Why strength training? A programmer's perspective

I started strength training a few months back (using The Pump app [1]), still a relative noob, but it&#x27;s the first time I&#x27;ve been able to stick to any exercise programme (usually my ADHD brain loses interest and goes off to something else, like sitting on the sofa).<p>Even though in the early days you don&#x27;t notice much physical difference (other than the steady increase in weight you&#x27;re able to lift), I&#x27;ve just watched all my stats in my fitness tracker going in a positive direction constantly (including sleep). Which is great early feedback.<p>It&#x27;s had a real positive mental impact too. I&#x27;m a pretty optimistic person in general, but now my &#x27;inner voice&#x27; has additionally been saying &quot;I feel great&quot; to myself all the time. Just like a permanent high.<p>Obviously, you&#x27;d probably get this from any exercise, but I never felt I was moving the needle with other regimes and would tend to early out, so it&#x27;s been quite an eye opener.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arnoldspumpclub.com&#x2F;pages&#x2F;the-pump" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arnoldspumpclub.com&#x2F;pages&#x2F;the-pump</a>

I also think about this regularly. I&#x27;m with the author regarding the metrics (time efficient, healthy, skill component).<p>But still, I find strength training extremely boring and going to the gym annoying. I tried a few times but it never clicked for me – what am I missing?<p>Does anyone have other ideas for incorporating exercise into my daily routine? I enjoy a bit of walking, cycling, and doing 5-10 minute mobility exercises, but is that enough? Maybe I could find one or two strength exercises I can do quickly without getting boring or too difficult, ideally without any gear.

To me, strength training is all about making life past your 60s suck less. It&#x27;s a savings account for your body; put in the work now so that you _might_ continue to be active and mobile at 80. It also helps make you look good without having to eat like a bird, which is nice also.

Weight training has been life changing for me, as a middle aged dad with a sedentary job.<p>I take it very seriously- I hired a professional online coach, lift 4x&#x2F;week for 1-2 hours, do strength competitions several times per year, and carefully track my diet.<p>First, it isn’t boring in the least- I do mostly strongman, and it is essentially a martial art with a lot more complexity and diversity than plain barbell training. It takes all of my mental effort to do a complex movement with the right form under a heavy load- it is more mentally taxing than math, coding, etc. for me. It takes so much focus I never get bored, and I don’t use a phone or media between sets. I usually get into almost the same sort of flow as with coding, and can really &quot;attack&quot; the workout with all of my mental and physical effort... which feels amazing.<p>Secondly, it has radically transformed my health and personal life. Being physically strong is surprising useful in modern life- I can fix&#x2F;move furniture, move appliances, push a stranded car out of the road, carry kids on my shoulders up a mountain, etc. easily. Also, I look strong and fit which does cause people to treat me better, and generally notice me more. I am an introverted, even shy person that when younger had a lot of trouble making friends, and especially talking to women. I generally despite &#x27;vanity&#x27; and hate being judged on how I look, but the fact is people do, and I can&#x27;t control it. Being fit, people approach me and start conversations more, and I have even had women I don’t know approach me, and ask me on dates, something that absolutely never happened before I was into lifting. I am happily married and not interested in that, but it is good for my overall social confidence and my marriage to generally be more attractive. Lastly, I also have a lot less pain- no more lower back pain, leg pain, etc. which I think were mostly caused by weak muscles from being so sedentary. The main downside is it does take a lot of time, money, and space for gym equipment- although the increased health&#x2F;energy&#x2F;well being are more than worth it IMO.

I had an on off relationship with lifting for the last 12 years.<p>But as I got more busy I became less active. And especially after the first lockdowns, I remember that walking was somewhat hard.<p>And so, after burning out and quitting my job last year [0], I went to travel and focus on myself. I started to lift regularly. After eventually settling down, I now lift 4 times a week and box one time a week.<p>I feel way better. I look great and even my wife gives me compliments. And more important, no matter how bad I feel, going to the gym and lifting always seems to improve the mood and generate new ideas.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;yieldcode.blog&#x2F;post&#x2F;an-essay-on-burnout&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;yieldcode.blog&#x2F;post&#x2F;an-essay-on-burnout&#x2F;</a>

And for those who have difficulty starting, my advice to you is to buy two pairs of dumbbells:<p>1 set 4kg, 1 set 10kg. With this you can do a lot of arm and shoulder exercises at home, and some (low weight) squats.<p>You won’t reach Olympic level fitness, but it will put you on track for a proper routine.<p>I’m a firm believer that doing something is better than making a perfect plan and not starting.

