时尚双语:经济不景气 健身计划不放弃

Adding classes in yoga, meditation and other so-called mind-body regimens is just one way fitness professionals in the financial district are responding to recent economic uncertainties roiling their corporate clientele. Some are also offering shorter, cheaper personal training sessions and, in at least one health club, quiet discounts for members who lose their jobs.

Amid layoffs, concerns about staying buff could seem trivial. (Imagine the headline “World Markets Near Collapse: Muscle Tone Under Threat.f221;) Yet, businesspeople themselves wonder how a perilous financial climate will affect their physical fitness — and if exercise could help them weather hard times.

Some struggle to squeeze in any workouts at all. But others, like Amy Sturtevant, an investment director for Oppenheimer & Company in Washington, find themselves doubling down on conditioning for relief. “Professionals are doing their best not to panic, but I know a lot of professionals who are panicking” about the markets, she said. “The only way to get away from it is to have some kind of outlet.”

Ms. Sturtevant, a mother of four, is training for her fourth marathon. With brokerage clients needing more hand-holding, she said, she stints on sleep rather than skip her 5 a.m. daily boot camp and 20-mile weekend runs.

But one of Ms. Sturtevant’s training partners, a portfolio manager, said in an e-mail message that she had not been as diligent as Ms. Sturtevant and had been “scarce” at their workouts. The portfolio manager said she had weathered some tough financial cycles, “but this one has been uniquely disabling.”

“Forget the 5 o’clock wake-up to run,” she wrote. “Who is sleeping?”

One business owner, Sheri David, is backsliding for business reasons. As chief executive of Impressions on Hold, a company based in New York that sells corporate voicemail systems, a tougher sales environment has meant Ms. David sees more of her customers and less of her personal trainer. Over the summer, she dropped from five sessions a week to three; by mid-September, she said, “it turned into one day for one hour.”

Her trainer, Chris Hall, chides Ms. David to make time and, when she does, to tune out her BlackBerry, she reported. “But I say, ‘You don’t understand — there’s 27,000 reasons I have to pay attention,’ ” referring to her accounts.

For his part, Mr. Hall — whose clients have included Catherine Zeta-Jones — is now offering 30-minute, “high-core, high-intensity” sessions and shared workouts, he said, “because people don’t necessarily have as much time as they used to, and they don’t want to spend as much money.”

According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, there are 41.5 million health club members in the United States. To keep them on the roster, clubs may be willing to bargain. Most customers who quit the Telos Fitness Center in Dallas, for example, must pay to rejoin. But, for suddenly strapped longtime members, “I’ll put a note in their file and we’ll let them pick up their membership without any fees,” said Clarisa Duran, the center’s sales and marketing director.

For Plus One, which operates in-house fitness centers, corporate accounts are the issue; until recently, its major accounts included the investment banks Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Though still operating in all of those except Bear Stearns (which closed in March), the company now must look to its recent expansion in other regions and industries for growth, said Tom Maraday, the senior vice president. (Google is one new client.)

“We’re a little experienced with stress because we went through 9/11 down here,” said Grace DeSimone, Plus One’s national director of group fitness. When disaster strikes, she noted, demand for yoga goes up, and on-site gyms exert a special pull: “People come and they want someone to talk to — it’s like Cheers.”

And, as in a bar, the televisions stay on. “In the banks, we have to keep the news on,” Mr. Maraday said. But at Cadence Cycling and Multisport Centers, TV’s show training videos rather than CNBC, because “we want this to be an escape,” said Mikael Hanson, director of performance for Cadence in New York.

During the Bear Stearns collapse, as becalmed financiers sought their escape, midday classes at the in-house gym grew crowded, according to a former Bear Stearns trader who declined to be named. When the final ax fell, they lost not just jobs but access to a club offering “everything,” she recalled, a hint of longing in her voice.
“They even gave you the shirts and shorts so you didn’t have to worry about laundry.” Now she can no longer get in her daily 5:30 a.m. workout. Her new employer has no gym and, with the markets erupting, her workday starts even earlier. “I wish there was a gym that opened at 5 in midtown,” the trader said, “but there isn’t.”

