Eat THIS to Build Muscle at 50+!

Be the Husband She Craves (12 Easy Ways) AND How To Look Good In Shorts

Author

Stephen Perrine
July 08, 2025

🚨 Welcome to this week’s issue of Generation Xcellent. I’m Stephen Perrine, New York Times bestselling author and former top editor at Men’s Health and Maxim. And like you, I’m doing all I can to survive the moshpit of midlife. Thanks for joining me on the journey! If you like what you see, send me an email—and share this newsletter with another guy who could use our help.

Stephen Perrine

- NUTRITION -

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Eat THIS to Build Muscle After 50!

Overcome age-related muscle loss and command strength and power for years to come.

By Stephen Perrine

> Make a muscle.

See that biceps? That represents about 5 percent of the total skeletal muscle in your body.

It also represents how much muscle the average man loses every decade after age 30. You may not be able to see it, but if you’re the average 55-year-old guy, your guns are about 10 percent smaller than they were before Britney shaved her head.

But you can stop the process. Science shows us that if you change the way you eat at midlife, you can keep—or reclaim—the lean, muscular body you had in your 20s and 30s, and retain it for decades to come.

You: Under Construction

Your body is an constantly demolishing old muscle and rebuilding newer, healthier tissue. But as we get older, we begin to break down muscle faster than we can build it back up, which is why our parents often look so frail in their later years—and why your guns are losing their firepower.

The main reason is something called anabolic resistance—essentially, once we reach mid-life, our bodies begin to have difficulty turning the protein we eat into muscle. But there’s a proven way to reverse this trend. We simply need larger doses of protein, especially at breakfast, to kick the muscle-building process into gear.

“A man in his fifties needs 30 grams of protein in the morning,” says Jamie Baum, PhD, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Arkansas. “Studies show that if you don’t you could stay in muscle breakdown all day.” After 12 or so hours of not eating, your body is starved for protein; if you don’t ring the “make muscle” bell at your first meal, you’ll never catch up, even if you have a protein-packed turkey sandwich at lunch and a nice steak at dinner. 

What Does 30 Grams of Protein Look Like?

  • Steak: 1 filet the size of a deck of cards

  • Cottage cheese: 1 cup

  • Greek yogurt: 1 1/3 cup

  • Tofu: ¾ cup

  • Eggs, Bacon & Toast: 3 eggs (18g) + 3 strips of bacon (9g) + 1 slice whole wheat toast (4g)

But hit your 30 grams of protein every morning and you’re priming your body to build muscle the way it did decades earlier. Indeed, one study found that when people in their 60s combined a high-quality protein meal with resistance exercise, their bodies responded in the same way as the bodies of people in their 20s. Another study found that those who ate extra protein in the morning had lower blood sugar and reduced levels of appetite later in the day.

And the result isn’t just about looking good in a T-shirt: More muscle means a stronger immune system, healthier bones, greater cognitive function and a lowered risk of countless diseases of aging: In one study, men who had the most muscle mass at 45 and up were 81 percent less likely to develop heart disease over the next decade then those with the least.

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MEN WHO HAD THE MOST MUSCLE MASS AT AGE 45 AND UP WERE 81 PERCENT LESS LIKELY TO DEVELOP HEART DISEASE.

Your Action Plan

So, how does a guy get to 30 grams of protein in the morning? The easy way is with a scoop of whey protein. You can mix it into everything from smoothies to cereal, from yogurt to oats. Not a fan? A cup or so of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt will get you there also.

Here’s a quick recipe to get your breakfast on track: Mix ¾ cup iced coffee, a splash of milk, ½ a banana, 1 Tbs each peanut butter and hemp seeds, ¼ cup whole-wheat cereal or cooked oatmeal, ½ Tbs cacao powder, ¼ cup pine nuts, and 1 scoop chocolate whey powder. Blend it up with some ice cubes and feel the power.

—Stephen Perrine is the New York Times bestselling author of The Full Body Fat Fix, from which this article is adapted.

- RELATIONSHIPS -

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12 Proven Zero-Effort Moves That’ll Make You a Better Husband—Tonight

She doesn’t need a hero. She just needs you to finish the damn laundry.

By Erica Thomas

>Romantic gestures are great, but you don’t need to stand outside our window with a boombox to prove your love to us. In fact, please don’t. The stuff that makes a woman feel seen is way less dramatic and more practical.

To learn how you can be a better husband, I talked to more than a dozen of my fellow wives, and the good news is, the bar isn’t sky-high. These 12 changes cost nothing, require minimal effort, and could completely change the vibe at home for the better.

