An Overview of Where I Was, Where I Am, and How I Got Here

I'm 37 years old now, 5'11”, average weight around 140#, smoker for 20+ years, haven't had any good exercise since my early 20's. I've always been slim but now I've got this gut that sticks out a ways. Working in IT at a desk for 13 years now, working over time at the old job and having been on call 24/7 didn't leave much room for exercise or anything. In early 2010 the job changed and I had a lot more free time.

Now, where this pain came from. Summer of 2009 at my old job I did a lot of setting up and tearing down of computers and CRT monitors, which I was likely lifting the wrong way and my body was in no way ready for that. This combined with my not so great sitting posture started my year + of back pain. The pain was all muscular, mostly in the lower back and neck. This made it difficult to get in to and out of bed, I wasn't comfortable laying down anywhere. And swiveling half my body to check for oncoming traffic because my neck and back didn't want to turn that way in the morning was pretty annoying too.

In October 2010 I decided to try to get better with exercise. I started with weight lifting. I had no set program at first, I just did the same exercises I did on my own when I was younger. After that, I started Strong Lifts 5x5, tried running, had an injury to my knee, came back to do one of the Starting Strength 3x5 lifting programs for about four months. Today, my back pain is pretty much gone but the neck pain is still there. Getting out of bed in the morning and sitting up from laying on my back has gotten much easier. So far it's working, but I've still got a way to go.

I didn't see any doctor or have a personal trainer and I don't want to take pain killers stronger than the over the counter stuff. Though I'd suggest seeing a doctor and/or trainer if you want to do this right and avoid the little injuries I got that kept me from exercising for a time. I'm just stubborn and wanted to do this on my own. I may still join a gym and get some professional advice in person instead of the Internet and DVD's.

At the time of this post I'm working on a running program called Couch to 5K to improve my cardio and likely cut down or quit smoking. (It's also making my gut shrink!) Once that is done I'll go back to lifting 3 times a week and try to put on some good weight. I kept records of every day I exercised, the next few posts I'll go in to some detail about the past year.