A doctor and longevity company CEO says exercise is a pillar of healthy aging. Here’s his simple weekly workout.

As we age, muscles become “an organ of longevity,” Antoun said. Once you hit 40, you naturally start to lose muscle, which slows down the metabolic rate, meaning the body burns fewer calories, he said. This can lead to weight gain and put a person at risk of developing related health conditions such as type 2 diabetes.

Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle, strength, and function loss, is a major factor in increased falls, frailty, and fractures in older people, which can result in them losing their independence as they struggle to complete daily tasks on their own, according to Cleveland Clinic.

That’s why Antoun, the CEO of longevity-focused nutrition company L-Nutra, exercises three to four times a week and integrates movement into his busy workday to build and maintain muscle mass and get his heart rate up.

“I think this is so critical,” he said.

Here’s how he works out to stay healthy for as long as possible.

Walking 10,000 steps a day

Antoun aims to walk 10,000 steps each day. “Six and a half years in LA, and I never bought a car,” he said. He walks to work every day and takes lots of his meetings on his AirPods while walking outside.

“I have four AirPods because everywhere I go I just want to make sure I can walk and talk,” he said.

Evidence suggests that walking daily increases a person’s chances of living a long, healthy life.

A 2023 study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that walking 4,000 steps a day reduced the risk of dying early from any cause — and the more a person walked the lower the risk. (The study only looked at data for up to 20,000 steps).

One of the study authors told The New York Times that switching from a sedentary lifestyle to having a workout schedule was comparable to “smoking versus not smoking.”

Cardio and strength training 3 to 4 times a week

Antoun works out three or four times a week, doing a mixture of strength training and cardio. A 2022 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, based on data from more than 400,000 American adults, found that those who did a combination of aerobic exercise and strength training were less likely to die early than participants who did just one type.

To maintain his muscular strength, he lifts weights for 45 minutes three or four times a week. His cardio regime, which he does to get his heart rate up, is more varied.

To really challenge himself, Antoun will run at a fast pace on a treadmill. He does three rounds of 12 minutes.

Other times he plays basketball or tennis for around 30 minutes. This is a great way to combine exercise with social connection, another pillar of longevity, Antoun said.

Researchers from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, a large-scale longitudinal study, found that friendships could be just as important for longevity as exercise.