The Target Market(er)
A well-known internet personality recently wrote:
"I'm probably 10-20 pounds heavier than I should be." "I have high cholesterol," but "I'm in excellent shape by national standards." "My VO2 Max is 50." "I can [dead]lift twice my bodyweight." "I get bloodwork done and make tweaks in accordance with it." "No annual physicals." "No chronic conditions."
The writer presents his favorable metrics as reassurance, despite the greater danger posed by his unfavorable ones. If it were me, I'd be terrified. Here's why:
"I'm probably 10-20 pounds heavier than I should be."
In a culture where "normal" is borderline obese^[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_03/sr03-050.pdf], the first 10 pounds is often unseen. I wouldn't be surprised if he were actually 20-30 pounds overweight. If he's similar to the average 30-39 American male at 5'9" and 202 pounds, that makes for a BMI of 29.5; at the top of the "overweight" range and 0.5 below "obese". If 5'9", he'd need to lose all 30 pounds to be in the healthy range. For a 20-pound loss to be in the healthy range, he'd have to be 6' tall.
"I have high cholesterol."
Only 6% of 20-to-39-year-old adults have high cholesterol,^[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db515.htm] so he's part of an unhealthy minority.
"I'm in excellent shape by national standards."
Better than average is a low bar. "Excellent by national standards" is not a useful benchmark, especially when that standard is borderline obese^[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_03/sr03-050.pdf] and metabolically unhealthy.
"My VO2 Max is 50."
He misunderstands the role of VO2max. It's a predictor of longevity, but that doesn't mean that it's a mechanism.^[Mandsager et al., JAMA Open Network, 2018; Jayedi et al., Sports Med 2022 via Tommy Wood, Associate Professor at the University of Washington and Head Scientist for Motorsport at Hintsa Performance] (Smoke is a predictor of fire, but it doesn't start fires.) Instead of paying attention to where he ranks, he should be paying attention to where he's headed.
To make matters worse, he is likely "measuring" his VO2max with his watch. Wearables estimate VO2max rather than measure it, and the estimates can be way off.^[I've had several VO2max tests and worn many wearables. All of the latter were off by 30-50%.]
"I can [dead]lift twice my bodyweight."
He's using an intermediate level of strength^[https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/deadlift] as a measure of health. Muscle mass is important, but it's not a magic bullet. It again comes back to body composition.
"I get bloodwork done and make tweaks in accordance with it."
Is he interpreting his own bloodwork?
"No annual physicals."
...and not getting a professional opinion to confirm or deny his conclusions? If so, bro-science doesn't get much better than this.
"No chronic conditions."
Overweight, high cholesterol, mistaken assumptions, and overconfidence seem pretty chronic to me, not to mention dangerous.
More metrics don't compensate for weak reasoning. They just make it appear more quantitative.