Whether you regularly hit the gym or not, you’ve probably given some thought to your muscles over the years. Maybe you didn’t have enough of them when you were a twerpy tween and dreamed of attaining a Charles Atlas or Arnold Schwarzenegger-level physique.

Or, maybe you were more of the intellectual type who eschewed muscle-building because you associated it with men who were more focused on physiques than on physics (or law, or name your favorite intellectual activity). Whether you’ve spent time building muscle or not, if you’re interested in improving your health, you should start with your muscle mass.

Our physicians take a holistic approach to men’s health, and that includes taking muscle mass seriously. If you’re having trouble losing weight or experiencing other age-related symptoms such as hair loss and erectile dysfunction (ED), you may need to increase your lean muscle mass.

Why are our all-male doctors also muscle-mass specialists? Because muscle mass affects almost every aspect of your health, vitality, and longevity. Here’s how.

Muscle mass helps you shed fat

If you’re gaining weight, your levels of the hormone testosterone (T) may be lower than is ideal for you. In a vicious cycle, increased adipose tissue (i.e., fat!) releases the hormone estrogen, which then throws off the balance of your T and increases the likelihood that you’ll pack on more fat. Low T also translates into muscle loss, a condition known as sarcopenia.

Fat doesn’t burn many calories. But muscle does. Once you start rebuilding your muscle mass, you need more calories to fuel that tissue. The more muscles you build, the easier it is to burn off calories in the form of excess fat and then excrete it for good.

Muscle mass keeps your bones strong

Even though osteopenia and osteoporosis are well-known to affect postmenopausal women, men lose bone as they age, too. In fact, men account for about 30% of all hip fractures, one of the most dangerous and debilitating types of fractures you can suffer.

Strength training slows bone loss and can even reverse it. Bone regenerates itself when it’s subjected to healthy stress. That’s why chewing your food with healthy teeth keeps your jaw strong, but if you’re toothless or wear dentures you may develop a shortened lower face.

By building stronger muscles and reversing or preventing sarcopenia, you also strengthen your bones. The muscles themselves exert pressure on the bones to keep them building healthy new bone cells.

Muscle mass produces testosterone

Just as fatty tissue tends to trigger your body to produce more estrogen, muscle tissue tends to trigger your body to produce more testosterone. More testosterone = more muscle mass. And more muscle mass keeps you stronger and leaner.

Strength and resistance training is a great way to increase your muscle mass and your T levels. So is eating a healthy diet that contains high-quality protein. As part of your workup, we talk to you about making changes to your diet and your routine that’ll aid in building muscle and shedding fat to keep your T levels high.

Muscle mass keeps you young

If you want to stay youthful, strong, and metabolically fit, building or maintaining muscle mass may be your single most important hack.

Strong muscles:

• burn excess fat;
• produce T;
• prevent bone loss;
• prevent falls;
• reduce fracture risk.

If you don’t already have a muscle-building regimen in place, we help you ease into one in a way that matches your current level of fitness as well as your future goals.

TRT helps build muscle mass

To end the vicious cycle of sarcopenia, low T, and fat gain, you might benefit from testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Based on your unique baseline T levels — as well as any low-T symptoms you may have — we prescribe TRT to make you feel healthy, strong, and vital again. In other words, like the real you.