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Age no bar, men dig SRK's 6-packs

AHMEDABAD: Let's call it is the SRK syndrome. Months after Shah Rukh Khan flaunted his six-pack abs in dard-e-disco in blockbuster Om Shanti Om , teens, youth and middle-aged alike are slugging it out, afflicted by the obsession to get six-packs a la SRK!

"Six pack joiye che!," gym instructors say this is the first thing men, irrespective of their age say when they join the gym these days.

"It's a rage. In our gym, be it a 16-year-old teenager or a senior gentleman over 50, all want six pack abs. We have a 58-year-old gentleman who is working his way out towards six-packs," says Nikhil Vaswani of Wellocity, the newly opened hi-end gym in Satellite.

Vivek Khare, 42, is heavily inspired by SRK who, he feels, has shown those approaching middle age that they need not sport a bulky middle! "SRK's abs have influenced me 95 per cent to join the gym. He is like Baba Ramdev for people like us, especially the ones above the age of 40," says Khare who puts in over an hour-and-a-half at the gym daily to reach his goal.

Experts say youngsters in their 20s take six to eight months to develop six-packs while men over 40 may take nearly a year as they cannot be put on gruelling ab exercises which can wreak havoc on their backs stressed out by sedentary corporate life! Mayur Patel, a 50-year-old businessman, has hired a personal trainer to tighten his middle. "If SRK and Shekhar Suman can do it, so can I," says Shah, who has taken the slow and steady approach.

"Shah Rukh Khan's abs have made men above 40 think that the target is achievable. It's a trend that is propelling people towards fitness," says fitness programmer Dr Bhargav Upadhyay.

Youngsters say six-pack abs are magnets to attract the fair sex towards them. "When girls look at a man with six-pack abs they believe that the guy is hard-working, committed, focused and works towards achieving his goals. In a way, it reflects his personality," reasons Amit Singh, a 21-year-old from Bopal.

The long haul, however, comes between many aspirants and the six-packs. "We have a lot of young people wanting to get six-pack abs in a month and eat their pizzas too. It's is hard work," says Kulin Rana, director, Studio d physique.

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