1 . Online training is one of the fastest growing parts of the fitness industry. If you’re considering joining the online fitness community, consider these benefits and drawbacks.
One of the most popular reasons for working out following an online video is that it offers ultimate convenience. No need to roll out of bed at 5 a. m. to attend that 6 a. m. boot camp class, which may end up being full when you arrive.
Online training also has broad offerings. When you head online, you have instructors from around the globe, all ready and willing to help you master your favorite moves.
All these are undoubtedly positive-online training provides fitness resources to general consumers wherever they are, without requiring access to a gym or fitness studio.
Very few online fitness programs enable the instructor to see you, check your form, and offer corrections based on your performance.
| A．Another is the price. |
| B．But it’s not without problems. |
| C．The same goes for different types of exercise. |
| D．However, online personal training isn’t for everyone. |
| E．Instead, you can turn it on at home at your convenience. |
| F．That being said, online workouts aren’t perfect when it comes to safety. |
| G．This means you could perform exercises wrongly, or even unsafely, without knowing it. |
2 . When you love working out, taking a break from exercise can seem a waste of time — there are training plans to follow and goals to be met. So, what’s the problem? According to new research, excessive training can be damaging to mental well-being.
“The benefits of regular physical activity are well-established, but it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, says Janet, an expert at physical training. But how do you know if you’re doing too much? ”Over-exercising can mean training for too long or too intensely without enough rest for your personal limits,” she says. “Some of us may feel unable to stop.” Indeed, one research shows almost 40 percent of us feel guilty if we miss a workout and less than 59 percent regularly take a rest day. So should you be taking more time out?
By exercising beyond your limits, not only could you injure your body and reduce muscle mass, you could also end up feeling anxious, too. Over-exercising can impact your mood, relationships and ability to function in other areas of your life, warns Janet. “Exercise releases the stress hormone cortisol. For most people, this can help you better manage stress levels. Over-exercising, however, can lead to increased levels of cortisol in the blood stream which can lead to poor sleep, depression and problems with memory and concentration.”
Still not convinced? If you find it hard to put down your trainers, you’re not alone. Up to 10 percent of endurance athletes are affected by overtraining syndrome, with common effects including muscle soreness, persistent fatigue and even mental breakdown, says Professor James. “In addition, over-exercise can stimulate hyper inflammation, which has a severe effect on brain health.” There is a simple solution, however. “It has been shown that exhaustion may be delayed almost indefinitely by frequent and regular short breaks,” assures James.
1. What is Janet’s attitude towards excessive exercising?| A．Favorable. | B．Tolerant. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．Definitions of over-exercising. |
| B．Effects of excessive exercising. |
| C．Benefits of exercising with friends. |
| D．Approaches to reaching people’s limits. |
| A．Over-exercising can lead to severe stress problems. |
| B．Taking a rest from over-exercising could ease tiredness. |
| C．Brain health can be guaranteed by improving concentration. |
| D．Over-training syndrome is common for those who exercise regularly. |
| A．What is regular exercising? | B．Say no to extreme exercise. |
| C．Take a short break from exercise. | D．How to balance exercise and work? |
3 . Games like Pump It Up are enjoyable because it takes things that make games addictive—points, levels and challenges, for example—and puts them and physical movement together.
Have an objective.
When you’re playing a game, there’s always an objective.
Compete against others.
Research suggests that adding an element of competition to your exercise routine can actually help you work out harder.
Researchers found that collaboration—getting a group to work together toward a common goal—was also an effective way to increase physical activity. So grab a close friend or family member and bring them to the gym with you—there’s a reason why the “gym buddy” exists.
Add an element of novelty.
Some people love video games because there’s a lot of unpredictability and surprise. You can recreate this sense of wonder in your own exercises.
| A．Look for opponents. |
| B．Team up with partners. |
| C．It needs to be both specific and challenging. |
| D．You can participate in a step-tracking challenge. |
| E．Take photos of at least 5 different flowers on your neighborhood walk. |
| F．It helps you focus and motivates you to keep playing until you win the game. |
| G．This powerful combination motivates people to keep on playing and exercising. |
4 . Everyone knows the benefits of exercise: stronger muscles, more energy, weight management.
lf your primary aim is to improve your mood, the bar for what counts as exercise is far lower than itis for weight loss or fitness gains. You can see very large mental benefits with low-intensity exercise.
When any movement can bring benefits, the best activity is one you like to do ---- whether that's swimming, team sports or dancing.
Is it possible to overdo it? The answer is yes. A minority will even develop clinical depression as a result of overtraining. But these bad effects are restricted to serious athletes.
| A．Consistency is the key to mood lifting. |
| B．So the type of workout you do really matters. |
| C．A mood boost is often considered an added bonus. |
| D．You can seek out an activity that makes you feel good. |
| E．For the rest of us, any movement can only be beneficial. |
| F．What's more, moderate exercise can have huge mental benefits. |
| G．It's not like the longer or harder you exercise, the better you feel. |
5 . Here we’ve got three tips to help you start an exercise habit that can stick. It’s a lot easier than you think.
