Aayush Sharma on undergoing two back surgeries: It turned out to be quite a different summer for me

Aayush Sharma talks about the toll of having two back surgeries, how he spent the recovery time getting closer to family and changing meaning of fitness for him

Aayush Sharma startled his fans last month as he updated on Instagram that he had undergone two back surgeries consecutively, and has been in recovery since. Sharing how it all happened, he says, “I was taking my body’s messages lightly for a long time. I was constantly under training and I was misunderstanding it as muscle soreness. That was just the body saying that, ‘stop, give it a break’. I was in the middle of a shoot when it got aggravated. That's when I saw the doctor and suddenly I was told that there is an issue in the back and my L4 and L5 is giving me trouble.”

Aayush Sharma on his two surgeries

While the surgery did take its toll, Aayush Sharma also sees the silver lining in it: “In a very positive hindsight, it gave me a great amount of time with my kids and wife at home. We called it a bonding exercise. My son started cooking for me and made nice avocado toasts. Arpita (Khan, wife) and I caught up on a lot of movies. So, it turned out to be quite a different summer for me.”

Having gone through something so physical strenuous, Aayush shares that his perception of fitness has evolved now. “I am a firm believer that six-pack body is not a fit body. But there's been this trend of everybody trying to emulate it, which I don't think is fitness. It is aesthetic and there is a difference between fitness and aesthetic. I always say that the days we are doing those six pack body shots, I actually feel the weakest in my life,” he says.

While he was focused on training before, he is now giving equal weightage to recovery and rest. “I've come down to five days a week of training and added two days of recovery. I've been majorly into strength training and I am also focusing on stretching. Now, a priority is just relaxing my body, and I've felt the difference. The other thing I am doing now is stepping out of the gym and finding other sources of fitness, like going for an outdoor jog, and I've been enjoying it,” he shares, adding, “What I would like to propagate is not how sharp my abs are, but how good my heart, my lungs and my internals are. That's the major change that I've done to myself– taking a break. Whenever your body says, ‘I'm tired; listen to it and go to sleep.”