Adding classes in yoga, meditation and other so-called mind-body regimens is just one way fitness professionals in the financial district are responding to recent economic uncertainties roiling their corporate clientele. Some are also offering shorter, cheaper personal training sessions and, in at least one health club, quiet discounts for members who lose their jobs.

Amid layoffs, concerns about staying buff could seem trivial. (Imagine the headline “World Markets Near Collapse: Muscle Tone Under Threat.f221;) Yet, businesspeople themselves wonder how a perilous financial climate will affect their physical fitness — and if exercise could help them weather hard times.

Some struggle to squeeze in any workouts at all. But others, like Amy Sturtevant, an investment director for Oppenheimer & Company in Washington, find themselves doubling down on conditioning for relief. “Professionals are doing their best not to panic, but I know a lot of professionals who are panicking” about the markets, she said. “The only way to get away from it is to have some kind of outlet.”

Ms. Sturtevant, a mother of four, is training for her fourth marathon. With brokerage clients needing more hand-holding, she said, she stints on sleep rather than skip her 5 a.m. daily boot camp and 20-mile weekend runs.

But one of Ms. Sturtevant’s training partners, a portfolio manager, said in an e-mail message that she had not been as diligent as Ms. Sturtevant and had been “scarce” at their workouts. The portfolio manager said she had weathered some tough financial cycles, “but this one has been uniquely disabling.”

“Forget the 5 o’clock wake-up to run,” she wrote. “Who is sleeping?”

One business owner, Sheri David, is backsliding for business reasons. As chief executive of Impressions on Hold, a company based in New York that sells corporate voicemail systems, a tougher sales environment has meant Ms. David sees more of her customers and less of her personal trainer. Over the summer, she dropped from five sessions a week to three; by mid-September, she said, “it turned into one day for one hour.”

Her trainer, Chris Hall, chides Ms. David to make time and, when she does, to tune out her BlackBerry, she reported. “But I say, ‘You don’t understand — there’s 27,000 reasons I have to pay attention,’ ” referring to her accounts.

For his part, Mr. Hall — whose clients have included Catherine Zeta-Jones — is now offering 30-minute, “high-core, high-intensity” sessions and shared workouts, he said, “because people don’t necessarily have as much time as they used to, and they don’t want to spend as much money.”

According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, there are 41.5 million health club members in the United States. To keep them on the roster, clubs may be willing to bargain. Most customers who quit the Telos Fitness Center in Dallas, for example, must pay to rejoin. But, for suddenly strapped longtime members, “I’ll put a note in their file and we’ll let them pick up their membership without any fees,” said Clarisa Duran, the center’s sales and marketing director.

For Plus One, which operates in-house fitness centers, corporate accounts are the issue; until recently, its major accounts included the investment banks Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Though still operating in all of those except Bear Stearns (which closed in March), the company now must look to its recent expansion in other regions and industries for growth, said Tom Maraday, the senior vice president. (Google is one new client.)

“We’re a little experienced with stress because we went through 9/11 down here,” said Grace DeSimone, Plus One’s national director of group fitness. When disaster strikes, she noted, demand for yoga goes up, and on-site gyms exert a special pull: “People come and they want someone to talk to — it’s like Cheers.”

And, as in a bar, the televisions stay on. “In the banks, we have to keep the news on,” Mr. Maraday said. But at Cadence Cycling and Multisport Centers, TV’s show training videos rather than CNBC, because “we want this to be an escape,” said Mikael Hanson, director of performance for Cadence in New York.

During the Bear Stearns collapse, as becalmed financiers sought their escape, midday classes at the in-house gym grew crowded, according to a former Bear Stearns trader who declined to be named. When the final ax fell, they lost not just jobs but access to a club offering “everything,” she recalled, a hint of longing in her voice.
“They even gave you the shirts and shorts so you didn’t have to worry about laundry.” Now she can no longer get in her daily 5:30 a.m. workout. Her new employer has no gym and, with the markets erupting, her workday starts even earlier. “I wish there was a gym that opened at 5 in midtown,” the trader said, “but there isn’t.”

Stephanie Shemin Feingold misses a cushy fitness center, too. Since leaving a Midtown law firm in June to work at a nonprofit in Harlem, she’s been using her apartment building’s spartan fitness room. “When there are only three treadmills, it can get crowded pretty quickly,” she said.

“I’m lucky if I get in 20 minutes instead of the hour I used to do,” Ms. Shemin Feingold said. “My pants are getting tight. I’m going to have to figure out a new routine, because I can’t afford a new wardrobe.”

