Muscle tone has nothing to do with it. You can tell by looking at him he's not working out his upper pecs, shoulders or arms. There is more to working out than just doing ab work. It doesn't look to me like he's "rolled the clock back" at all. He's just working his abdominals.
Take a look at these guys. All Asians. They know how to work out. This fellow doesn't. (And he's not rolling the clock back).
I applaud him for at least doing something. But the premise of the entire article is ridiculous. He's not rolling anything back.