When it comes to the ageing process, most of us try to defy getting older by pumping our skin with all manner of injectables and hoping science can do the work of the impossible: making us stay young forever. For the most part, it only ever seems to result in taut complexions that are easily betrayed by loose skin from the neck down. But as this 72-year-old Chinese bodybuilder seems to suggest, perhaps the focus should be on exercise all along. The benefits of a workout have already been shown to improve skin and muscle tone, as well as our mental health, but bodybuilder Xinmin Yang also happens to look half his age – something he credits to his workouts.
Easily looking 30-years-old rather than 72, Yang is something of an enigma. With his shirt off and sunglasses on, you’d think he just stepped out of a Hollywood action movie. The man is a living testament to the power of exercise when it comes to living with intention and ageing gracefully, although we’re yet to see this man age. So, just what are his secrets? Apparently daily exercise and a diet plan that includes consuming six-to-eight eggs for breakfast. That, friends, is the fountain of youth.
Since getting into bodybuilder in 1984 – a year after China lifted the ban on the sport that had been introduced in 1953 – Yang became so passionate about it, he made it part of his everyday routine. By exercising daily, Yang has normal blood pressure, normal blood lipids and the bone density of a 30-year- old. In an interview with Change Production back in 2018, he revealed: “The first thing my doctor said was ‘ you don’t look a day over 60.’ Over the years, I have lived a healthy life because of bodybuilding training.”
But as any gym-junkie will know, diet is also imperative to hit your gains. For Yang, this means consuming six-to-eight eggs for breakfast each day, alongside “tomatoes, cucumber, oatmeal…and some chicken breast.” It’s a diet he says he’s been eating for almost 10 years, and it appears to be working wonders.
When videos of Yang working out surfaced on Reddit, the Internet nearly broke in a war of words, as commenters simply couldn’t believe his age. It led one person to decry: “This is so funny everyone flat out refuses to believe it, that’s the point. He looks incredible for 70.” Looking and feeling this good at 72, it seems safe to say that Yang won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
