The fitness movement that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s centered around aerobic exercise. Millions of individuals became engaged in a variety of aerobic activities, and literally thousands of health spas developed around the country to capitalize on this emerging interest in fitness, particularly aerobic dancing for females. A number of fitness spas existed prior to this aerobic fitness movement, even a national chain with spas in most major cities. However, their focus was not on aerobics, but rather on weight-training programs designed to develop muscular mass, strength, and endurance in their primarily male enthusiasts. These fitness spas did not seem to benefit financially form the aerobic fitness movement to better health, since medical opinion suggested that weight-training programs offered few, if any, health benefits. In recent years, however, weight training has again become increasingly popular for males and for females. Many current programs focus not only on developing muscular strength and endurance but on aerobic fitness as well.
始于20世纪60年代末和70年代初的健身运动以有氧运动为中心。数以百万计的人开始从事各种有氧运动，全国各地发展了数千家健康水疗中心，以利用人们对健身的兴趣，尤其是女性对于有氧操的兴趣。在这项有氧健身运动之前，已经有许多健身水疗中心，甚至在大多数大城市都有一家全国性的水疗中心连锁店。然而，他们的重点不是有氧运动，而是旨在培养主要男性爱好者肌肉质量、力量和耐力的重量训练项目。这些健身水疗中心似乎没有从有氧健身运动中获得更好的健康益处，因为医学观点表明，重量训练项目对健康几乎没有好处。然而，近年来，重量训练再次变得越来越受男性和女性的欢迎。目前的许多项目不仅关注肌肉力量和耐力的发展，还关注有氧健身。
Historically, most physical-fitness tests have usually included measures of muscular strength and endurance, not for health-related reasons, but primarily because such fitness components have been related to performance in athletics. However, in recent years, evidence has shown that training programs designed primarily to improve muscular strength and endurance might also offer some health benefits as well. The American College of Sports Medicine now recommends that weight training be part of a total fitness program for healthy Americans. Increased participation in such training is one of the specific physical activity and fitness objectives of Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives.
从历史上看，大多数体能测试通常包括肌肉力量和耐力的测量，这不是出于健康原因，而是主要因为这些体能成分与体育表现有关。然而，近年来，有证据表明，主要旨在提高肌肉力量和耐力的训练项目也可能对健康有益。美国运动医学院现在建议将重量训练作为健康美国人全面健身计划的一部分。增加对此类培训的参与是《健康人2000年：国家健康促进和疾病预防目标》的具体体育活动和健身目标之一。
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