You don’t have to be a marathoner to get meaningful health benefits from exercise. Experts say even daily activities, which include mopping the floor, organizing a room or carrying groceries up the stairs can reduce the risk of diseases like diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers.
So remind yourself that it’s not a choice between hours-long workout or nothing at all. Instead, think of starting an exercise routine like standing up from your chair and sitting back down repeatedly.
Focus on how exercise makes you feel great
There are so many positives that happen when you move. It improves all the tasks that demand focus and creativity. It helps you generate energy. It boosts mood.
Forget long- term benefits like weight loss or better overall health.
Figure out what kind of exercise and workout location makes you feel good
If weightlifting in a crowded gym gives you anxiety, try to get a set of weights for home or follow workout videos on YouTube or ride a bike in the park.
| A．Start small and every movement counts |
| B．They often take much longer time to achieve |
| C．Focus on immediate payoffs like improved mood and energy |
| D．In short, any movement helps to clear fat and sugar out of blood |
| E．Remember, when you have more energy, you’re a happier person |
| F．Keep trying until you find a workout routine that makes you happy |
| G．No matter how modest those goals are, they create this feeling like I can do more |
6 . Over the past decades, experts have done a considerable amount of research to explore different ways to encourage children’s learning. Especially, there has been a common focus on how physical activity, separated from the learning activities, can improve children’s learning. However, there has been less of a focus aimed the potential of integrating physical activity into the learning activities.
The main purpose of the Basket Mathematics study conducted at five Danish primary and elementary schools by researchers from the University of Copenhagen therefore was to develop a learning activity that integrates basketball and mathematics and examine how it might affect children’s motivation for mathematics.
756 children from 40 different classes at Copenhagen area schools participated in the project, where about half of them－once a week for six weeks－had Basketball Mathematics during gym class, while the other half played basketball without mathematics.
“During classes with Basketball Mathematics, the children had to collect numbers and perform calculations associated with various basketball exercises. An example could be counting how many times they could sink a basket from three meters away vs at a one-meter distance, and adding up the numbers. Both the math and basketball elements could be adjusted to suit the children’s levels, as well as being adjusted for whether it was addition, multiplication or some other operations that needed to be practiced,” explains Linn Damsgaard, a leading researcher.
The results showed that children’s motivation for math integrated with basketball was 16% higher compared to classroom math learning. Children also experienced a 14% increase in self-determination compared with classroom teaching. Meanwhile Basketball Mathematics improved their math confidence.
“We are planning to do research to examine whether the Basketball Mathematics model can strengthen performance in mathematics. Once we have the final results, we hope that they will inspire school teachers and principals to prioritize more physical activity and movement in such subjects. Eventually, we hope to succeed in putting these tools into school system and teacher education,” says Associate Professor Jacob Wienecke.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To show the advantage of the study. | B．To explain the reason for the study. |
| C．To conduct a review of past research. | D．To introduce a way to raise math grades. |
| A．All kids didn’t play basketball. | B．Kids were divided into 40 groups. |
| C．It studied kids’math performance. | D．It tailored activities to different kids. |
| A．More motivation for exercise. | B．More confidence in basketball. |
| C．A gain in desire to learn math. | D．A rise in determination to learn. |
| A．Make math learning easier. | B．Inspire students’ math confidence. |
| C．Build physical activity into teaching. | D．Notice the benefits of physical exercise. |
7 . Bouncier running shoes may be bad
Despite regular changes in running shoes over the years, it is estimated that every year at least a third of runners get muscle or joint injuries caused by repeated striking of the ground. Many sports shoe-makers have begun adding extra material to running shoes, to try to soften the impact on the legs — so-called maximalist footwear.
A new study suggests this is because the extra cushioning alters the spring-like mechanics of the legs of a runner in a way that means their legs experience a greater impact with every step.
Juha-Pekka Kulmala at the University of Helsinki in Finland and his colleagues studied the biomechanics of 12 healthy men aged between 22 and 32 as they ran in two shoes types.
The first wore regular running shoes with 33 millimetres of cushioning under the heel and 22 millimetres under the forefoot, and then highly-cushioned shoes with a heel 43 millimetres thick and a forefoot of 37 millimetres.
The participants ran at two set speeds — 10 and 15 kilometres per hour — along a 30-metre platform that measured how hard their feet hit the ground. They also wore reflective stickers that allowed video cameras to capture their motion for analysis.
Normally when we run, our legs act like springs, with the ankle and knee joints bending, so that the leg as a whole compresses (压缩) as the foot lands, says Kulmala. But because highly cushioned shoes already compress under the feet, our bodies subconsciously respond by no longer bending the leg joints as much. In other words, our legs become stiffer (更僵硬的).
