How effective is your training program? Part 4 - a six pack is a waste of time

Today's post I will alienate people and offend the ones that are part of the problem, it comes from something that happened to a friend of mine who is in the fitness industry. She was essentially body shamed for not having a six pack abs. 

Our assessment of what a healthy body and a healthy lifestyle is had been warped to such an extent thanks to social media and fitness professionals who pose semi naked(what would 15 years ago be termed pornography), I believe we have lost sight of what it is to be healthy. 

These days everything has to be taken to the max, if you don't break yourself in the gym or eat half a gram of protein to little you have failed! So much pressure is put on the average person they are scared off by the whole process of getting healthier. 

I will start by saying this, having done it myself when I was younger I know, to get ripped you have to make a lot of sacrifices and it is not an easy process to get there. You have to have a mixture of an inferiority complex, single minded focus and a lack of balance in your life to do it. 

In no universe does a six pack equate to health, yes it's pretty to look at, just have a look at any semi nude posts on Instagram and the likes they get! It does not however represent n healthy lifestyle or a lifestyle everyone can achieve, most people have lives to lead and cannot dedicate the amount of time training doing food prep, ignoring work lunches, drinks etc. For some people dropping their body fat that low actually can actually harm their health by disrupting hormones. 

If it is your business to stand on a stage for the need to get external validation so be it, to portray that to the rest of the world as the benchmark of what we should look like is just plain wrong.  

First and foremost a healthy life should be a no pressure process about balance, in all aspects of life and tailored to each and every body's individual circumstances. 

#LiveThroughMovement