New Delhi, June 18 -- It wasn't so long ago that the most popular exercises in gyms around the world were ab crunches and sit-ups. That was simply because almost every man and woman joining the gym was chasing washboard abs and a slimmer waistline. Oh, how things have changed.

At the gyms I visited in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata this year, I saw trainers not prescribing crunches or sit-ups to their clients, and diligent members were completing their workouts without the once-mandatory ab crunches. It's not that people have stopped bothering about de-bulging their waistline or have become less obsessed with six-pack abs. To be sure, the demand for flat abs is at an all-time high; it's just that trainers and active people are taking a di...