If you are a fan Muscle & Fitness reader, you care about muscle and already understand its value as an organ for longevity. Yet Lyon worries that even now we may be missing the bigger picture.
“With the rise of widely available weight loss solutions, many people still prefer losing fat over building muscle,” says Lyon, a board-certified physician and founder of Muscle-Centric Medicinetold M&F. She believes we are at a familiar crossroads. “The obesity epidemic really started in the 1970s,” she explains. “But at the same time, there was absolutely no mention of muscle health. Until the early 2000s, skeletal muscle was not even formally recognized as an organ system.”
Now, she warns, history may be repeating itself. “I’m afraid we’re going to repeat what we did in the 1970s with the use of GLP-1s without training and appropriate proteins,” she says. “Patients will lose 100% of muscle mass, and no doctor is prepared to deal with this because we have never been in this position before.”
What is muscle tension?
Lyon defines muscle tone as the length of time your muscle remains functional, strong and metabolically healthy. And not just during your peak years, but also how well that tissue lasts for decades.
Skeletal muscle plays a central role in long-term health outcomes. According to Lyon, many of the conditions that accelerate aging and increase the risk of mortality from all causes are not primarily fatty diseases, but of affected muscles.
“When we think about longevity, what outcomes do we want to avoid?” Lyon asks the question. “Dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, all of which are not related to the pathology of fat, but are focused on skeletal muscle health.”
Musclespan positions skeletal muscle as a central organ system that simultaneously influences metabolic control, vascular health, and brain function. According to Lyon, maintaining muscle quality and function over time is fundamental to aging well.
“The question is not just how strong you are now,” she says. “It’s about how long your muscles stay healthy enough to protect you.”
Musclespan’s connection to brain health
One of the least appreciated roles of muscles is its connection to brain health and cognitive function.
“We know that the stronger the leg muscles, the better the cognition,” says Lyon, noting that resistance and aerobic training both play a role.
But the relationship goes deeper than improved blood flow. “A large part of the brain is designed for movement,” Lyon explains. “If you don’t exercise your body, there are parts of your brain that you’re not maintaining. There’s a bidirectional relationship.”
Even the speed of movement matters. “The faster you move, the faster you think,” she says, describing how the speed at which you move is related to processing speed and mental tasks.
Why aging makes it harder to build muscle and easier to lose
A major challenge for muscle tone is that muscle tissue changes with age.
“It gets harder as you get older, not only to build muscle, but also to maintain muscle,” says Lyon. “The tissue becomes more anabolic resistant, meaning it is less efficient at using protein.”
The problem is compounded by what she calls a “nutritional mismatch” for muscle health.
“The average American eats 300 grams of carbohydrates per day,” notes Lyon, “which is essentially three glucose tolerance tests.” When muscle makes up about 40 percent of body weight, chronically overfeeding carbohydrates while underfeeding protein has consequences.
“If muscles are chronically inflamed or have low-grade inflammation,” she says, “that’s a problem.” One of the quickest ways to make muscles “really sick,” she adds, is to stop stressing them and not nourishing them properly.
The non-negotiables for Musclespan
In her new book, The always strong playbook, Lyon takes the science of muscle-focused medicine and turns it into actionable guidelines on what you should do every day to protect your muscles. The structure is intentional and includes four main pillars.
How to think
The Playbook begins by helping readers clarify their why, identify blind spots, and prepare for discomfort. “We expect things to be easy, and when they are difficult, we throw in the towel.” says Lyon. Instead, Lyon emphasizes setting standards and staying consistent accordingly rather than chasing goals, approaching muscle health as a long-term responsibility.
How to eat
Nutrition in the Playbook gets a simple overhaul. Instead of complex tracking, Lyon focuses on building plates that support muscle health by prioritizing sufficient, high-quality protein and tailoring intake to physical activity. “The first decision you make is how much protein to eat,” she says, noting that protein should increase with age as muscles become less efficient at using it. The Playbook emphasizes minimum effective doses, diet quality, and getting the first meal of the day right to support muscle turnover and metabolic stability. Plus, the recipes are worth every bite.
How to train
Whether you’re a beginner or looking to get back in the saddle, Lyon’s programs are scalable for all levels, ranging from dumbbell-only workouts to more advanced resistance training, and focus on progressive stimuli rather than overload. “Progressive overload just means heavier,” she explains. Instead, she encourages pace, time under tension, and movement variety to build resilient muscles while protecting joints and connective tissue over time.
How to recover
The Playbook includes strategies to help regulate the nervous system, align circadian rhythms and support adaptation, recognizing that muscle is built in the spaces between sessions. “Transformation doesn’t happen if you’re actively working on it,” says Lyon. “It really happens when you’re recovering.”
Lyon designed a six-week action plan with daily routines, visual frameworks, and simple reflection prompts that make consistency more achievable. Before the January 27 book presentation during Life Time in New York City, Muscle & Fitness got an exclusive sneak peek at what weeks 1 and 2 of Lyon’s six-week training plan look like. Here’s a sneak peek:
Training ‘The Forever Strong Playbook’
Weeks 1-2:”
Session 1
Warm-up:
- LUNGE TO REACH: 5 reps, each side
- Reach upward, not backward, from a lunge position to lengthen the spine and maintain stability, keeping the knee aligned with the toes.
- CHILD POSE: Hold for 20-60 seconds
- Lower your hips back without forcing the stretch. Relax the shoulders, bring the forehead to the mat and breathe deeply into the lower back.
Toolbox: The following exercises include tables for tracking sets, reps, range, weight, and RIR (reps in reserve).
- PUSH UP: 3 sets, 10-20 reps
- Keeping the body in a straight line from head to toe, engage the core to prevent the lower back from sagging. Lower it slowly, keeping the elbows at about a 45-degree angle to the body.
- DUMBBELL ROMANIAN DEADLIFT (RDL): 3 sets, 6-15 reps
- Keep the knees slightly bent as you hinge at the hips. Hold the dumbbells close to the body and concentrate on squeezing the glutes as you rise.
- COME SQUAT: 3 sets, 6-15 reps
- Hold the barbell close to the chest with the elbows pointed downward. Drive through the heels, keeping the chest up and back neutral throughout the squat.
- DUMBBELL ROW: 3 sets, 6-15 reps
- Hinge forward at the hips, keeping back flat and core engaged. Squeeze the shoulder blades to pull the weight toward the hip with the back (not the arms). Keep the torso stable.
- SIDE PLANK: 3 sets, 10-30 seconds
- Keep the body in a straight line from head to knees and engage the core. Make sure the elbow is directly under the shoulder and prevent the hips from sinking toward the floor.
Cardio finisher:
- CHOOSE YOUR HARD: Complete 3 sets of 15 seconds on, 45 seconds off.
- Options include Airbike, Rower, Sled or Sprints (for those with proper running technique)
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