Saturday coffee: The myth of the ripped old guy
Plus: 5 books on "healthy aging" | Time magazine's imperfect aging series | clinical trials
Good Saturday morning, people. I’m not sure why AI-generated images of jacked old dudes are all over the internet nowadays. But clearly advertisers believe there’s a willing audience for ads suggesting that you, too, can become an overmuscled oldster with washboard abs.
I’ve posted several articles and podcast interviews about longevity medicine recently, as that industry has erupted over the past two years. A certain older male demographic appears extra susceptible to the ridiculous idea that what it really needs is to get huge.
Several months ago, I also ended a post about athletic pain and performance with the thought that many men — myself included — struggle with the lingering need to be dangerous.
It’s hard to see these risible advertisements, clearly aimed at men who view physical strength as essential to their personal narratives, as anything other than an ego play to a mythical image: the ripped grandpa.
I’m not against weight training; I do it myself, often. But these ads are not pathways to older male success. Maybe I’m being too judgmental. Or maybe these 60-something AI muscleheads are a social signal that all is not well in the deeper warrens of the older American male subconscious.
Five “healthy aging” books reviewed by the WSJ
There’s something for everyone in the WSJ’s best 2025 books on healthy aging, including a Mary Oliver book of poetry. The most urgent book reviewed in this article may be the one called “Retirement Bites,” which claims that only one in four Gen Xers have started retirement savings.
If true, there’s a financial tsunami on the horizon that isn’t getting enough attention.
The Buck Institute is seeking clinical trial participants
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, in Novato, Calif., has a bunch of clinical trials for which its recruiting participants, usually people 65 or older. Among them is a trial examining exercise and aging that is recruiting older elite athletes.
Time magazine’s flawed aging and longevity series
Speaking of the Buck, Time magazine recently published an interesting interview with its president, Dr. Eric Verdin, on helpful healthy aging habits. Verdin is considered a reasonably credible scientific voice in the field, and his advice, as reported, is conventional but useful.
The same can’t be said of all the other entries in Time’s series on longevity, which includes dozens of articles going back to 2014. Clearly, some of the reporting is outdated, including a 2019 article debating whether moderate drinking is good for longevity. (The latest science is unequivocal: any alcohol has a negative impact on your brain and body.)
But if you’re interested in reading up on staple topics in longevity over the years, it’s not a bad series, as long as you keep a gimlet eye out for advice and conclusions that no longer have the best science behind them.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to bench press a Volkswagen so I’m jacked for my noon tee time.
This was a fun read. It is so true how often ripped old guys are featured in ads targeting us old guys. Do I really think this could be me? I guess have should started lifting weights much earlier in life, like when I first came across body builders in comic books on the back page when I was 12.
The ad sthat I find the most strange are the ones that say you can get “jacked” doing tai chi. They show someone that is in great shape who is in their 60’s.
Well tai chi is one of the many forms of exercise I do regularly (sometimes I teach classes too so I am not new to this or other martial arts ) and I would never think of it as an exercise to build muscle mass. Tai chi can be good in many ways but not for building large muscle mass. I know you can do many exercises that will complement tai chi. The men in those pictures look like they had been lifting some pretty heavy weights for quite a while