TLDR: What you need to know

• Lifting weights is the best way to build muscle, and gain strength. These are two of the most important things for maximizing your youthfulness. We develop a personal workout plan for everyone on the Ray Wu MD program
• In addition to looking better if you have more muscle, strength is one of the strongest predictors of longevity.
• Lifting weights is also the best way to improve and maintain bone density.
• Virtually everyone in all age categories should lift weights. It's never too late to start.

Ray's Take

I love lifting weights. I've been doing it since college, and truly enjoy it. To be honest, I think one of the biggest unfair advantages I have is that I look forward to going to the gym. It is not a chore and in fact, if i could lift heavy every single day, I would (you shouldn't do this).

The other advantage that I have, is that I have a gym at my home. The convenience of being able to lift whenever I want, without needing to drive or walk to a gym is priceless.

Because of the two factors above, I've experienced so many personal benefits. Of course looking good (this honestly has more to do with nutrition than lifting), but more importantly being strong, feeling strong, having high relative lean muscle mass, low body fat, and 99th percentile bone density.

I should also mention that lifting weights is also a form of therapy for me. When you are lifting heavy, you can't really think about anything else, which is a joy in itself.

You can also experience all of these benefits, and more. It's never too late to start (or restart). As you'll see below, lifting and increasing strength are even more important as we get older!

Cool knowledge for normal people (bullet points!)

• People lose 35-40% of muscle mass between age 20 and 80 Keller et al
• You lose at least 1% of strength per year as you age Keller et al
• The stronger you are, the longer you live Newman et al
• Strength is more important than muscle mass Newman et al
• If you increase strength, you'll almost always increase muscle mass too Li et al
• Lifting weights is the best way to improve bone density. Watson et al
• Did we mention, lifting makes you look good and feel good?

Tool knowledge about Ray (optional)

Current physique (1/14/2024 after drinking and eating in Napa)

Photos in home gym in 2023

Current strength
- Bench press - 225 lbs 6 reps
- Squat - 225 lbs 5 reps
- Deadlift - 335 lbs 1 rep

Current Dexa
- Link
- 11% body fat total
- 7% abdominal body fat
- 99%th bone density (Z score 4.8)