Six Pack Abs are a highly coveted physical attribute in the world of health and fitness. The pursuit of health perfectionism has become an obsession, and a thin waistline adorned with six-pack abs is at the forefront. But chasing a body shaped by conventional standards of attraction and achieving an ideal midsection can turn out to be a long and dangerous road,  leading to hormonal, emotional, and physical issues.

This isn’t because six-pack abs are inherently bad or unhealthy, it’s because the pursuit and achievement of six-pack abs can bad and unhealthy for us.

Why?

1. They serve no functional purpose. 

Having a visible six-pack serves no functional purpose for the human body. This is because defined abdominal muscles are usually the result of extraordinary leanness, not increased functionality and strength. While having a strong, stable core is most definitely necessary to support the body – it doesn’t have to be visible to function properly.

2. It won’t make us any healthier.

Because having a six-pack serves no functional purpose, it’s safe to assume it also doesn’t provide any added health benefits. There are plenty of healthy, fit and athletic men and women without a six-pack, many of whom are stronger and faster than those who sport abdominal definition.

4. It’s important to support our body with food.

To achieve the leanness needed see abdominal definition, we have to eat less food than our body requires. As a result, it’s easy to become obsessed with food intake, and it becomes was all you think about every-second-of-the-day. Eating below our necessary caloric needs, means not recovering well from training, and being much more prone to injury. This also leads to bouts of depression and anxiety.

Having a healthy relationship with food and being in love with how it nourishes our body, is the best outlook. Loving the way we look, what our body does for us, and not thinking twice about eating chocolate at 3pm is worth way more than anything a six-pack has to offer.

7. We have other fitness goals. 

Achieving a six-pack takes a hella lot of work. When abdominal definition is the end-goal, almost all of your fitness time must dedicated to becoming lean. This is not our end goal. Our end goal is to become stronger, faster, and healthier.

It’s important to love our relationship with fitness. We don’t need to spend hours working on our core, we just want to be strong enough to carry us through our tough runs and look decent in our clothes. We want to do activities that we enjoy, not spend hours doing core work.

We want to be healthier, stronger, and more fit…but that doesn’t mean we have to have that “coveted” six pack abs.

Don’t worry about pleasing this two percent of people because six-pack abs are not requirement of physical attractiveness, and pursing a six-pack would be a complete waste of our time.

Six-pack abs are not inherently bad or unhealthy. If you’re sportin’ a six-pack and have a vibrant, healthy body and outlook on life – keep at it! But next time you’re inclined to “pin” an image adorned with six-pack abs designed to tell you “your body isn’t good enough unless it looks like this” – I challenge you to ask yourself, “Who am I doing this for?”

Let’s be healthy, strong, and fit. Let’s work towards reaching our goals, without obsessing over the perfect body image. Yes you need to watch your caloric intake…but not to the point of obsession. Be mindful, without going to far.

Today’s workout will help you achieve your goals, without taking all day!

Day 9 exercises: 3 sets of 10

****Click here for how to videos****

• Crunches
• Dumbbell Side Bends
• Russian Twists
• Plank – Your Choice (:45 2X)

Bonus: #DailyAbs – There’s always the options to do a little more…but our Daily Abs routine is quick and efficient. Do a few rounds for an extra burn, then enjoy your day. Relax, get some rest, hydrate, stretch, roll out your legs…and get ready for those long runs!