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 — free to read
“Under 3 Minutes”
Jim’s note
On a study about how little vigorous movement it really takes to matter — roughly two and a half minutes a day. Jim writes from hard-won experience (six coronary lesions and a stage III prostate cancer diagnosis): “Our bodies are begging us to get off the couch… you don’t have to push the giant boulder up the mountain.”
In the kitchen
An edamame, kale & jalapeño “pesto adjacent” sauce — “it took some inspiration from pesto and dialed up the protein and fiber a little.” Great on crackers, sourdough, or over grilled meat and veggies.
The movement
Foam rolling and an easy warm-up, side shuffles, farmer’s carries, sit-to-stands, push-ups (wall, counter, or full), kettlebell swings, and balance work — pick what fits you.
A taste of the real thing — one movement, one from the kitchen. These are free samples; subscribers get the full weekly set.
A movement snack: Sit to StandIn the kitchen: Mediterranean salad
What changes
It’s not about a six-pack. It’s about your life.
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 some of them say:
“I am 73. I have a bad right knee, a bad left shoulder, plantar fasciitis in my left heel — and I’d basically been using them as excuses for limited activity. I loved your ‘Maybe Not Yet but not NEVER’ concept. Exactly the message I needed to read. Keep on keeping on, Jim!”
— Subscriber, 73
“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
“At 60, I’m starting to have hip pain, and I’ve done the gym-membership yo-yo. I wanted something more sustainable — and the exercise snacks work for me. When I was doing PT after shoulder surgery, it was in a sort of ‘snack’ form I could do throughout the day, and that was the first time I really followed through on an exercise plan.”
— Subscriber, 60
“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
“I like its emphasis on making small changes — and its focus not on discipline but on pleasure. I love the idea of exercise snacks!”
— Subscriber
“You are honest and straightforward with basic information. The exercises are perfect and the recipes wonderful.”
— Subscriber
“I always wish I could read the entire post, so I’m finally upgrading to paid. The green bean recipe sounds fantastic!”
— New paid subscriber
“I love listening to your deep, down-home voice. You and your demonstrations make me feel like I too can do these things.”
— Subscriber
“You give so much for free that I’d feel bad not paying you something for it.”
— Paying subscriber
“I want a better diet and a healthier life — and ‘everyone can use a little encouragement’ to pursue those goals and stay on them.”
— Subscriber
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.
