得有點像生活。
You pick up something heavy — literally, a physical weight, or, metaphorically, a responsibility, hardship or tragedy — and you bear it.
你拿起一件沉重的東西，比如，物理上的重物，或者，更為隱喻地說，一種責任、苦難或悲劇，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.
你舉起它，并且不斷地舉起它，用一種無法控制自己去做選擇的方式，直到你無法忍受，堅持下去，直到你的思想不再是限制，而身體才是。
It damages you. It literally rips your muscles. It makes your psyche feel like it’s burning.
它會傷到你。它真的會撕裂你的肌肉。它會讓你的靈魂感到燃燒。
And that, ultimately, makes you stronger in every way.
但這最終會讓你在各個方面變得更強大。
