美国国家公共电台 NPR Fitness Superstar Shaun T: Keys To Workout Motivation Include Fun — And Selfishness

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

This time of year it's pretty common to hear about people's New Year's resolutions to get in shape. And now it's easy to do that without leaving home. There are streaming videos of workouts and lots of apps. NPR's Chris Arnold has this profile¹ of one of the pioneers of this type of workout - Shaun T.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE²: In the world of streaming workout videos, Shaun T is like Jay-Z or Mick Jagger. He is a superstar. Millions of people have done his workout programs. One's called "Insanity³." Another is "T25," which aims to get you in shape in just 25 minutes a day.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SHAUN T: Listen; for the next 25 minutes your focus is completely on cardio. You're going to work the heart rate, and you're going to get extremely fit. Are we good, guys?

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.

SHAUN T: All right, we're going to...

ARNOLD: Shaun T does live events, too, and thousands of fans will show up and jump around and work out together.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SHAUN T: Give it up for yourself.

(CHEERING)

ARNOLD: Shaun T is the picture of fitness⁴ with sculpted⁵ muscles and abs. He's funny and happy. But it wasn't always like this. In his new book, Shaun takes us back 40 years to when he was a toddler named Shaun Thompson.

SHAUN T: The first thing I remember as a kid was being washed in the sink of our West Philadelphia apartment. I was so small. But I soon began to realize that where we lived wasn't necessarily⁶ the best place in the world.

ARNOLD: He grew up poor and had a rough childhood in a violent neighborhood. The family was on food stamps. And they actually had so little food that he would sneak⁷ bread into his underwear⁸ and then eat it at night in bed. Being hungry stays with you, and after he got a scholarship to State College, that came along with a dining hall meal plan card, which meant free food.

SHAUN T: When you give someone who grew up on food stamps a meal card - I could just go and eat and eat. And so - and then when I found out that you can use this food card at Domino's, late-night cravings became a whole new thing. I was like, what?

ARNOLD: Shaun T gained 50 pounds his freshman⁹ year. He didn't like that. But he says he was too embarrassed to go to the gym even though he used to run track in high school.

SHAUN T: And I was extremely unhappy with the way that I looked and the way that I felt.

ARNOLD: But he finally got on the treadmill¹⁰. He took some dance fitness classes, lost just a few pounds. And he loved how that made him feel. And he decided¹¹...

SHAUN T: I want to teach a class.

ARNOLD: He had no experience, but his fellow students liked him, and 90 of them showed up for his first class in the school rec center. Shaun T turned on a song called "Space Jam" on repeat and got everybody doing this halfway¹² thought-out hip-hop aerobics¹³ routine¹⁴.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPACE JAM")

QUAD¹⁵ CITY DJ'S: (Singing) Do your dance at the space jam.

ARNOLD: And the crazy thing was the students loved it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPACE JAM")

QUAD CITY DJ'S: (Singing) Wave your hands in the air if you feel fine.

SHAUN T: I was like, are you kidding? This is the most amazing thing. I could teach and have fun. And all of these people are not only doing what I'm doing, but most of them were afraid to dance. And they're actually doing it. And they're stepping outside their comfort zone. And I'm looking at these people and I'm like, this is it. Like, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life.

ARNOLD: And that's what Shaun T's done - first classes, then the videos. Today, the company that distributes his workouts says Shaun T has sold more than a billion dollars' worth of fitness videos. He says to stay motivated, though, it can help to mix it up like a dance class or a basketball league. He does his own workouts...

SHAUN T: But I also play tennis. But I also get my friends - I'm like, yo, let's play volleyball today. It doesn't always have to be the same thing. Like, create it for yourself and it will be so much fun.

ARNOLD: And Shaun T says focus on that - the fun part, not how much you weigh.

SHAUN T: So my goal for people out there is just do things that make you feel good because the weight will come off, but the happiness is what's most important.

ARNOLD: Shaun T says what you eat is important, too. He says one of those giant frosted cinnamon buns has so many calories you'd have to work out like a maniac¹⁶ for two hours to burn it off. But there, too, he says enjoy yourself. Eat healthy 85 percent of the time and enjoy some pizza or a doughnut 15 percent of the time. But he says cut the doughnut in half. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF JUNGLE SONG, "BUSY EARNIN'")

1 profile   

n.侧面，轮廓，人物素描；概要，人物简介；v.描绘...轮廓，评论人物

参考例句：

• I turned my head and saw the profile of a man.我转过头，看见一个人的侧影。
• He drew her profile.他给她画侧面像。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

4 fitness   

n.适合，适当，健康，健身

参考例句：

• They're doing exercises to improve their fitness.他们为增强体质而做体操。
• No one questions her fitness for the job.没人怀疑她能胜任这项工作。

5 sculpted   

adj.经雕塑的

参考例句：

• a display of animals sculpted in ice 冰雕动物展
• The ladies had their hair sculpted by the leading coiffeur of the day. 女士们的发型都是当代有名的理发师做的。

6 necessarily   

adv.必要地，必需地；必定地，必然地

参考例句：

• More work does not necessarily call for more men.增加工作量不一定就要增添人员。
• A voter must necessarily be no younger than eighteen.选民必须在18岁以上。

7 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

8 underwear   

n.衫衣，内衣，贴身衣

参考例句：

• He had removed his underwear.他已脱去了内衣。
• They left off their woollen underwear when the weather got warm.天气转暖的时候，他们不再穿羊毛内衣。

9 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

10 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

13 aerobics   

n.健身操，健美操，韵律操

参考例句：

• Doing aerobics is a good way to improve one's health.做有氧健身操是改善健康状况的一个好方法。
• Aren't you going to the aerobics class this morning?今天上午你不是去上有氧运动课吗？

14 routine   

n.例行公事，惯例；adj.例行的，常规的

参考例句：

• It is everyday routine.这是每天的例行公事。
• She found the hospital routine slightly dull.她感到医院的工作有点枯燥乏味。

15 quad   

n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅

参考例句：

• His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.他的房间位于四方院的左侧。
• She is a 34-year-old mother of quads.她是个生了四胞胎的34岁的母亲。

16 maniac   

n.精神癫狂的人；疯子

参考例句：

• Be careful!That man is driving like a maniac!注意！那个人开车像个疯子一样！
• You were acting like a maniac,and you threatened her with a bomb!你像一个疯子，你用炸弹恐吓她！