1  Be the Grocery Fairy. Low on toilet paper, milk, or Froot Loops? Don’t call it in like a play-by-play. Just go get it.

2  Channel your inner MacGyver. Can’t find the scissors? Or your favorite pair of sneakers? Put in five extra seconds of looking. If you had the patience for Tecmo Bowl, you can find the lightbulbs without shouting across the house.

3 Finish what you start. Whether it’s folding the laundry, organizing the garage, or letting that morning snuggle evolve into something dirty, complete the task. Don’t make her follow behind you like a project manager with trust issues.

4 Decide what’s for dinner. Stop acting like “What’s for dinner?” is an unsolvable riddle from The Legend of Zelda. Just pick something. Anything. If it’s edible and won’t set off the smoke alarm, it’s a win. Even better, surprise her with a meal that doesn’t involve you standing in front of an open fridge like you're waiting for it to speak.

5 Bring back the flirty text. Remember when your texts had heat? Not just grocery lists and calendar invites? Bring that energy back. Just double-check who’s logged into the family iCloud before you send something spicy.

6 Organize something (without being asked). See that junk drawer or chaotic corner of the closet? Quietly tame it. Bonus points if you alphabetize the spices. She’ll think she married a sorcerer.

7 Let her sleep in. Forget breakfast in bed—aim for brunch. Get the kids, walk the dog, and clean the kitchen. Her REM cycle will thank you.

8 Pack for the kids. Going to the park? A day trip? Pack the snacks, wipes, sunscreen, and changes of clothes for all of them. Don’t ask her what to bring, just figure it out. You’re a grown man with a smartphone.

9 Keep a gift list. When she casually says, “Oh I love that candle,” write it down. When her birthday rolls around, don’t ask her what she wants. You already know. It’s genius!

10 Solve one little thing. She may not want you to fix all her problems, but addressing a daily annoyance—like attaching a tracker to her always-lost keys—shows you’re paying attention.

11 Include a card. You could show up with a wheel barrel full of diamonds, but if there’s no note, it’ll land flat. Women love the words—funny, sweet, sappy. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare. Just write from the heart, and she’ll keep it forever.

12 Skip the victory lap. If you took out the trash or folded towels, great. But don’t pause for applause. What are you expecting, a participation award? Quiet competence beats performative husbandry every time.

—Erica Thomas has written for Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, and other magazines.

- STYLE -

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A Gen X Man’s Guide to Looking Great in Shorts

How to pull off a younger, more casual look

>As the founder of Style Girlfriend, I’ve made it my life’s work to help guys look better in clothes. (As to how you look without clothes, that’s on you.) And one of the biggest style mistakes I see guys make happens right around this time of year. It’s hot, you need a little sartorial air-conditioning, and so you drag out an old pair of shorts that screams “Hold my beer!”

That’s fine if you’re pulling weeds or cleaning out the garage. But what if you’re attending a barbecue, hitting the coffee shop or even rolling into the office for casual Friday? You want your outfit to say “casual and relaxed,” not Dazed and Confused. Here’s how wear shorts that will help you stand tall.

1 Choose the right length. Shorter styles are clearly in vogue today. While I’m a huge fan of 5” shorts, the most important factor is that your shorts end above the knee. (Unless you are here to fix my sink, in which case, feel free to wear something longer.)

2 And the right silhouette. You think of silhouette and menswear, you probably think of a suit. But shorts have their own silhouette, and the sleeker yours is, the better you’re going to look. Eliminate baggy cargo shorts and shorts with something randomly dangling off the bottom.

3 Mix up patterns and fabrics. Plain cotton khakis have their place, but it’s not all you need. Different patterns and textures will expand your style language and give you more options for building outfits.

4 Simplify if needed. Dark blue shorts? Dark blue top. Brown shorts? Brown or tan top. When you alter colors dramatically from top to bottom, it can make you look shorter and/or heavier. Keep your casual look like a tuxedo—one straight line.

5 Lean towards a button-down. Yes, a casual T-shirt is always an option, but a short-sleeve button-down, or a long-sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up, will help you look more put-together without any extra effort.

6 Pick the right footwear. You are a man. A man’s role is to care for and protect those around him. Toddler wandering out into traffic? Tough guys menacing your buds? Damsel threated by an anaconda? You better be wearing shoes that allow you to react, fast and effectively. That’s not flip-flops. Flip-flops are only appropriate on surfaces where you can run barefoot. Lawns, pools, beaches, fine. Otherwise, you need real footwear. Simple canvas sneakers or Vans, boat shoes, even loafers will keep you looking relaxed, but still ready for action.

—Megan Collins is the founder and editor in chief of Style Girlfriend.

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