No, Your 9 Year Old Doesn't Need 6-Pack Abs

Visible abs are not a sign of health. They're not a sign of good parenting, either.

I hesitate to share this because his kids are minors. But it is directly from their instagram and available for anyone to see. This image is from Andy Elliott's IG page, of his 12 year old daughter.

Andy Elliott is a bad dad. I typically try to steer clear of making sweeping judgments about another person's parenting, particularly if I don't see them in action in real life on a regular basis. But I will make an exception for Andy.

If you’re unfamiliar with Andy Elliott, no worries. I had never heard of the guy either until about 2 weeks ago.

Here’s a brief description of Andy Elliott, compliments of

Virginia Sole-Smith

, who wrote an excellent article about him last week:

“Andy Elliott is basically the love child of Tony Robbins and a case of Monster Energy drinks. He’s the devil spawn of a Huberman husband and a Mary Kay lady. He’s a former car salesman turned body builder and business coach who now hangs with Donald Trump Jr, and sells…the ability to sell things to his 2.5 million Instagram followers.”

While his instagram and YouTube channel are mostly filled with testosterone fueled, vein popping motivational messaging that people like Andrew Tate get off to, he also includes videos featuring his children exercising..

Andy has 3 kids: a 14 year old boy and 2 daughters, ages 12 and 9. He rarely shares videos of his son. Instead, he focuses on his 2 daughters, posting videos of the girls doing sit-ups, swinging on rings, and doing pull-ups, while encouraging them to push harder – “you’ve got one more rep in you,” he says to his 9 year old in the pull-up video. “You’re not a quitter.”

In another video, titled “No Excuses” with the subtitle, “they said a 12 year old can’t have abs”, he traces his finger down his 12 year old daughter’s belly in a way that is most generously described as wildly unnecessary.

But the video that launched Andy and his family into my consciousness is one of him at a coaching event called Mindcon Summit. He’s onstage, doing some motivational yelling and then he pivots, inviting his daughters to show the audience their abs.