Exercise is not just about 6 packs!

The way exercise is marketed these days, it’s easy to fall under the trap that it’s all about getting six-packs. We see posters of greek god models effortlessly flaunting their abs everywhere. Most of it is photoshopped, but heck our minds are easy to manipulate!

Once you spend a little time in the gym as I did, you will realize that getting abs isn’t the end goal. It is a byproduct, to say the least. I have been training for over 4 years now and still don’t have defined abs.

When we first start to exercise, everything seems daunting. We are riddled with all sorts of questions about the correct form, what to eat and what not to. With little or no progress to show for our efforts, it’s easy to get discouraged. 90% of people quit the gym after 3 months. as this article suggests.

In my experience, we begin to see changes happen after 3 months. These changes need not be visible at first.

Once we begin to get a hang of things, things start to change. We are able to lift more, recover faster and no longer seek motivation!

One of the main reasons to exercise in my opinion is to amplify happiness in our lives.

Let’s look at it this way. No one wants more stress in their lives. Stress causes us to overthink. Overthinking robs the sense of happiness from us.

Exercise helps us breakthrough from this cycle of stress. If I had to give one advice to office goers, it would be to hit the shower as soon as they reach home and head for a workout session. In the short term, Netflix may seem like an ideal de-stressor, in reality, you are only just stressing yourself further.

So the end goal shouldn’t be six-packs, it should be a healthier and peaceful mind.