Times of India :: Belly bounces back as men tire of six-pack

Times of India :: Belly bounces back as men tire of six-pack
(My Original Blog Post: http://vickykapoor.com/delhi/belly-bounces/)

Men with bellies are back. The ‘Return of the Pot Belly’ is being touted as a repulsion of the super-flat six-pack and eight-pack washboard abs.

Suddenly, men with bellies are as acceptable as they were in the days when Sanjeev Kumar and Shammi Kapoor were sexy. Jackie Shroff and Govinda are currently seen happily sporting their bellies!

The ‘Bouncing Belly’ it would seem, indicates an ennui with the metrosexual man, who was chiselled to perfection. Even the New York Times reports on how men with shredded abdominals are getting rarer in 2009. We’ve got headlines screaming: ‘It’s Hip to be Round Again’ and ‘Pot-bellies are the new six-pack for men’.

In India, until recently, a man with a belly was regarded as a symbol of prosperity. Then came the super six-pack generation, thanks to Shah Rukh Khan, who altered the body definition of Indian men. Well, that was so last year!

Blame it on the fitness fatigue; the belly has changed its shape again. Now, it’s hip to be round at the belly. Meet India’s first male belly dancer, Queen Harish. He’s done his bit: going to the gym, working out for hours and being on a rigid diet. But, now he has given it all up. He says, “I don’t mind having a round belly. Flat stomachs are so artificial. The six-pack obsession got to me. I just wanted a normal body.

I have a round belly. When I move while dancing, I think it’s sexy. A lot of people look at my round belly when I dance. It’s sensual. When I’m not dancing, I’m happy being myself. Having a belly is sexy again.” 

Perhaps manscaping has been hit by the recession, which has made men go easy on their body image. Crushing and challenging fitness rituals have taken a backseat as laziness creeps in. Fitness experts blame it on the six-pack, flat-abs obsession.

Leena Mogre, Mumbai’s leading fitness guru says, “It’s abnormal to have eight-pack abs. I’ve seen celebrities go without water and food for days before a photo-shoot. It’s extremely unhealthy. Such body definition is difficult to maintain. The minimum workout is three hours. Nobody can continue this fitness regimen for too long. That’s when you let go, after which, you’re okay with the round belly. The moment you stop working out, your body definition changes. Maybe, we’re witnessing a fitness fatigue, which makes it quite okay to have a paunch.”

Actor Rahul Dev, who also owns a gym says, “Most men, after they’ve achieved their six-pack abs target, guzzle down bottles of beer. After a point, men don’t care too much about their bouncing bellies. Especially after years of deprivation.” He adds, “You need endurance, patience and concentration for a perfect body. It’s a punishing regimen. Most men lack the endurance to continue tough schedules to get washboard abs. We’re not saying pot-bellies are acceptable.

But there’s no running away from them either. So, after a strict fitness craze, you’ll have a letting go phase and pot-bellies will be okay.”

So, thin is not so in and belly bumps on men are fine. The look is overall thin, with some extra flab in the middle. In Hollywood, Mathew Perry lost his slim physique for a rather portly shape; singer Robbie Williams has become robust; John Travolta has a bit of a belly and Kurt Russell looks good with a belly. While in Bollywood, Sanjay Dutt has an expanded belly. In fact, websites are flooded with reports of how Salman’s six-pack abs are now replaced by a paunch. Ditto for Emraan Hashmi.

Says Vicky Kapoor, fitness expert and owner of Ultimate gym in Delhi, “The psychology isn’t about being paunchy and slouchy. Till recently, men with pot-bellies looked so middle-aged. They had a complex about their growing bellies. Now, we’re just saying looking good shouldn’t be a stress. Neither should having a pot-belly give you anxiety.” That’s something stylist Sylvie agrees with, “Men are much more conscious about their bodies. But there’s a lack of consistency. Men get bored with fitness regimes, like they do with everything else in life. Especially, after marriage, men develop a paunch. Until recently, it triggered off a fierce reaction. This year, I guess I am seeing men who’ve been working out, have let go. But they don’t look ugly with pot-bellies. That’s the new body definition. A fit body is taking a holiday, that’s how I would interpret it.”

We’re witnessing the rise of real, super macho men, not metro sexualised, starved men with washboard abs. So, the “burgeoning potbelly,” as Guy Trebay writes in the New York Times, may be here to stay with men not trying too hard to battle the bulge. Says Gurpreet Kaull, of Clubxcell in Delhi, “We’ve reached a burnout stage. The hurrah of six-abs has whimpered away. Men don’t want to try too hard. They seem to be at ease with their belly bulge.”