从穷小子到健身明星——Shawn T的故事

In the world of streaming workout videos, Shawn T is like Jay-Z or Mick Jagger.

在播放运动健身视频的世界里，肖恩.T就好比Jay-Z或者Mick Jagger一样的存在。

He's a superstar.

他是个超级巨星。

Millions of people have done his workout programs.

上百万的人都在做他的锻炼视频。

One is called "Insanity." Another, "Focus T25," aims to get you in shape in just 25 minutes a day without leaving your house.

有一段叫做“疯狂锻炼”，另一段，“集中锻炼T25”可以让你足不出户每天花25分钟就练出好身材。

In our ever more digital world there are all kinds of apps and other quick ways to fit fitness into your life.

在我们日益数字化的世界里，有各种各样的app和节目来指导你拥有好身材。

But you still have to do the exercise.

但你仍然必须要练起来才行。

And in his new book, T is for Transformation, Shaun T tells the story of his life and the lessons he's learned about finding that motivation.

在他的新书里，T指的是转型，肖恩.T讲述了自己的人生故事和他找到的前进动力。

With his sculpted muscles and abs, Shaun T is the picture of fitness.

看看他那雕塑般的肌肉和腹肌，肖恩.T就是健美的化身。

In his workout videos he's funny and happy.

在他的健身视频里，他总是开心又幽默。

But it wasn't always like this.

但其实他并不总是这样的。

"The first thing I remember as a kid was being washed in the sink of our west Philadelphia apartment," Shaun T says.

“我小时候记事以来记住的第一件事就是我得在我们费城西部的公寓的水槽里被大人洗澡，”肖恩.T说。

Back then, 40 years ago, he was a toddler named Shaun Thompson.

那时候，也就是40年前，他还是个叫做肖恩.汤姆森的小孩。

"I was so small, but I soon began to realize that where we lived wasn't necessarily the best place in the world."

“我那时还很小，但我很快意识到我们住的地方肯定不是世界上最好的地方。”

Shaun T grew up poor and had a rough childhood in a violent neighborhood.

肖恩.T从寒门长大，在充满暴力的环境里读过了坎坷的童年。

The family was on food stamps. And they had so little food he'd sneak bread into his underwear and eat it at night in bed.

全家人靠食品券过活。他们的事物实在太少了，他不得不偷偷在外套里藏一些面包，晚上在床上吃。

Being hungry stays with you.

饥饿的记忆会永远跟着你。

And when he got a scholarship to a state college, that came with a dining hall meal plan card, which meant free food.

当他考上了全额奖学金还带有肉食计划食堂用餐卡的州立大学后，终于可以吃到免费食物了。

"When you give someone who grew up on food stamps a meal card, I could just go and eat and eat. 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, 'Whhhhaaat?' "

“当你给一个靠食品券长大的人一张肉食卡，说你可以想吃多少吃多少的时候。然后我发现这张卡可以在多米诺餐厅用，晚上挨饿的日子成为了历史。我当时感觉，天哪！”

Shaun T gained 50 pounds his freshman year.

肖恩.T大一就增重了50磅。

He didn't like that.

他不喜欢这样。

But he says he was too embarrassed to go to the gym, even though he ran track in high school.

而他说他都不敢去健身房，哪怕他高中跑过步。

"I was extremely unhappy with the way that I looked and the way that I felt," he says.

“我很不喜欢我当时看起来的样子和心里的感觉，”他说。

But he finally got on the treadmill.

但他最终还是踏上了跑步机。

And he took some dance fitness classes.

他还报了一些健美舞蹈课。

And as soon as he'd lost just a few pounds, he says he loved how that made him feel.

而当他一旦瘦下来几磅之后，他说他超喜欢那种感觉。

So much so that he switched his major to sports science.

这种感觉如此强烈以至于他把专业换成了体育科学。

And then he went to the manager of the school rec center and told her, "I want to teach a class."

后来他去到学校的娱乐中心主任，告诉她，“我想要教课。”

Shaun T had no experience.

肖恩.T没有经验。

But his fellow students liked him.

但他带的学生都喜欢他。

And 90 of them signed up for his first class in the rec center.

有90个学生在娱乐中心报名了他的第一次课程。 He turned on the hip-hop song "Space Jam," from the 1996 movie with Michael Jordan, put it on repeat, and got everyone doing his halfway-thought-out hip hop aerobics routine.

他打开迈克尔.乔丹1996年的电影里面那首“太空拥堵”，让它单曲循环，然后带领大家一起来做他的嘻哈融合有氧的健身操。

The students loved it.

受到了学生们的好评。

"I was like are you kidding me?

我当时感觉，啊？这样也行？

This is the most amazing thing.

简直太不可思议了。

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.

我可以寓教于乐，大部分这些人不仅仅是照着我教的做，而且他们大部分都不敢跳舞的，现在他们却跳的很好，走出了自己的舒适区。

And I'm looking at these people and I'm like, 'This is it. I want to do this for the rest of my life.' "

我看着他们，我就想，“就是它了，这辈子我就干这个了。”

And that's what Shaun T has done.

肖恩.T确实言出必行。

First classes, at small workout studios.

最开始的课，都在小健身房教。

He taught a class for workers at a nuclear power plant in New Jersey.

