Good morning Sri.

First, from a fellow veteran, thanks for your service. I wanted to speak up about the abs bit. You and I both know that we all sport that six pack underneath whatever else we have on our bodies, so there is a fair argument that in order to show them off, the real challenge is proper diet. Exercise of course will build those abs. But body type has a great deal to do with whether or not you or I will ever see them. This is something I also write about a lot. If I am an endomorph, it's highly unlikely that I will ever,ever, ever get jacked like Jackman. That isn't a statement about my lack of discipline, but simply that the fat on my body is placed in such a way that it's never going to make my abs visible. To wit: my ex-husband was part Guamanian. As an islander, his subcutaneous fat always and forever covered up his rips. He was a competitive gymnast, and at 2% bodyfat he was still smooth. On the other end of the spectrum is Andreas Munzer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_M%C3%BCnzer, who so cut down his bodyfat he died very young. I have a six pack as a 67 yo woman, after lifting for 46 years, because my body fat is very low. That's a very important key to this; I am enough of an ectomorph so that when I reach a certain point I can indeed show it off. But perhaps, Sri, the larger question is to what end? I certainly don't walk around town with my midriff showing, and I hardly lift my shirt in pleasant company to show it off. The only folks who see it are at the gym, if they bother to look. So the real question is what's the point? That, of course, is strictly up to us. My body has a sixpack because I am extremely strong, and that strength allows me to do adventure travel all over the world. If I'm not stromg I die. That simple. The only reason I have a six pack is that I do the work to keep myself incredibly in shape, for functional fitness, not bragging rights. I can only speak for myself but I think it serves to ask ourselves why we are working out, and why having a six pack is so important.