For the longest time, the fitness and ‘health and slimming industry’ has brought on the loud visuals to entice consumers to their products and services. 

Think sexy, cute, half naked models (both males and females) with smoldering eyes and tight abs. Think the explosion of selfies showing off buns, guns and boobs. Well, I am sorry but that is not necessary a picture of health. It is possibly an illusion.

Six-pack abs of fitness competitors.

Abs Don’t Do Much Work

Society gives abs more credit than they really deserve. All the flaunting of 6-pack abs by bikini models, celebrities and fitness junkies conditions us to think and believe that 6-pack abs are what you need to be going after for your fitness goal. But is your fitness and health really just about having 6-pack abs? In fact, when you focus on working your 6-pack abs, you will likely not achieve the packs. This is simply because they are not quite the biggest muscle group in your body and you do not end up burning enough fats in the body when you just focus solely on them.

If you are a time-poor mum, you might get the biggest bang for your buck doing more squats.

Tight Abs Or Slouched Back

What would you do if you want to train for your 6-pack abs?

Conventionally, people will crunch, sit-up, plank and curl-up till they nurture those packs. Repetitive movements have a high chance of causing unnecessary stress to your spine. Imagine you have been sitting at your desk the whole day, body slouched forward towards the desk/computer. Then you head to a workout session where you repeatedly engage in these “crunch” movements to “build your 6-pack.” You can be sure your spine and back will not be very happy.

If you are a mum who is still breastfeeding, your back (and abdominals) will thank you if you focus more chest opening and lengthening exercises.

Truth About Getting Abs

The hard truth is that if you are not eating clean enough, your 6-pack will never reveal. Ask Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth or Chris Evans how they prepared for their roles as Wolverine, Thor and Captain America, respectively. Sure, they had the most sophisticated workout programs, but they also had the strictest diet regimes! They could be following their workout programs religiously, but their abs won’t surface if they continued to eat the same way they would normally eat.

If you are a mum (or super hero dad) and not paid millions to maintain your body in the same manner as our Marvel heroes, stop focusing on the abs, and start eating better. Take baby steps and be patient.


Your Sustainable Lifestyle

If you don’t already know, maintaining 6-pack abs is a full time job. You need to be planning for the right foods you have to eat 4-5 times a day, and the workouts you need to be doing every day. Are you ready for that? If you are, by all means go ahead and reach for the sky. But if you are a mum with little ones, this may be a goal that will add on more stress for you if you don’t have the right support.

And the reality is most of us are not athletes, bikini models or celebrities who are paid to maintain a highly marketable physique. So don’t be misled by the noise and distractions in the media. Do what is achievable within your abilities, which supports you to lead a happy fulfilled lifestyle.

What’s Your Intention?

Ultimately, identify what the true intention is for your fitness goal. Cosmetics and beauty are naturally one of the most common reasons why we work on our fitness. But go ahead and challenge yourself to ask “why” again. I can assure you that achieving those 6-pack abs is likely not the main reason why you set out on this goal. Most of the time, there is a bigger reason why. And that is a more valuable intention you need to identify with, to help you achieve long term success!

Visit the Mums In Sync page to find out more about Kareen's work.

_{This post was first published on Mums In Sync blog and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author.
Images: https://instagram.com/kareenlai/}

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