Kade Paterson at the University of Melbourne in Australia says the findings make sense from a biomechanical point of view.
| A．The video suggested this was because the runners bent their knees and ankles less when they wore the maximalist shoes. |
| B．But injury rates haven’t fallen. |
| C．This means running in maximalist shoes may raise the risk of injuries. |
| D．Like many health-related things, we should be somewhere in the middle. |
| E．At both speeds, the runners landed on their feet harder when they wore the maximalist shoes than the regular kind. |
| F．However, he also maintains that long-term research is needed to see if maximalist shoes really lead to more injuries. |
8 . The benefits of regular exercise are well documented but there’s a new bonus to add to the ever-growing list. New research found that middle-aged women who were physically fit could be nearly 90 percent less likely to develop dementia (失智症) in later life-and if they did, it came on a decade later than less sporty women.
Lead researcher Dr.Helena Horder, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said: “These findings are exciting because it’s possible that improving people’s cardiovascular (心血管的) fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia.”
For the study, 191 women with an average age of 50 took a bicycle exercise test until they were tired out to measure their peak (最大值的) cardiovascular capacity. The average peak workload was measured at 103 watts.
A total of 40 women met the criteria for a high fitness level with a capacity of 120 watts or higher. While 92 women were in the medium fitness category; a total of 59 were of low fitness level, with a peak workload of 80 watts or less, or having their tests stopped because of health problems.
These women were then tested for dementia six times over the following four decades. During that time, 44 of the women developed dementia. Five percent of the highly fit women developed dementia, compared to 25 percent of the women with medium fitness and 32 percent of the women with low fitness.
“However, this study does not show cause and effect between cardiovascular fitness and dementia, it only shows an association,” said Horder. “More research is needed to see if improved fitness could have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and also to look at when during a lifetime a high fitness level is most important.” She also admitted that a relatively small number of women were studied, all of whom were from Sweden, so the results might not be applicable to other groups.
1. What is on the ever-growing list mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Positive effects of doing exercises. | B．Exercises suitable for the middle-aged. |
| C．Experimental studies on dementia. | D．Advantages of sporty women over men. |
| A．To predict their maximum heart rate. | B．To assess their cardiovascular capacity. |
| C．To change their habit of working out. | D．To detect their potential health problems. |
9 . Sports day! These two words can inspire both joy and terror in the hearts of students everywhere. For many, sports day can be a great day of fun and the chance to bag a prize or two.
Today, more and more schools have recognized the importance of exercise.
However, some people feel that it’s important that sport has winners and that learning to lose is just as important as learning how to win.
There are lots of people who agree with the idea—parents in particular! According to a 2017 survey by Families Online, 82% of parents say they prefer “traditional” competitive sports days.
People have different ideas about whether it is the winning or the taking part that counts when it comes to school sports days. So, should School Sports Day be competitive or not? We want to know your ideas.
| A．What’s the point if no one wins? |
| B．Should sport just be about winning? |
| C．Many of them have “non-competitive” sports days. |
| D．Everyone should be celebrated for trying and playing their part. |
| E．Many adults are worried that their kids can get injured when doing sports. |
| F．For others, it might feel like having to take part in something they aren’t good at. |
| G．Many adults feel that children can learn valuable lessons in both winning and losing. |
10 . As we age, even if we’re healthy, the heart just isn’t as efficient in processing oxygen as it used to be. In most people the first signs show up in their 50s or early 60s. And among people who don’t exercise, the changes can start even sooner.
“Think of a rubber band. In the beginning, it is flexible, but put it in a drawer for 20 years and it will become dry and easily broken,” says Dr. Ben Levine, a heart specialist at the University of Texas. That’s what happens to the heart. Fortunately for those in midlife, Levine is finding that even if you haven’t been an enthusiastic exerciser, getting in shape now may help improve your aging heart.
Levine and his research team selected volunteers aged between 45 and 64 who did not exercise much but were otherwise healthy. Participants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group participated in a program of nonaerobic (无氧) exercise—balance training and weight training—three times a week. The second group did high-intensity aerobic exercise under the guidance of a trainer for four or more days a week. After two years, the second group saw remarkable improvements in heart health.
“We took these 50-year-old hearts and turned the clock back to 30-or 35-year-old hearts,” says Levine. “And the reason they got so much stronger and fitter was that their hearts could now fill a lot better and pump (泵送) a lot more blood during exercise.” But the hearts of those who participated in less intense exercise didn’t change, he says.
“The sweet spot in life to start exercising, if you haven’t already, is in late middle age when the heart still has flexibility,” Levine says. “We put healthy 70-year-olds through a yearlong exercise training program, and nothing happened to them at all.”
Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, says Levine’s findings are a great start. But the study was small and needs to be repeated with far larger groups of people to determine exactly which aspects of an exercise routine make the biggest difference.
1. What does Levine want to explain by mentioning the rubber band?| A．The right way of exercising. | B．The causes of a heart attack. |
| C．The difficulty of keeping fit. | D．The aging process of the heart. |
| A．Diet plan. | B．Professional background. |
| C．Exercise type. | D．Previous physical condition. |
| A．Middle-aged hearts get younger with aerobic exercise. |
| B．High-intensity exercise is more suitable for the young. |
| C．It is never too late for people to start taking exercise. |
| D．The more exercise we do, the stronger our hearts get. |
| A．Making use of the findings. | B．Interviewing the study participants. |
| C．Conducting further research. | D．Clarifying the purpose of the study. |
