古人如何锻炼身体

Modern people are paying more attention to exercise and many celebrities are leading the trend, while in ancient China there were also many fitness lovers. Let’s take a look at some noted figures’ fitness stories of the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

现代的人们更注重健身，许多名人都引领着这股风尚，而在中国古代同样也有许多健身爱好者。现在就让我们来看一看宋代一些著名人物的健身故事。

Ancient poet Lu you: chosho

古代诗人陆游：长啸

As a noted productive poet, Lu You from the Song Dynasty wrote more than 20,000 poems in his lifetime. The reason why Lu You could write so much poetry was because he was talented, but more importantly, he also lived a long life. According to historical records, he lived to be 85 years old, the longest living poet in the Song Dynasty.

宋代的陆游是一位著名的创作性诗人，他在一生中创作了两万多首古诗。陆游创作如此之多古诗的原因在于他所拥有的才能，而更重要的原因在于其生命之长寿。据史料记载，陆游高寿85，是宋朝最长寿的诗人。

However, Lu You was weak and susceptible to diseases when he was a child. When he took part in the keju imperial examinations as a teenager, he was so sick that he had to stop and hand in the paper in advance. Then how could Lu You live such a long life with such a poor constitution?

然而，陆游年幼时身体极度虚弱，极易患病。少年时参加科举考试时，由于病得太严重，不得不停止答卷，提前上交试卷。那么，在身体状况如此恶劣的情况下，陆游是如何拥有如此长的寿命呢？

Lu joined the military as an adviser in his middle ages and started to exercise his body and learn martial arts. After training for two years, Lu could shoot down a flying eagle using a bow and arrow, and he even killed a tiger.

陆游在中年时以顾问的身份参了军，开始锻炼身体并学习武术。在训练了两年之后，陆游就可以用弓箭射下飞鹰，甚至还能够杀死老虎。

During his later years, Lu You started the body building called chosho, or shouts, a long and loud cry. Chosho was quite popular in ancient times, which was not roaring or whistling, but an elegant, serious and skillful health method. When ancient people did chosho, they opened their body, breathed in deep and then breathed out in rhyme.

晚年时期，陆游开始了一种名为长啸的健身运动，或者称为呐喊，即为长时间的大声喊叫。长啸在古代颇为流行，并非咆哮或者吹哨，而是一种优雅、严肃并且灵巧的健身方式。当古人长啸时，他们会舒展自己的身体，有节奏地深吸一口气，然后再将其呼出。

Chosho can help increase vital capacity, relax your body and put you in a good mood. For Lu You, chosho helped him get rid of diseases and medicine. When asked about the secret of his longevity, he said, "After reading so many medical books and eating so many medicines, I find chosho is the most effective way for me."

长啸可助人增加肺活量，放松身体并使你心情愉悦。对于陆游来说，长啸使其摆脱了疾病与药物。当被问及其长寿秘诀时，陆游说：“在读了许多医术，用了很多药以后，我发现长啸对我来说是最有效的方法。”

Su Dongpo: long run, five kilometers per day

苏东坡：长跑，每日5公里

The great Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo, or Su Shi preferred to take long runs, and he thought that only by moving your body regularly could you have a strong body and adapt to the seasonal changes quickly.

宋代伟大的诗人苏东坡（或苏轼）偏爱长跑，他认为只有按时运动才能强身健体，并能迅速适应季节变化。

In a letter to his friend Cheng Zhengfu, Su Dongpo talked about his exercising habit, which was to run five kilometers per day.

在他给好友程正福的信中，苏东坡谈到了自己的锻炼习惯，即每天长跑五公里。

He would slow down when he breathed hard, and sped up when his breath balanced. Su Dongpo would run until he was sweaty, hot, blood circulating and limbs feeling refreshed.

在呼吸困难时减速，呼吸恢复平衡时加速。苏东坡会不停奔跑，直到汗流浃背、身体发热、血液循环和四肢感到焕然一新时才会停止。

We can see that when Su was running, he stressed "qi", which means "energy" or "the essence of life". Su was a fan of qi gong, a system of deep breathing. He ran in the morning and sat in meditation at night, making qi flow inside his body. In a letter to his friend Zhang An’dao, Su said that after meditating for nearly 20 days, he felt his body was much stronger and could run from the first floor to the fifth without resting in the middle. He believed that by practicing this way, he couldbeimmortal.

我们从中看出，苏东坡在跑步时强调“气”，即“能量”或者“生命的本质”。苏东坡是气功（一种深呼吸系统）爱好者，他通常在早晨跑步，晚上静坐冥想，从而使“气”游走于身体内部。在给好友张安道的信中，苏东坡说在冥想了将近20天之后，他察觉到自己的身体变得更强壮，可以在中途不休息的情况下，从第一层直接跑到第五层。他相信这样的锻炼方式可以使其获得永生。

Hu Yanzan: cold bath

呼延赞：冷水浴

Ancient scholars liked fitness so much, and so did military officers. There were two general-inherited large families in Northern Song Dynasty, and one of them was the Hu Family. According to historical records, General Hu Yanzan from the Hu Family trained his children in the snowy winter by pouring cold water on them as they stood outside.

古代学者非常喜欢健身，军事人员也不例外。南宋时期有两大军衔世袭家族，其中之一便是呼家。据史料记载，呼延赞将军在大雪纷飞的冬天训练他的孩子，让他们站在户外，将冷水倾倒在他们身上。

There was an annual festival in November during the early Tang Dynasty (618-907) called "Pouring cold", where a batch of strong men, nearly naked, sang and danced in the street while crowds poured cold water on them. The festival, a sacrifice to god, was thought to be helpful for body building.

初唐时期（公元618至907年间），在十二月有一个名为“泼冷水”的年度节日，当天会有一批赤身裸体的壮男在街上跳舞唱歌，同时人们会往他们身上泼冷水。这个节日是对神灵的祭奠，人们认为其有助于健身。

During the Song Dynasty, Hu Yanzan recovered the tradition by removing the singing and dancing parts and keeping the pouring cold water part, as a way to exercise people’s physical bodies.

宋朝时，呼延赞将唱歌跳舞的部分取消，保留泼冷水的部分，并将此延续下去，成为人们强身健体的一种方式。