I thought I was in terminal decline when I was 32.

When I think of it now, I wonder what was wrong with my brain to come up with such a dumb idea.

Sure, I was overweight, and sure, every time I tried to exercise, I injured myself lugging my overweight ass around.

And yes, sure, I hated my job and had already said goodbye to hair…

Oh, enough… it’s all coming back so clearly now…

I was in kind of a bad place.

Not the Nick Nolte mugshot kind of bad place.

More the ‘It’s Always Sunny’ kind of rock bottom:

In 2019, at 50, I felt the opposite.

I was hammering out the Yoga and Pilates classes by day, and powering through holistic therapy clients by night, as well as ferrying two small kids to activities around the town in between.

You all know the drill.

So what happened between 32 and 50?

I stopped believing the bullshit.

Here are the top three pieces of bullshit I rejected:

1. “I’m too old, and my ass is too old to get fit.”
Anyone can get stronger.

Anyone can get fitter.

Anyone can lose weight.

Barring medical complications, you can improve your diet, and your body responds positively to any kind of activity

This study, reproduced in Science Daily, proves it:

Men over 90 get fit with basic exercise in (another) landmark study

In the above 2013 study, 26 participants aged over 90 improved muscle mass and other strength and fitness indicators.

If they can, and if I could, so can you.

2. “I’ll injure myself if I exercise, waahhh!!!”
You’ll injure yourself if you don’t is more like it.

You just need to be careful.

Walk before you run.

Use it or lose it.

I was only messing myself up by trying to run my plump ass on concrete in bad shoes.

All I needed were good shoes, the common sense to take it slow, and a bit of sensible weight loss.

Now here’s the reality. Exercise prevents more injury than it causes.

This meta-analysis of 9 studies, including 1904 particpants shows this in endurance runners

So stop complaining.

You will get some injuries when you exercise.

Don’t be a baby.

Use good form, common sense, and get good advice.

Then the injuries will be the kind of small knocks you recover from quickly, not the stupid ones that set you back months or years.

3. “I need extreme workouts to see results.”
It’s bullshit at any age, but it’s especially thick bullshit over 50.

I had one of my regular fitness ‘attacks’ in my early 40s.

I was already doing well, lean, strong, teaching piles of vigorous Ashtanga Yoga classes every week, as well as running, weight training, etc.

But I wanted more.

I bought one of those 2010s era Beach Body programs on DVD and started jumping around the living room in the morning to a track and field ‘star’ fitness guy called Sean T.

It was called the ‘Insanity’ workout.

I had never heard of ‘plyometrics’ before.

Basically, it’s a marketing word for jumping up and down for exercise.

I was about 3 weeks in when my back went.

I have a history of lower back pain.

What was I thinking?!

We all need to understand our limits and our needs.

In my case, it ain’t worth it on my joints and back to be doing kangaroo impressions when I’m trying to get fit.

The rest of his ‘Insanity’ workout (perfectly named for my dumb ass) was fine.

But not the jumping.

In reality, moderate exercise works even better than high intensity for most people because of:

This 2013 large scale meta-analsysis, including over 26,000 participants, concludes that moderate exercise can be as effective as high-intensity exercise in people with weight problems.

Unfortunatly this one is behind a paywall. But the logic is obvious, and the study is real.

So don’t be dumb like I was.

No matter where you are in your fitness journey right now, no matter how old you are, even if you’re in your late 90s…

My guy, you can do this 🤝🫱🏼‍🫲🏽🫱🏼‍🫲🏼💪🏻

You can improve, and your old buddy, Joe Science, has your back.

Need a simple goal planner? Here’s mine: Plan 50X Goal Setter

How about a 12-month plan for 2026? Try this: The Year of Small Changes

Learn more about the Plan 50X program for radical change, and get on the waitlist here

Or send a quick email to [email protected] with a big ‘YES’ in the subject line if you think this could be good a fit for you.

Obviously, you can’t just sit on your 50+ year old patootie and wish for good health.

I know all about the studies showing that visualization creates actual physical change in the body. But if you’re too lazy to unglue your butt from your favorite recliner, you’re also too lazy to do visualizations when you’re in there, either.

Do these instead.

1. Reduce cortisol levels. AKA stress.

You worry too much, my over-50 bro.

I know you’ve got family to feed, bills to pay, and you fear for your mortality in those 3 am insomnia moments when you feel so alone, but stressing won’t pay the bills, feed the kids, or extend your life.

Find your healthy stress relief and do it.

The easiest and most accessible to all are breathwork, walking, and meditation.

Best of all, you can combine all three.

Go for that walk.

Focus on your breath. Count 5 steps as you inhale, 5 steps as you exhale. Count them as you walk around and look at the world.

Don’t force anything. Change up the rhythm if you get breathless or if you're fit enough to run and do this, go ahead.

That’s breathing, walking, and meditating all at the same time.

Habit multiplication with high-efficiency and incredible results for those who want them.

Do it.

2. Improve your sleeping habits or stop worrying about them.

Do the first, and 2nd happens anyway.

Get a good sleep routine.

Plan to ‘be in the bed’ relaxing, if not sleeping.

If you wake up, do something cool and chill that doesn’t involve a screen.

Read a book! Do some sudoku (the pen and paper kind). Breathe and meditate. Create some art. Write your unforgettable memoir, etc.