Stephanie Shemin Feingold misses a cushy fitness center, too. Since leaving a Midtown law firm in June to work at a nonprofit in Harlem, she’s been using her apartment building’s spartan fitness room. “When there are only three treadmills, it can get crowded pretty quickly,” she said.

“I’m lucky if I get in 20 minutes instead of the hour I used to do,” Ms. Shemin Feingold said. “My pants are getting tight. I’m going to have to figure out a new routine, because I can’t afford a new wardrobe.”

Fitness matters more than ever if you’re laid off, career counselors advise, not just for health, but to network and stay positive. “The last thing you want is to gain 20 pounds during a job search, ” said Dr. Jan Cannon, author of “Finding a Job in a Slow Economy.” “That just compounds that sense of, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ ”

Exercise, she added, can also spur creativity. “You know how we always have those ‘aha’ moments in the shower?” Dr. Cannon said. In the same way, “a good brisk walk can be very helpful.”

Jenny Herring, a Des Moines financial writer, usually walks or bikes for respite from the fulltime job search she began in June, after being downsized as part of the subprime mortgage fallout. But one day last month, feeling frustrated when her phone refused to ring, she varied the routine: “I said, I’m going to get outside, and I mowed the front and back yards” for exercise.

For a motivated few, extra time for conditioning actually proves a rare upside of unemployment. “A lot of people who are between jobs are using this downtime to go after a goal,” like a triathlon, said Mr. Hanson of Cadence Cycling.

Dr. Cannon recalled a client whose workouts last spring “got more frequent as time went on” — to block out the disappointment, and to give her something to get up and do every day.

“She lost 40 pounds.”

金融海啸让华尔街人举步维艰，他们的健身计划会因此受到波及吗？

最近，全球经济的不确定性造成了金融业的动荡，针对这一情况，金融区内的专业健身机构增设了瑜伽、冥想等身心养生课。一些健身中心还为会员提供短期、实惠的训练课程，有的俱乐部甚至暗中给予失业会员会费折扣。

工作都没了还谈什么保持身材？想象一下这样的标题——《全球市场濒临崩溃：肌肉依然坚挺》——实在让人有些啼笑皆非。但是，商务人士们想知道，严峻的经济环境会否影响身体健康，锻炼是否有助于他们捱过苦日子。

有些人为了获得训练名额费尽心思，完全不在意课程内容，但是另一些人，例如华盛顿欧本海默公司（Oppenheimer & Company）投资总监——艾米·斯德文特却发现，原本为了缓解压力进行的锻炼最后却让人更加消沉。对于市场，“业内人士正在努力控制恐慌情绪，不过，我知道很多人正饱受煎熬。”她说，“消除恐惧的唯一方法就是寻找一些发泄的途径。”

斯德文特太太有4个孩子，她正在为自己的第4次马拉松比赛进行赛前训练。经济不景气，花在顾客身上的时间必然会增加，因此，为了不错过每天早上5点的训练和周末的20英里长跑，她宁愿牺牲睡眠时间。

她的训练搭档——一位投资经理表示自己没有斯德文特太太勤奋，已经“极少”出席训练了。她说，从业多年也算历经风雨，“但是这一次的金融危机让人感到特别无助。”

她在给笔者的邮件中写道，“清晨5点起床跑步？还是算了吧。现在还有谁能睡得着？”

施瑞·戴维是一名企业家，由于业务原因，她的锻炼计划也开始缩减。她的公司专门向企业销售语音邮件系统，作为CEO，随着销售环境不断恶化，她不得不在客户身上花更多时间，与私人教练见面的时间自然相对减少。整个夏天，她将每周5节训练课削减为3节；9月，计划“变成了每周只有1小时”。

戴维的教练霍尔要求她重新制订计划，并且训练时要关闭手机。“但是我说，‘你无法理解——我有太多事情需要关心了。’”

霍尔也做出了适当调整，开始为客户提供30分钟的“高强度精简”训练课程，他说，“因为学员的时间少了，预算也少了。”