他曾经在新泽西的一家核动力工厂教过工人上课。

He'd teach anywhere he could.

他教学不分地点。

Later he moved to LA and started doing videos.

后来他搬到了洛杉矶，开始录视频。

Today, the company that distributes his workouts, Beachbody LLC, says Shaun T has sold more than $1 billion worth of fitness videos.

如今，负责发行他的课程的沙滩身材LLC公司说，肖恩.T已经卖出了超过十亿份健身视频。

Shaun T says to stay motivated, it can help to mix it up.

肖恩.T说要保持上进心，它可以帮助你事半功倍。

For example, sign up for a dance class or a basketball league.

比如说，报一个舞蹈课程或者加入篮球社。

He does his own workouts, "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."

他自己也锻炼，“我还打网球。但有时还经常像这样约朋友打球'哟，我们今天打排球吧。’不一定要一成不变。你可以自己来点创意，会更有趣得多。”

And he says, focus on the fun, not about how much you weigh.

他还说，注意其中的乐趣，而不是你的体重。

"My goal for people out there is just just do things that make you feel good. 'Cause the weight will come off but the happiness is what's most important."

“我觉得人们的目标应该是做让你开心的事。'因为体重肯定会下来，而开心才最重要。’”

Of course, it can often be more complicated than that for people, including Shaun T.

当然，有时人们减肥要更困难，包括肖恩.T自己。

’Growing up in that violent neighborhood, he says he suffered abuse from his stepfather and went through things that, later in life, it took him years of therapy to really work through and understand.

成长在那种暴力的环境里，他说，他还收到继父的虐待还经历了一些痛苦的事情，让他通过多年的心理治疗才走出阴影，理解过去。

He encourages others to consider doing the same if they think they might have unresolved baggage holding them back from their health and fitness goals, or other goals for that matter.

他鼓励人们也考虑去进行治疗，如果他们感觉到过去的一些事让他们无法达成健康和健美的目标，或者其他方面的目标的话。

"You get stronger by unpacking the baggage, not by packing it into the closet," he says.

“要成长得更坚强，你需要丢下过去的包袱，而不是把它埋在心底，”他说。

But he adds, "It's just really important for people to understand that your biggest struggles are also the motivators to your biggest strengths."

但他又补充道,“重要的是人们要理解你最大的痛苦也可能是你最大的力量来源。”

Shaun T's struggles back then got him to do something that took courage when he was 14 years old and about to start high school.

肖恩.T的心里挣扎让他那时做了一件很需要勇气的事，他那时才14岁，刚准备上高中。

He decided to leave his family and go live with his grandparents in New Jersey.

他决定离开家人，去新泽西跟爷爷奶奶一起住。

His grandfather was a former boxer and a minister and this family was stable and loving.

他的爷爷过去曾是拳击手，当过部长，这个家庭非常地稳固有爱。

It was a big change and it made a big difference.

这是一次重大的改变，带来了深远的影响。

"I didn't start living until I was 14 years old," Shaun T says.

“14岁以前我都不曾真正活过，”肖恩.T说。

"From that point forward my grandparents were my angels, they were just like the best ever."

“从那时起，我的爷爷奶奶变成了我的守护天使，他们是最好的。”

In his book, Shaun T says even if it's in a less dramatic way, changing the people around you can make a difference.

在书里，肖恩.T写道哪怕不那么彻底，改变你周围的人也会对你的生活带来巨大改变。

If most of your friends are couch potatoes, he recommends spending more time with people who exercise and who will support you and encourage you to live a healthier life.

假如你的朋友都是沙发土豆，他建议你多把时间花在那些爱运动，会支持鼓励你过更健康的人身上。

On a more counterintuitive note, he says, "selfishness gets a bad rap."

在另一条反天性名言中，他说到，“自私口碑很差。”

He says some people spend so much time doing things for other people — their family, their friends — and they feel guilty taking any time at all just to take care of themselves.

他说有些人为他人花了如此多的时间—他们的家人，朋友—他们在照顾自己上花一点点时间他们就赶紧自责不已了。

He says obviously don't abandon your loved ones, but you'll be a happier person if you take time the time you need.

他说当然不然抛下你所爱的人啦，但你在自己身上花一些必要的时间你会更开心的。

He says it's usually OK to take 25 minutes to do that workout.

他说通常每天花25分钟来锻炼一下是没有问题的。

"Be selfish, because all the people in your life will benefit if you are," he says.

“自私一点，因为你生活中的人们也会因为你的自私而受益，”他说。

Of course when it comes to health and fitness, what you eat is important too.

当然，说到健康和健美，你吃什么也很重要。

Shaun T says one of those giant sugar-frosted cinnamon buns has so many calories you'd have to work out like a maniac for two hours to burn it off.

肖恩.T说那些大号的加糖肉桂面包热量太多以至于你必须像疯子一样锻炼两个小时才能消耗掉。But there too he says, enjoy yourself.

但他又说，爱吃就吃吧。

Eat healthy 85 percent of the time and enjoy some pizza or a doughnut the rest of the time.

85%的时间里吃健康食物，剩下的时间吃点披萨或者甜甜圈也行。

But, he says, cut the doughnut in half.

但是，他说，记住吃时把甜甜圈切一半。

END