A few basic facts: Charles Assisi, about running to be healthy, but more slowly

At the beginning of this year, I said loudly and confidently to everyone around me that I would finally get my stomach removed and go back to the flat abs I had. it in previous years.

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I was gently warned. Dr. Ruchira Tendolkar, the soft-spoken physiotherapist at the gym I visit, tried to temper my expectations. He said: “It will take time.

I told him about the articles I was reading, the new tricks I discovered, and the big goals I set for myself.

I was quoting, in other words, from the center of the self-help industry; a multi-million dollar industry that pioneered the idea that all a person needs, in order to achieve a goal, is energy and a multi-step program.

Every aspect of this industry, from books and vlogs to Reels and videos, has the message of “See? It’s that easy. You can do it too!”

Spoiler alert: No, I can’t. My slow metabolism is just a medical fact. Power cannot change it. In pursuit of the goal I had set for myself, I struggled with this reality. I changed my diet, added supplements, followed a rigorous exercise schedule even when my body and mind were begging for a break.

The more I tried to “hack” my body, the less cooperative it seemed. It was as if my body had gone on a rebellion.

I went from determination to confusion… to amusement. The body doesn’t care how many quotes you’ve used and the abs don’t show up because you’ve visualized them equally.

I began to believe in myself what I think we all know, deep down. Fitness advocates are really dealing with a limited population: people with a certain perceived fitness level, at a certain stage in their lives. At a minimum, I wish they would admit this, so that their constant comments don’t feel like a mockery of their audience’s ongoing struggle.

For my part, I am willing to believe that my training journey will be less like a race and more like a long, slow journey, where the destination is not in sight, but at least one it’s on the right track.

I will happily agree that Dr. Tendolkar was right. It takes time. There is nothing – at least, nothing healthy and sustainable – that anyone can do to change that.

There is something liberating about giving up the obsessive pursuit of a six-pack.

Now I can enjoy a healthy lifestyle. My practice has stopped being a rush towards an impossible goal, and has become something I look forward to. I love the way my body feels stronger and more capable, even if the abs are still out of action.

Perhaps this was the lesson I needed: that some things take time, even in the age of AI. That not everything is in my control.

That, sometimes, the best hack is to stop hacking and slow down; appreciate the journey. Time is such a gift in itself. Why do we pack every moment with tasks and expectations, when we could just enjoy it?

Something about turning 50 makes me realize that the trick is not to “win the race”. Basically, it’s to stop running all the time.

(Charles Assisi is the co-founder of Founding Fuel. He can be reached at assisi@foundingfuel.com)