Race walking shares many fitness benefits with running, research shows, while most likely contributing to fewer injuries. It does, however, have its own problem.
研究表明，竞走和跑步一样，有许多健身益处，但造成的伤害可能最小。不过，它也有自己的问题。
Race walkers are conditioned athletes. The longest track and field event at the Summer Olympics is the 50-kilometer race walk, which is about five miles longer than the marathon. But the sport’s rules require that a race walker’s knees stay straight through most of the leg swing and one foot remain in contact with the ground at all times. It’s this strange form that makes race walking such an attractive activity, however, says Jaclyn Norberg, an assistant professor of exercise science at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.
成为竞走运动员是有条件的。夏季奥运会最长的田径项目是50公里竞走，比马拉松长约5英里。这项运动的规则要求竞走者在摆动腿的大部分时间里膝盖保持笔直，一只脚与地面始终保持接触。然而，马萨诸塞州塞勒姆州立大学运动科学助理教授杰克琳•诺伯格说，正是奇怪形式使竞走成为非常吸引人的活动。
Like running, race walking is physically demanding, she says, According to most calculations, race walkers moving at a pace of six miles per hour would burn about 800 calories per hour, which is approximately twice as many as they would burn walking, although fewer than running, which would probably burn about 1,000 or more calories per hour.
她说，和跑步一样，竞走对身体的要求也很高，根据大多数计算结果，每小时6英里的速度行走的竞走者每小时大约消耗800卡路里，大约是他们步行消耗热量的两倍，尽管比跑步少，跑步每小时可能消耗1000以上卡路里。
However, race walking does not pound the body as much as running does, Dr. Norberg says. According to her research, runners hit the ground with as much as four times their body weight per step, while race walkers, who do not leave the ground, create only about 1.4 times their body weight with each step.
然而，诺伯格博士说，竞走对身体的冲击不如跑步。根据她的研究，跑步者撞击地面的重量是他们体重的四倍，而不离开地面的竞走者每踏一步的重量只有体重的1.4倍。
As a result, she says, some of the injuries associated with running, such as runner’s knee, are uncommon among race walkers. But the sport’s strange form does place considerable stress on the ankles and hips, so people with a history of such injuries might want to be cautious in adopting the sport. In fact, anyone wishing to try race walking should probably first consult a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.
因此，她说，一些与跑步有关的损伤，比如跑步者的膝盖，在竞走者中并不常见。但这项运动的奇怪形式确实给脚踝和臀部带来了相当大的压力，因此有过这类损伤史的人在采用这项运动时可能需要谨慎。她说，事实上，任何想尝试竞走的人都应该先咨询教练或有经验的竞走者，学习正确的技术。这需要一些练习。