Powerlifting is amazing, and it is amazingly safe [1]. It is the perfect complement to a programming job, because you can bang out a massive workout in the morning and recover physically the rest of the day. Take "advantage" of your sedentary opportunity!

  Sports Injury Rates (Hamill 1994)
  
  Sport                  Injuries (per 100 hours)
  Soccer (school age)    6.20
  UK Rugby               1.92
  USA Basketball         0.03
  UK Cross Country       0.37
  Squash                 0.10
  US Football            0.10
  Badminton              0.05
  USA Gymnastics         0.044
  USA Powerlifting       0.0027
  USA Volleyball         0.0013
  USA Tennis             0.001
  Weight Training        0.0035 (85,733 hrs)
  Weightlifting          0.0017 (168,551 hrs)

However, my one piece of advice from personal experience: Avoid doing switch-grip deadlifts (recipe for distal biceps tendon rupture [2]). Use hook grip instead. If you can't hold heavy weight, then modest training with Captains of Crush equipment will have immense benefit. Even just being able to rep a #2 gripper will be enough to take you beyond a 500lb deadlift.

[1] http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Safety.html

[2] https://youtu.be/pZgxkE-2QAw

Make sure you use the right lifting posture and don't overdo it with weight, or you can seriously and permanently mess up your back.

When I was 16 years old, I somehow twisted my spine in my lower back in a way that it wasn't meant to be twisted doing 250 lbs max rep seated leg press, and ever since then, my lower back has been alternating between bouts of sharp pain and dull pain (but never subsiding) ever side for 10+ years now.

Backpain (and the resultant osteoarthritis) is still a modern medical mystery too so the usual suggestions of exercise and stretching from my doctors are something I have been doing all along but have not actually worked.

In my opinion weight lifting shouldn t be done until 18yo unless you re a professional athlete. Chances are you will get injured sooner or later since your body is not fully developped for it. Also gaining muscular mass at a young age can cause metabolism issues later (after 30), gaining weight easier and such. Studies show it might also stunt your growth in height. Practicing sports only till about 18 then slowly moving towards weight lifting will ensure a fit&healthy body, those big biceps all kids want will come up later in life, no need to speed that up.

At the time, I was on that trajectory -- trying to get recruited for college-level track and field. All of the other state-caliber athletes (my competition) were intensely weight training.

What messed me up wasn't the fact that I was weight lifting (I still have remnants of my high school athletic physique now even as an engineer who sits and codes for 10+ hours a day), but rather, overtraining and incompetent coaching.

> Also gaining muscular mass at a young age can cause metabolism issues later (after 30), gaining weight easier and such.

I've always heard the opposite. Do you have a source for this?

Not really, but have seen plenty of real-life examples.

Main point is you can NOT gain muscular mass at that age unless you take supplements or start eating protein foods like crazy! Both will mess up with your metabolism, do you agree? I m not saying going to the gym for exercising is bad per se, just early mass gain.

Have you talked to anyone about nerve cauterization and whether you might be a candidate? I had a family member who fairly severely injured her neck in an auto accident. Of all the solutions she tried, she swears by it as most cleanly fixing pain problems. And given that the nerves grow back in ~5 years, it's a nice balance between "not permanent" and "long enough to be worth it."

iyengar yoga is great for me. I started with exercises at level 0 with a competent instructor (15+ years) ...

Oh dear god, I couldn't watch past the first clip in that video. Agonising.

Seconding the recommendation of Starting Strength. Fantastic book - lots of interesting writing on anatomy and leverage and why certain techniques are better. I also really liked the fact that most of the people in the photos are distinctly ordinary, rather than super-fit well-muscled models.

And yep, beating your numbers is great motivation, and one that really appealed to my gamer self :)

Oh, one tip that I found pretty useful if, like me, you don't have a gym buddy. Grab your phone, prop it up against a wall or a bit of equipment, and video yourself from the side while you're lifting.

I'd had a couple of people tell me that my squat form was poor and that I was going to injure myself, but I found it impossible to figure out what was going wrong as I had no feedback loop. Once I could see myself on video, I could try different techniques and see how they affected my form. Starting Strength has a lot of writing on how to recognise and train good form, so once you can see yourself it's not too hard to correct.

"Incredibly healthy" is a stretch when it comes to power-lifting. In fact, while power-lifting helps to rapidly gain and develop muscle, it's extremely unhealthy to your joints and poses a high risk of injury. For those looking to get similar exercise and results to powerlifting, check out body-building. Emphasis on slow and controlled form and muscle gain (aesthetics).

Some good sources: http://scoobysworkshop.com/ http://www.bodybuildingrevealed.com/

disclaimer - I've used SS with great results, however this is not a program for everyone, keeping in mind we are on a science/tech forum

I've dabbled in both constantly (3 times a week) for the past 15 years. Although body building can sculpt a body, I never felt really as fit and as strong as I do with power lifting, with an equivalent physique. Something about isolating muscles seems to 'erode' athleticism power/strength. YMMV.

>it's extremely unhealthy to your joints and poses a high risk of injury

Do you have any sources for this?

I'd wager it's unhealthy as a sport, but that health maintenance involves much more reasonable weight goals.

I've been running StrongLifts for the last 3 months and love it. It gives me a plan and a daily goal, which is what I was missing from lifting. Now it's not just "go into the gym and lift some things", it's "go into the gym and do better than last time I was here", with a steady, achievable ramp-up. Starting workouts are around 45 minutes, and I'm up to about 75 minutes right now. 3x/week at 75 minutes isn't very much of my time, and each moment I'm there has a purpose, even if it's just resting for the next set.

I started because I was tired of feeling crappy and wanted to lose some weight. I've dropped a lot of fat, put on a lot of muscle, sleep better than ever, and don't have all the sedentary "I feel bad" stuff anymore. A+ would recommend to anyone.