Fitness matters more than ever if you’re laid off, career counselors advise, not just for health, but to network and stay positive. “The last thing you want is to gain 20 pounds during a job search, ” said Dr. Jan Cannon, author of “Finding a Job in a Slow Economy.” “That just compounds that sense of, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ ”

Exercise, she added, can also spur creativity. “You know how we always have those ‘aha’ moments in the shower?” Dr. Cannon said. In the same way, “a good brisk walk can be very helpful.”

Jenny Herring, a Des Moines financial writer, usually walks or bikes for respite from the fulltime job search she began in June, after being downsized as part of the subprime mortgage fallout. But one day last month, feeling frustrated when her phone refused to ring, she varied the routine: “I said, I’m going to get outside, and I mowed the front and back yards” for exercise.

For a motivated few, extra time for conditioning actually proves a rare upside of unemployment. “A lot of people who are between jobs are using this downtime to go after a goal,” like a triathlon, said Mr. Hanson of Cadence Cycling.

Dr. Cannon recalled a client whose workouts last spring “got more frequent as time went on” — to block out the disappointment, and to give her something to get up and do every day.

“She lost 40 pounds.”

金融海嘯讓華爾街人舉步維艱，他們的健身計劃會因此受到波及嗎？

最近，全球經(jīng)濟(jì)的不確定性造成了金融業(yè)的動蕩，針對這一情況，金融區(qū)內(nèi)的專業(yè)健身機(jī)構(gòu)增設(shè)了瑜伽、冥想等身心養(yǎng)生課。一些健身中心還為會員提供短期、實惠的訓(xùn)練課程，有的俱樂部甚至暗中給予失業(yè)會員會費(fèi)折扣。

工作都沒了還談什么保持身材？想象一下這樣的標(biāo)題——《全球市場瀕臨崩潰：肌肉依然堅挺》——實在讓人有些啼笑皆非。但是，商務(wù)人士們想知道，嚴(yán)峻的經(jīng)濟(jì)環(huán)境會否影響身體健康，鍛煉是否有助于他們捱過苦日子。

有些人為了獲得訓(xùn)練名額費(fèi)盡心思，完全不在意課程內(nèi)容，但是另一些人，例如華盛頓歐本海默公司（Oppenheimer & Company）投資總監(jiān)——艾米·斯德文特卻發(fā)現(xiàn)，原本為了緩解壓力進(jìn)行的鍛煉最后卻讓人更加消沉。對于市場，“業(yè)內(nèi)人士正在努力控制恐慌情緒，不過，我知道很多人正飽受煎熬。”她說，“消除恐懼的唯一方法就是尋找一些發(fā)泄的途徑。”

斯德文特太太有4個孩子，她正在為自己的第4次馬拉松比賽進(jìn)行賽前訓(xùn)練。經(jīng)濟(jì)不景氣，花在顧客身上的時間必然會增加，因此，為了不錯過每天早上5點的訓(xùn)練和周末的20英里長跑，她寧愿犧牲睡眠時間。

她的訓(xùn)練搭檔——一位投資經(jīng)理表示自己沒有斯德文特太太勤奮，已經(jīng)“極少”出席訓(xùn)練了。她說，從業(yè)多年也算歷經(jīng)風(fēng)雨，“但是這一次的金融危機(jī)讓人感到特別無助。”

她在給筆者的郵件中寫道，“清晨5點起床跑步？還是算了吧。現(xiàn)在還有誰能睡得著？”

施瑞·戴維是一名企業(yè)家，由于業(yè)務(wù)原因，她的鍛煉計劃也開始縮減。她的公司專門向企業(yè)銷售語音郵件系統(tǒng)，作為CEO，隨著銷售環(huán)境不斷惡化，她不得不在客戶身上花更多時間，與私人教練見面的時間自然相對減少。整個夏天，她將每周5節(jié)訓(xùn)練課削減為3節(jié)；9月，計劃“變成了每周只有1小時”。

戴維的教練霍爾要求她重新制訂計劃，并且訓(xùn)練時要關(guān)閉手機(jī)。“但是我說，‘你無法理解——我有太多事情需要關(guān)心了。’”

霍爾也做出了適當(dāng)調(diào)整，開始為客戶提供30分鐘的“高強(qiáng)度精簡”訓(xùn)練課程，他說，“因為學(xué)員的時間少了，預(yù)算也少了。”

應(yīng)對壓力

根據(jù)美國運(yùn)動數(shù)據(jù)公司（American Sports Data）提供的信息，全美有4200萬人經(jīng)常參加體育鍛煉，其中約1/3都是健身中心會員（這組數(shù)字多年保持穩(wěn)定）。為了挽留這些客戶，俱樂部可能會做一些妥協(xié)。達(dá)拉斯的Telos健身中心規(guī)定，顧客若想重新入會必須繳納一定費(fèi)用。但是，突如其來的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)讓許多長期會員變得一貧如洗，針對這種情況，中心的銷售和市場總監(jiān)克拉麗莎·杜然表示，“我會在他們的檔案中備注，重新入會時可減免其費(fèi)用。”

