I’m Jim — I’m 71, and not long ago I’d convinced myself my best days were behind me. Here’s how I found my way back to feeling strong, and how I try to help you do the same.
Read by ~19,000 people, one small nudge at a time.
For most of my life I worked in sales — too many hours, too little sleep, too much worry about numbers that never stopped moving.
I told myself I was eating fine, and that the aches in my back and neck were just the price of getting older.
Then the company I’d given all those years to was bought, and I was laid off. Around the same time, I found out I had heart disease.
That got my attention. A lot of what I’d written off as “just aging” turned out to be how I’d been living — which meant I could do something about it.
How it started
It began with a thousand push-ups.
When COVID shut the gyms down, my youngest son challenged his older brother and me to a thousand-push-up challenge — with him — in a week.
I had a bad shoulder (arthritis so bad it’s since been replaced), so a thousand felt overwhelming. But I could do 10 at a time. So I did — a few sets here and there, spread across the day. By the end of the week I’d done over eleven hundred.
That changed how I felt about exercise. It’s easy to talk yourself out of the gym. It’s hard to talk yourself out of the 30 seconds it takes to do a few push-ups. I call them exercise snacks.
My daughter talked me into posting a video of one — getting up off the floor from sitting cross-legged. Half a million people watched it. But it wasn’t the views that stuck with me. It was how many people said the same thing:
“You don’t understand — I can’t get up off the floor.”
I’ve been posting something every day since.
Jim Brown, 71 · Buda, Texas
— Jim
Why I do this
It’s never too late to feel strong again.
A lot of people in their 60s, 70s, and beyond have quietly decided it’s too late for them. It isn’t.
You can make real, meaningful changes in your strength, your balance, and your mobility at any age — if you start gently, stay patient, and keep showing up.
My goal isn’t a six-pack. It’s to help you get your confidence and independence back — to make everyday life doable again, and to help you age more on your own terms. That’s what A Friendly Nudge is for.
The idea
Small bites of movement, often.
An exercise snack is one short, doable bite of movement — a minute here, a minute there. No gym clothes, no big block of time, no working yourself to exhaustion.
So many of us have quietly decided our exercise days are behind us. We tell ourselves “I’m too old,” or “it’ll hurt my back,” and our world slowly shrinks to fit.
Exercise snacks are my way around that. They’re small enough that the intimidation falls away and you just begin. Do enough of them and some days they add up to a real workout — but that’s a bonus. In the beginning, the only goal is to get started.
What you get
What’s inside each week
Every week I send A Friendly Nudge, a video newsletter. Here’s what’s in it:
A note from meFree
A page or two on whatever I’ve been thinking about — some part of aging, a habit I’m building or breaking, a study that’s making headlines.
A cooking videoFree
Simple, doable food — and how to cook more intuitively, so eating well doesn’t hang on a recipe.
Exercise-snack routinesSubscribers
Short routines for balance, mobility, and strength, plus warm-ups. Pick and choose — do the whole thing, or just one snack. You’re never behind.
A peek inside a recent issue
“Avoiding the Playing-Not-to-Lose Trap”
Jim’s note
A reflection on staying bold as we age: “Life is inherently risky — so much so that doing nothing is one of the riskiest things we can do. The most dangerous thing we can do is avoid exercise that challenges us.”
In the kitchen
Cabbage with a date-and-shallot dressing — dates, shallot, olive oil, lemon, a little grated cheese, topped with toasted pine nuts. “I’m becoming a fan of dates; my appreciation for them moved up a notch after using them in this dressing.”
The movement
Warm-ups and sit-to-stands, jumping jacks (with an easier version), and farmer’s carries — “life involves carrying things: groceries, grandkids, luggage. If you’re just getting started, a gallon of water weighs eight pounds.”
You start getting proof — your balance steadies, you move easier, you’re a little stronger than last month.
And something bigger shifts. You stop being someone who used to be active, and become someone who exercises. Getting off the floor, carrying groceries, getting down on the ground with a grandkid — doable again.
You get your confidence back. For a lot of folks, that feeling’s been missing a long time.
~19,000people get A Friendly Nudge. Here’s what a few of them say:
“I like how this is all practical. I am on a bit of a journey myself. I have a way to go but have also made some good progress. I love the posts and hope others find you so you can keep up the good work!”
— Subscriber, Australia
“I’m 66, out of shape, with challenges around balance and mobility, and I’m encouraged by your attitude and by doing what can be done in an everyday setting. The clip on sink squats while the coffee brews sealed the deal.”
— Subscriber, 66
“A home workout with easy-to-find, inexpensive equipment is exactly what I need. The simple recipes are a bonus!”
— Subscriber
“I came across your Substack in my journey from obesity — I’ve gone from 365 to 265 in 12 months. Most helpful have been the light-impact stretch and exercise tutorials. Glad to be a paying member.”
— Paying member
Join in
Come along — it’s $5 a month.
$50 a year (about $4/month)
Or $5/month, if you’d rather go month to month.
Cancel anytime.
Get strong enough to “graduate” and do your own thing? That’s a win in my book.
Billing is handled securely by Substack. The form takes it from here.
Start where you are.
You don’t have to be fit, or coordinated, or ready. You just have to start. I’d love to have you.
