To Get Really Fit, Get Out of the Gym
走出健身房 鍛鍊真體魄
By Tara Parker-Pope

The author Christopher McDougall helped make barefoot running mainstream with his best-selling book “Born to Run,” a tale about a tribe of endurance runners and an annual 80-kilometer footrace in the mountains of Mexico.
暢銷書《天生就會跑》的作者克里斯多福．麥杜格協助讓赤腳跑步變成主流。書本描述一個善於耐久長跑的原始部落，以及每年一度在墨西哥山區舉辦的八十公里賽跑。

Now Mr. McDougall returns with another tale, “Natural Born Heroes: How a Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance,” that he hopes will again upend the fitness world, this time by getting people out of the sterile gym environment to run, jump, throw and climb outdoors. Here’s an edited version of our conversation.
如今，麥杜格推出新作《天生英雄：一票異類如何精通體力與耐力的失傳之祕》，他希望能再度顛覆體能世界，這次是藉由把人們從死氣沉沉的健身房環境趕到戶外去跑跑跳跳、扔拋投擲、爬上爬下。以下是整理過的對談紀錄。

Q. Where did the idea for this book come from?
問：這本書的點子出自何處？

A. It came out of “Born to Run,” but by accident. I was researching indigenous and ancient runners, and I came across a reference to the Cretan runner. He was a foot messenger during World War II. I found this whole other fascinating story about people doing these superhuman feats on foot, behind enemy lines, running 40 to 100 miles [60 to 160 kilometers] at a time on a starvation diet.
答：來自《天生就會跑》，卻是湊巧。當時我正研究原住民和古代跑者，偶然看到這名克利特島跑者的參考資料。他是二戰期間的徒步信差。我發現這些徒步的超人事蹟非常迷人，有時空腹在敵後一跑就是60至160公里。

Q. Achieving that level of fitness seems so unattainable. Is there a lesson here for a regular person?
問：那樣的體能境界似乎遙不可及。有無正常人可學習的地方？

A. In reality, the classic Greek ideal of a hero was a common person. It was a virtue, a responsibility, that every person should be able to develop these natural, very attainable skills to be reliable in a crisis.
答：其實，古希臘的英雄概念就是平常人。這是一種美德、責任，所有人都應該可以發展出這些天生、很容易達成的技巧，在危機時成為靠得住的人。

Q. What are the skills of a natural-born hero?
問：甚麼是天生英雄的技巧？

A. It’s about developing your natural abilities so you have dexterity for throwing, climbing or crawling. Strength is about using that natural elastic recoil in our body to tap into these latent reservoirs of strength. They are there; we just don’t use them.
答：這是關於發展個人天生的能力，從而具備投擲、攀登、爬行的靈巧度。體力是關於運用我們體內天然的彈性回跳，進入這些潛在的體力儲藏庫。它們一直存在，只是我們沒去使用。

Q. Why do you think people have lost these natural abilities for throwing and climbing?
問：為何你認為人們已經喪失了投擲和攀登的天生能力？

A. At age 5 or 6, we stick kids in a class and say: “Sit there. Don’t move until 3 p.m. and then go home and do homework.” We take these physical animals and turn them into sedentary animals. Most recreational sports are created by men for men, and they use male attributes like body strength. But the real skills, the human skills, are the ones where the differences between men and women are the slimmest. Humans have great dexterity and adaptability. Some of the greatest rock climbers in the world are women.
答：在五到六歲的時候，我們把孩子定在教室裡，告訴他們：「好好坐著。下午三點前不准動。然後回家寫功課。」我們把動物變成靜物。大多數休閒運動都是男性為男性創設的，運用的是男性的特徵。但是真正的技巧，人類的技巧，是男性和女性差異最小的技巧。人類有很強大的靈活度和適應力。有一些世界上最偉大的攀岩家是女性。

Q. So how should people change their exercise habits in the modern world?
問：現代世界的人們該如何改變運動習慣？

A. Add things to your workout that you don’t think you can do. Try to climb a rope. Walk on all fours. Get outside and do things you’re not expecting.
答：把你自認辦不到的事情加入健身運動項目。攀繩、雙手雙腳著地走路。走出戶外，做一些沒想過會做的事。

Q. Why is an outdoor workout better than a workout in a gym?
問：戶外健身為何優於在健身房內？

A. In a gym, you’re on a padded seat, strapped in and isolating one muscle. All of the uncertainty in the range of motion has been stripped away. In the real world when you move, you don’t isolate one muscle. We have been trying the stationary machine model for 40 years, and it’s failed. It’s based on body building. Size was never the goal of the hunter gatherer. You never wanted to be big; you wanted to be mobile and agile.
答：在健身房裡，你坐在有鋪墊的座位上，用帶扣住，固定一塊肌肉。活動範圍內所有的不確定性都移走了。現實世界裡，你活動時不會有哪塊肌肉固定不動。我們用這套固定不動的機器模型已經40年，但是行不通。機器是為了健美而打造。塊頭從來就不是採獵者的目標。你從未想當大隻佬，你想要機動和靈活。

Q. So what kind of training do you do now?
問：你目前進行哪種訓練？

A. I’ve become infatuated by Parkour. People think it’s daredeviltry on rooftops, but it’s about learning how to shift our body weight and using parts of your body you tend to ignore. I also take my runs off of trails and into creek beds. That uncertain footing allows you to work on agility and nimbleness. An immediate benefit is that it focuses you on the present.
答：我迷上了跑酷。人們認為跑酷是在屋頂玩命，其實是關於學習如何轉移身體重心並運用你忽略的身體部位。我也不再跑山林小徑，改跑小溪河床。難以捉摸的路況讓你訓練自己的靈巧與敏捷度。立即的好處是讓你專注在當下。

原文參照：
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/christopher-mcdougall-wants-you-to-go-outside/

2015-05-05聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版下