對于Plus One室內(nèi)健身中心來說，如何保留企業(yè)賬戶才是最關(guān)鍵的問題；它們的重要客戶包括多家投資銀行，貝爾斯登、雷曼兄弟、美林、高盛和摩根士丹利悉數(shù)其中。高級副總裁湯姆·麥拉戴表示，除了今年3月宣布倒閉的貝爾斯登外，其他賬戶仍處于運(yùn)作中，近期公司的增長主要依靠將業(yè)務(wù)擴(kuò)展到其他地區(qū)和行業(yè)（Google是他們的新客戶之一）。

Plus One健身中心總監(jiān)格蕾斯·德西蒙說，“9·11事件讓我們積累了應(yīng)對壓力的經(jīng)驗。”每當(dāng)災(zāi)難來襲，瑜伽課程的需求就會增長，健身房也表現(xiàn)出特別的吸引力：“人們來到這里，與人交談——就像在酒吧。”

這里和酒吧一樣，電視總是開著的。“在銀行，我們必須打開電視，時刻關(guān)注新聞。” 麥拉戴說。但是，在Cadence 自行車和多功能運(yùn)動中心，電視里播出的都是訓(xùn)練視頻而不是CNBC頻道，因為“我們希望幫助客戶逃離緊張情緒”。

一位不愿透露姓名的貝爾斯登前交易員說，貝爾斯登破產(chǎn)期間，失落的金融家們開始紛紛尋找心靈避風(fēng)港，健身房的中午課程總是爆滿。當(dāng)噩耗最終傳來，這些人失去的不僅是工作，還包括健身俱樂部提供的應(yīng)有盡有的服務(wù)。她的回憶中流露出無限留戀。

“運(yùn)動完總會擔(dān)心洗衣服的問題，可是健身中心考慮得很周到，他們甚至提供汗衫和短褲。”現(xiàn)在，她已經(jīng)中止了每天早上5：30的訓(xùn)練計劃。新公司不提供健身卡，由于經(jīng)濟(jì)行情極不穩(wěn)定，她的上班時間還有所提前。“我希望市中心能有5點開門的健身房，很可惜，這只是奢望。”

意想不到的效果

斯蒂芬尼也非常懷念原來那家氛圍輕松、面積寬暢的健身中心。自6月離開原來的律師事務(wù)所，來到一家非營利公司工作后，她已經(jīng)很久沒享受過健身帶來的快感了。盡管公寓附設(shè)了健身房，但是“只有三臺跑步機(jī)，房間很快變得人滿為患。”她說。

“原先我得鍛煉1個小時，現(xiàn)在能有20分鐘都算走運(yùn)了。”斯蒂芬尼說，“褲子已經(jīng)瘦了。看來，我得找新的鍛煉方式了，因為我可沒錢置辦一柜子合身的新衣服。”

職業(yè)顧問們也建議：失業(yè)后，健身變得更加重要，不僅有利于健康，而且能促進(jìn)與外界的聯(lián)絡(luò)，保持積極的心態(tài)。 《逆市求職》（Finding a Job in a Slow Economy）的作者讓·坎農(nóng)博士說，“恐怕沒人想在求職期間增加20磅肥肉吧，這只會讓人產(chǎn)生自我懷疑，‘我怎么了？’”

她還說，鍛煉可以激發(fā)創(chuàng)造力。“為什么我們總在洗澡時靈光一現(xiàn)？”坎農(nóng)博士說。同理，“一次輕松的散步也會大有裨益。”

珍妮·赫寧是一名金融領(lǐng)域的作家，由于次貸投資失敗，她的身家大幅縮水，自6月開始，她經(jīng)常在找工作的間隙用散步或騎自行車的方式放松身心。有一天，由于始終沒有接到面試電話，她感到異常沮喪，于是她改變了運(yùn)動方式：“我把前院后院的草坪都修剪了一番，就當(dāng)作是鍛煉身體。”

事實證明，失業(yè)人士花一些時間進(jìn)行健身訓(xùn)練往往會起到意想不到的效果。Cadence 自行車中心的漢森說，“人們可以利用停工期設(shè)定并追求一個從未嘗試過的新目標(biāo)，例如三項全能。”

坎農(nóng)博士回憶說，去年春天有一位女士為了消除失業(yè)的困擾，加入了幾項訓(xùn)練計劃，好讓自己每天有早起的動力和生活的目標(biāo)。后來，她的訓(xùn)練安排越來越頻密。

猜猜結(jié)果如何？她足足減了40磅。