瑜伽塑身遭專家批駁

Encouraged by A-listers such as Trudie Styler and Christy Turlington, who claim they owe their perfectly honed bodies to yoga, around half a million of us now regularly attend yoga classes.
　　被衆多一線女星例如托蒂·斯特拉和克里斯蒂·特林頓所宣揚的瑜伽可以鍛鍊身體這一理論所鼓舞，我們當中大約一百萬的人現在都定期的參加瑜伽課程。

And the popularity of yoga shows no signs of waning, with the growth rate set to reach 25 per cent this year. But, last week, one of Britain’s leading fitness experts, celebrity personal trainer Matt Roberts, suggested that yoga isn’t doing much for our fitness levels, at all.

瑜伽的流行似乎一直都沒有衰退的跡象，並且今年以百分之二十五的速度增長。但是，上一週，一位英國頂尖的健康專家，有名的私人教練，馬特·羅伯茨，提出說其實瑜伽對於我們健康基本是沒有什麼用的。

‘You may feel that you are keeping fit by doing a weekly yoga class, but you aren’t,’ Roberts said. ‘The reason why everyone likes yoga is that it isn’t very hard.

“你感覺你好像因爲上了一週的瑜伽課變得更加健康了，但是實際上並沒有。”羅伯茨說，“每個人都那麼喜歡瑜伽是因爲它看起來很簡單。”

‘Yes, there are individual parts of your body that are being worked hard, but with every form of exercise you should ask yourself is it intensive enough? Is my heartbeat raised? Am I out of breath and sweating for at least 25 to 30 minutes at a time? The answer when you’re doing yoga is, I suspect, no.’

“當然，其實你身體的某些部分可能非常努力的運轉了，但是在面對不同種類的運動時你應該問問自己這個運動強度夠了麼？我的心跳增加了麼？我每一次在25至30分鐘的運動後都氣喘吁吁汗流浹背了麼？我猜測，這個答案對於做瑜伽的你來說是否定的。”

His comments will undoubtedly unsettle yoga enthusiasts everywhere. Yet, Roberts isn’t alone in suggesting that yoga offers less of a workout than we have been led to believe.

無疑，他的答案將會大大的打擊瑜伽熱愛者。但是，羅伯茨並不是唯一一個說瑜伽其實是沒有我們所相信的那樣的健身效果的人。

John Brewer, professor of sports science at the University of Bedfordshire, is keen to debunk the myth that celebrities achieve their streamlined appearance solely through endless sessions on a yoga mat.

約翰·布魯爾，貝德福德大學體育科學系的教授，非常熱衷於揭露那些名人所說的僅僅依靠瑜伽就可以達到塑身目的的這一說法。

‘You just can’t achieve weight loss and a high level of fitness through doing yoga alone,’ he says. ‘These people probably devote hours a day to running, cycling, the gym and do yoga on top of that for its relaxation and flexibility benefits.’

“你僅僅依靠瑜伽是不能達到減重和鍛鍊身體的目的的，”他說，“這些人可能每天花數小時來跑步，騎自行車或者去健身房，做瑜伽來達到他減壓和鍛鍊的效果。”

Brewer says that other than leaving you with better balance and flexibility, yoga doesn’t provide too many benefits, because the most important muscle in the body is the heart and this workout doesn’t really work the cardiovascular system at all.

布魯爾說,除了讓你有了更好的平衡和靈活性,瑜伽不能提供太多福利,因爲最重要的肌肉對於人類來說還是心臟，而且瑜伽並不能鍛鍊到真正工作的心血管系統。

Quite how limited a workout yoga provides was put to the test when the U.S. consumer watchdog, the American Council on Exercise (ACE), commissioned researchers at the University of Wisconsin’s human performance laboratory to investigate its fitness benefits.

到底瑜伽能帶來多少好處，美國健康協會將其作爲一項實驗在威斯康星大學人爲表現實驗室展開了調查。

What the exercise scientists found was surprising. In their trial, a group of 34 previously sedentary women were asked to take part either in three 55-minute hatha yoga classes — the most popular variety in the West — a week for two months, or to abstain from exercise altogether.

實驗的結果讓科學家們十分驚訝。在實驗中，一組34名之前常常久坐的女性被要求學習西方最流行的哈塔瑜伽，每週3次每次55分鐘堅持兩個月，或是直接放棄這次試驗。

‘You get changes in strength and muscular endurance, flexibility and balance — all those types of things — but, in order to improve aerobic capacity, essentially the efficiency of your heart and lungs, you really need to be working in the training zone where your heart rate reaches 70 to 80 per cent of your maximum,’ says Professor John Porcari, who led the study. ‘Based on what we found, the intensity just wasn’t there.’

“你會發現他們的肌肉忍耐力，靈活性和平衡性都有了很大的變化。但是，爲了提高你心肺對於氧氣的需求量，你需要呆在能使你到達你最大心跳值百分之七十至八十的訓練區。”指導實驗的約翰·波卡尼教授說，“根據我們所發現的，強度似乎還不夠。”

Many yoga fans argue that they don’t do yoga simply for fitness or weight loss. Some claim that it eases back pain by keeping their spines supple and strengthening the muscles that support it. But what’s the evidence?

很多瑜伽迷說他們做瑜伽不僅僅是爲了保持健康和減肥。一些人說做瑜伽能通過讓他們的脊柱變得柔軟並拉伸背部肌肉以達到緩解背部的疼痛的目的。但是證據呢？

In a study published by U.S. musculoskeletal specialist Dr Karen Sherman, it was shown that a gentle yoga class seemed a better alternative to ‘either general exercise or a self-help book’ for back pain. But, worryingly, Dr Sherman also found that more vigorous types of yoga, such as ashtanga, and classes led by poorly qualified instructors, could make problems worse.

美國肌骨骼專家卡倫·謝爾曼博士的研究表明，相對溫和的瑜伽課似乎對緩解背部疼痛是有幫助的。但是，令人擔心的是，謝爾曼博士發現很多相對激烈的瑜伽，例如阿斯湯加瑜伽，這種課程由非常不專業的老師進行教授，這樣可能會使問題更加糟糕。

‘People should be careful about doing yoga when they have bad back pain,’ says Matt Todman, consultant physiotherapist at Six Physio in London’s Harley Street. ‘It can be helpful in some cases, but many of the postures place strain on the back.’

“人們背疼的時候做瑜伽應該格外小心，”在倫敦哈利街六隊醫的理療諮詢師馬特·陶德曼說，“有時候瑜伽確實有幫助，但是它的很多姿勢其實是讓背部承受了巨大的壓力。”

‘If you feel any pain you should stop or if you have any pre-existing physical vulnerability, then you should always get medical advice before trying it,’ he says. ‘Yoga can reduce stress levels. But anyone who thinks they are going to get in shape sitting in the lotus position or any other pose is deluded. They should jump off their mat and go for a run if it’s pounds they are looking to lose.’

“如果你感覺到疼你就應該立刻停止，或者你之前有受過什麼傷，你就應該在做瑜伽之前諮詢一下專業醫師。”他說，“瑜伽確實能減少壓力，但是要是有人覺得我就通過保持蓮花坐的形式就能達到塑身的目的，這絕對是騙人的。他們應該跳出這樣的慣性思維，然後多看看，看看他們是不是真的需要減肥。”