Thank goodness you don't have to anymore!  According to the New York Times, it's now officially "hip to be round" (for young men, at least).  The new trend in New York's trendiest venues is to be “proudly rocking a gut.”

Aaron Hicklin, the editor of Out, explains why looking good is now bad for your image:  "It’s not cool to be seen spending so much time fussing around about your body."...

"I sort of think the six-pack abs obsession got so prissy it stopped being masculine," he adds.... What once seemed young and hot, for gay and straight men alike, now seems passé. Like manscaping,spray-on tans and other metrosexual affectations, having a belly one can bounce quarters off suggests that you may have too much time on your hands.

Not that standing around with your thumb up your ass theorizing about it means that you do.  Or anything.

I was never one for metrosexuality, myself, and my staunch opposition to excessive manscaping is well-known.  I don't mind a man with a bit of a paunch, although I prefer a hairy paunch to a fleshy one — it can be a bit too much like a baby bump otherwise — but maintaining flab can be as costly and time-consuming as maintaining abs is.  And anyway, hipsters are the last people in the world who should be pointing fingers when it comes to having too much time on your hands.

But I'm not sad to see the gym queens sidelined by the average Joe.  I started toning down my own workout a couple years ago, because I was meeting up with all sorts of desperate types my age and up who were ripped, it's true, but also looked eerily embalmed.  I'm too lazy for that, anyway.  And I also think that what makes a man attractive has to do more with the spirit that animates him.  Oh!  And his income, of course.

Which is not to say that you can't sneak in a crunch or two when no one's looking.


I may not look as hip in my V-neck Hanes T-shirt and trucker's cap as a pot-bellied hipster, but then I'll admit I've got a little time on my hands...