The health metric that changed how I train after 40.
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Read this on Dango.co For my teens to 20s, I was skinny-fat. I was overweight and weak. I looked fine in clothes, and I was embarrassed without them. Getting lean was my first journey. And that second phase changed everything. That's when I stopped caring about scale weight, mirror selfies, or random PRs. I started tracking one number that actually reflects how much muscle you carry for your frame: Fat Free Muscle Mass aka FFMI When you pair it with its sibling, FMI, you get an honest snapshot of where your health is at. So in today's newsletter, I want to share with you how to track this and what to do if you find yourself on the low side of the FFMI scale. You ready? Let's go 🔥 FFMI: The Health Metric That Changed How I Train After 40What Is Fat Free Muscle Mass (FFMI)?FFMI is your lean mass divided by your height squared. Think of it as a metric for muscle. To calculate it, you need 3 things:
Its counterpart, FMI, is fat mass index. It's fat mass divided by height squared. While the body mass index (BMI) is traditionally used as a way to measure your "healthy" weight, it's flawed. FFMI and FMI track what matters most, which is true body composition. FFMI Is Your Central Muscle NumberMost physique metrics are noisy. Scale weight ignores body composition entirely. BMI punishes muscular people and hides skinny-fat physiques. Tape-measure numbers swing with water, fat, and pump. FFMI cuts through that noise by focusing on lean tissue and scaling for height. You can see whether weight gain is actually muscle, whether a cut is costing you lean mass, and roughly where you sit from under-muscled to advanced natural. From a clinical perspective, low FFMI is associated with frailty and sarcopenia, which affects your quality of life. Something I also see in my practice is that most people want to get lean at the expense of lowering their FFMI. The true measure of health is having both healthy body fat levels and healthy amounts of lean mass. What FFMI Numbers Should A Healthy Person Aim For?If you're not a bodybuilder, you don't need extreme numbers. You want enough muscle to move well, protect joints, and age gracefully without carrying excess fat that drags health down. Where should your FFMI stand? Men (about ages 25–65): Low / needs muscle: <17 Women (about ages 25–65): Low / needs muscle: <14 Want to know where you stand? Use the calculator to measure your FFMI can be found here: FFMI calculator Overall, you want your FFMI to be between good to great. Below those FFMI ranges, you're likely leaving strength, resilience, and metabolic health on the table. How To Track FFMI And FMIDEXA is a great anchor because it directly measures lean and fat mass. One or two scans per year is plenty. The worst way is to use those weight scales that measure body fat or those InBody scans you see in personal training gyms. When I'm cutting fat, I get a DEXA done and then measure against the body fat I get at my weight scale to get an idea of where my FFMI is headed. Let's use my client as an example (see image above): As you can see from the DEXA, his total mass went down along with his fat tissue, but his lean mass went up. So he started with an FFMI of 21.8 and ended with an FFMI of 22.3, which is elite, especially when you're losing that much fat. How We Approach Increasing FFMI In Our Coaching PracticeFirst, the foundation is set upon getting the body metabolically healthy. That means having a healthy body composition:
As you saw from the client example above, it's possible to gain lean mass while losing body fat, which tips the scales in your favor. Then I would go into a long-term phase of eating and working out to add muscle to the body while keeping body fat levels stable. This is what I call the "Muscle Armor" phase in the You 2.0 road map I talked about here. It's worth it, too. The benefits you'll get from the increase you'll get in metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and quality of life by increasing muscle are life-changing. From there, it doesn't take much to maintain. About 2 days of lifting a week to keep yourself at a healthy FFMI. The Final WordThe real power of FFMI and FMI is psychological. It moves you from "What do I weigh?" to "What is my body actually made of?" You either carry more muscle for your height or you don't. You either have less fat for your height or you don't. No camera tricks. No water weight excuses. For a non-pro lifter, the win condition is simple: nudge FFMI into the healthy-strong range, keep FMI in check, and let scale weight be whatever it needs to be. Getting lean changed how I looked. Building muscle changed how I functioned. FFMI finally gave me a number that explains the difference. Onward and upward. 🚀 - Dan PS: Final call for our Lean Body Mastery coaching group. This is the last time to lock in our current price before it increases in 2026. If you're an entrepreneur who has 20 or more pounds to lose… you’re literally sitting on a gold mine of high performance. In the group, my team and I will get to work with you to lose weight without spending hours in the gym or giving up your favorite foods. I have an amazing collection of case studies from entrepreneurs from dozens of different industries… and I’d love to work with you. Prices are increasing in 2026, so this is your last chance to lock us in at our current rate. Just reply to this email and put “COACH” in the subject line, and I’ll get you all the details. References
Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician. |