Then go back to sleep.

You’ll feel happier and more rested the next day than if you lay their thinking about failure and death.

3. Ditch your 30s workout.

It was probably garbage even back then.

It definitely is now.

No more punching trees in the forest, body slam tackles in whatever sport you were once moderately good at back in the day.

Pick something chill, awesome, and power-focused rather than high-intensity nonsense.

I love climbing.

It’s slow. Intense. Fun.

Builds strength from finger tips to toes and uses your brain as well as your entire body.

Think.

You’ll find your version, or just take what you loved and make all the changes you need so you’re not terrified of ending up in the ER every time you go to ‘unwind’ with a bit of exercise.

Walk, don’t run.

Swim, don’t backflip into the pool

Etc.

Get good advice from an older personal trainer. Not some testosterone-filled man-child or steroid gym bunny in their 20s.

You’re a grown-up now.

Behave like one!

I still remember hearing about cancer for the first time when I was a kid back in the 70s.

It was terrifying.

Nixon signed the War on Cancer Act in 1971, and that’s when I believe it became everyone’s nightmare.

Before this, especially pre-50s, it wasn’t talked about nearly so much, and apparently, was often concealed from patients even when doctors knew what to call it.

When my mother first got it, I was bout 11 or 12.

I was terrified for her, but also terrified that I would somehow ‘catch it’ from her.

That’s how bad the confusion about it was for me as a child in the 70s.

At 50+ years old, I’m pretty sure you’ve seen or known someone die from this disease.

You’ve also seen treatments get less invasive, become more successful, researchers become more optimistic, and the cost of medications skyrocket.

The book Radical Remission by Kelly A. Turner is one of my favorites on the subject.

It’s full of amazing recoveries from late-stage cancer patients, but the one that sticks with me most is Japanese businessman Shin-Ichiro Terayama.

The former Toshiba physicist and high-powered executive was given a serious cancer diagnosis at age 46 in the mid 80s.

He was running his own company when he got the news.

Japan is famous for its crazy work ethic and high workplace stress levels.

Shin-Ichiro was the classic overworked entrepreneur executive.

The poor guy faced advanced (stage 4) kidney cancer that had already spread to his lungs, leaving him with only months to live after surgery, chemo, and radiation had all failed him.

Sent home to die, he fasted for 10 days on water, watched sunrises for energy, shifted to a macrobiotic diet without meat or fish, and opened his formerly closed mind to intuition-driven practices like yoga and forest retreats.

He also played the cello, had a spiritual awakening, and actively cultivated a more connected and social life than the busy isolation he had lived before.

Now you can believe what you want, but the fact is, he made a full recovery, although in the 21st century, we are not encouraged to use those words anymore.

Once you’re sick, you’re in ‘remission’ perpetually thereafter, as though cancer were a form of addiction that you can never fully quit.

What’s your opinion on that?

Are we all ‘in remission’ right now from every illness we’ve ever had? Or have we made full recoveries?

But back to Mr. Terayama.

Post-remission, he became Executive Director of the Japan Holistic Medical Society (1988-1995), going on to counsel thousands on natural healing and promoting hugging for emotional support.

He shared his story globally, deepened his practices in meditation and music, and advocated for "natural healing power" through intuition, diet, and spirituality.

He lived, healthy and happy, to age 87 in 2023, still, I suppose, in ‘remission’.

You can say he was lucky.

I won’t argue with you. I’ll let this study do that for me instead.

Like so many over the years, it indicates that having a positive attitude means you’ll likely live longer than someone who is pessimistic about their treatment.

Make of this what you will.

To me, it’s inspirational and uplifting, and it's no reflection on those who, like my mother, tried their best but only received a fraction of the time Mr. Terayama was given in the end.

Look.

It’s all stacking well.

I’ve had my glitches. One or two nights a bit later than I planned, missed a day or two walking, but that’s about it.

Better breathing, better sleep, and walking + breathwork + meditation daily is now a thing.

Energy is better. Thinking is clearer. I drink less coffee without having to hold back.

I’ve been as busy as fc*k making this elaborate course and offer stack for Plan 50X, which I hope you enjoy, and would be honored if you would critique.

The Plan 50X Offer Stack and Wait List

In fact, some feedback would not only be nice, it would be awesome.

The goal this week is more business-oriented.

If you own your own business, then creating content must have crossed your mind at some point.

My goal is to make 3 videos a day, which may be too ambitious.

I think TikTok is the way to go because you require about 2 brain cells to use the contentious platform, and as I’m no video editor, I’ll try to up my game there.

Will it be cringy?

Sure.

Will it be ‘pushing my boundaries’, taking me beyond my ‘comfort zone’?

Also sure.

I think that’s a good thing.

But if you’re following along, of course, you should switch that out for whatever boundary pusher, comfort zone expander, works best for you.

As for me, I’m behind already, but I plan to catch up.

It won’t be pretty.

Wish me luck 🤞🏻☘️

Let me know how it was for you all.

If you liked it and found it useful, don’t forget to pass it on.

Tell folks about the Plan 50X waitlist if you are so inclined.

It would be very, very much appreciated 🙏🏻

Liam KB.

PS Remember, if you’ve got any great life, health, or business comeback stories, I’d love to hear them - contact me here or use the LinkedIn account below.

You can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and even (God forgive me) on TikTok