应对压力

根据美国运动数据公司（American Sports Data）提供的信息，全美有4200万人经常参加体育锻炼，其中约1/3都是健身中心会员（这组数字多年保持稳定）。为了挽留这些客户，俱乐部可能会做一些妥协。达拉斯的Telos健身中心规定，顾客若想重新入会必须缴纳一定费用。但是，突如其来的经济危机让许多长期会员变得一贫如洗，针对这种情况，中心的销售和市场总监克拉丽莎·杜然表示，“我会在他们的档案中备注，重新入会时可减免其费用。”

对于Plus One室内健身中心来说，如何保留企业账户才是最关键的问题；它们的重要客户包括多家投资银行，贝尔斯登、雷曼兄弟、美林、高盛和摩根士丹利悉数其中。高级副总裁汤姆·麦拉戴表示，除了今年3月宣布倒闭的贝尔斯登外，其他账户仍处于运作中，近期公司的增长主要依靠将业务扩展到其他地区和行业（Google是他们的新客户之一）。

Plus One健身中心总监格蕾斯·德西蒙说，“9·11事件让我们积累了应对压力的经验。”每当灾难来袭，瑜伽课程的需求就会增长，健身房也表现出特别的吸引力：“人们来到这里，与人交谈——就像在酒吧。”

这里和酒吧一样，电视总是开着的。“在银行，我们必须打开电视，时刻关注新闻。” 麦拉戴说。但是，在Cadence 自行车和多功能运动中心，电视里播出的都是训练视频而不是CNBC频道，因为“我们希望帮助客户逃离紧张情绪”。

一位不愿透露姓名的贝尔斯登前交易员说，贝尔斯登破产期间，失落的金融家们开始纷纷寻找心灵避风港，健身房的中午课程总是爆满。当噩耗最终传来，这些人失去的不仅是工作，还包括健身俱乐部提供的应有尽有的服务。她的回忆中流露出无限留恋。

“运动完总会担心洗衣服的问题，可是健身中心考虑得很周到，他们甚至提供汗衫和短裤。”现在，她已经中止了每天早上5：30的训练计划。新公司不提供健身卡，由于经济行情极不稳定，她的上班时间还有所提前。“我希望市中心能有5点开门的健身房，很可惜，这只是奢望。”

意想不到的效果

斯蒂芬尼也非常怀念原来那家氛围轻松、面积宽畅的健身中心。自6月离开原来的律师事务所，来到一家非营利公司工作后，她已经很久没享受过健身带来的快感了。尽管公寓附设了健身房，但是“只有三台跑步机，房间很快变得人满为患。”她说。

“原先我得锻炼1个小时，现在能有20分钟都算走运了。”斯蒂芬尼说，“裤子已经瘦了。看来，我得找新的锻炼方式了，因为我可没钱置办一柜子合身的新衣服。”

职业顾问们也建议：失业后，健身变得更加重要，不仅有利于健康，而且能促进与外界的联络，保持积极的心态。 《逆市求职》（Finding a Job in a Slow Economy）的作者让·坎农博士说，“恐怕没人想在求职期间增加20磅肥肉吧，这只会让人产生自我怀疑，‘我怎么了？’”

她还说，锻炼可以激发创造力。“为什么我们总在洗澡时灵光一现？”坎农博士说。同理，“一次轻松的散步也会大有裨益。”

珍妮·赫宁是一名金融领域的作家，由于次贷投资失败，她的身家大幅缩水，自6月开始，她经常在找工作的间隙用散步或骑自行车的方式放松身心。有一天，由于始终没有接到面试电话，她感到异常沮丧，于是她改变了运动方式：“我把前院后院的草坪都修剪了一番，就当作是锻炼身体。”

事实证明，失业人士花一些时间进行健身训练往往会起到意想不到的效果。Cadence 自行车中心的汉森说，“人们可以利用停工期设定并追求一个从未尝试过的新目标，例如三项全能。”

坎农博士回忆说，去年春天有一位女士为了消除失业的困扰，加入了几项训练计划，好让自己每天有早起的动力和生活的目标。后来，她的训练安排越来越频密。
猜猜结果如何？她足足减了40磅。