There is no one way, but this way is my favorite:<p>2-3 visits to the gym each week<p>Barbell squats or deadlift, and bench press per visit<p>5 sets of 5 reps, typically increasing weight each set such that the last set is really difficult (or you can only manage 2-3 reps)<p>Other activities which give you cardio, heart health, endurance, and mental stamina (a busy mind goes nuts on a drawn out activity like distance running :X, and that’s a sign that the mind needs some attention too)<p>The weight plan is if you have a proper facility. Real, free weights are ideal. But they aren’t always available, which is why I also like to practice various bodyweight exercises. Calisthenics can build a gorgeous body while making you very flexible and capable.<p>But my preference will always be relatively big&#x2F;heavy free weights. This training raises my general sense of capability and power, as well as my energy level. Plus, when the rare situation comes along where you do actually need to move heavy thing (like a bulky rack server in its box!), you just do it without risking your back or even feeling very challenged.<p>Also, the minimalist 5x5, 2 exercise routine takes little time to complete. If you only went to the gym two days a week and did this, you would get very strong for about 1 hour of work per week. This is a big return on investment. Just make sure you try to increase your protein intake as well, because that can greatly reduce the recovery time where your muscles feel sore.

I wrote an eerily similar article on my website about a year ago, covering my experiences with resistance training, just like you.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;craig.banach.dev&#x2F;musings&#x2F;1000-pound-club" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;craig.banach.dev&#x2F;musings&#x2F;1000-pound-club</a>

&gt;When COVID hit, my main sport was bouldering. I practiced every week and really enjoyed it, although my back, shoulders and other muscles would often hurt after long bouldering sessions.<p>&gt;Finally: it should have not just a physical component, but also a skill component. Like many software engineers out there, I fell in love with the practice of software engineering. Bouldering had this too. It wasn&#x27;t just about brute strength. There was a lot of skill in being a good climber and that keep it interesting.<p>I chuckled a little bit, because this stereotype, depicted wonderfully in this skit [1], is the single most reliable stereotype I&#x27;ve been able to rely on internationally when bonding with new researcher&#x2F;programmers.<p>And I think if there&#x27;s any value in &quot;programmers perspective&quot; it&#x27;s just that. You have a certain &quot;type&quot; of passion you&#x27;re drawn to. Some sports and exercises have that, and just as &quot;waiting for motivation to do something boring&quot; is harder than &quot;doing things that motivates you &#x2F; you think is cool.&quot; is often a better way to get things going [2], you should start with exercise with the perspective of following the trail that motivates you the most. You can optimize for efficiency later.<p>[1] If American Psycho were about programmers <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;uHt01D6rOLI?feature=shared" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;uHt01D6rOLI?feature=shared</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;7tETYAK94GQ?feature=shared" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;7tETYAK94GQ?feature=shared</a>

&gt; I learned along the way that strength training is one of the best ways to improve your longevity, great for weight loss, improves mental capacity, improves sleep, reduces risk of several heart diseases, etc.<p>The one they missed is the benefits to bone strength.<p>Having larger and larger muscles constantly trying to snap your bones in half causes them to build up as well.<p>Absolutely life changing for the elderly.

One of my hangups to start strength training at the ripe age of 41, is that I&#x27;m terrified of hurting myself.<p>Apparently to do &quot;proper&quot; strength training you need to focus on the free weights, or compound lifts, rather than gym machines that guide your movements. I.E. squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc.<p>The problem is that these are EXACTLY the type of exercises that an untrained, anterior pelvic tilted computer long-time dweller will do wrongly as they don&#x27;t have the right flexibility or skills or knowledge about how to do them right.<p>I remember how close I was to messing up my back permanently with deadlifts, and that was in my 20s. Thinking about going to the gym and starting doing them again unsupervised at my age is, to me, madness.<p>I really wish if someone could give me some advice in this matter...

While I&#x27;ve had many physical hobbies, weight lifting has been the one that has been most beneficial to my health and my overall level of fitness. That said, don&#x27;t skimp on cardio. If any bro tries to tell you that it&#x27;ll impact your gains, ignore them.

I started weight lifting 3 times a week and HIIT (shadow boxing and sometimes stationary bike) 2 times per week, total of 5 days a week. I&#x27;m way stronger and healthier after 1 year, many pains are gone, but I did injure myself many times (minors).<p>My major struggle is the weight. I don&#x27;t look in bad shape, but even eating very healthy, I just eat too much. I&#x27;m always hungry. I wish I could fix that, because I do have strength and I&#x27;m active now. Yet, my stomach still looks too big for the amount of activity I&#x27;m doing. I also walk 40 minutes per day very fast (bring kids to school and back) so the problem must be how much I eat, not the physical activity. Fought with that my whole life. The only time I mananged it I was 16 doing waterpolo 4 times a week, so I burned a lot of calories between growth and sport.

Strength training is great! As a runner I much prefer running to lifting, but I think lifting is probably better for me.<p>Btw What&#x27;s going on with the &quot;st&quot; ligatures on this page??

I have one thought on this that isn&#x27;t mentioned in the article: autism.<p>So I&#x27;ve come to learn about <i>hypotonia</i>. Basically a lot of children with autism has lower percentile muscle mass [1]. I&#x27;m not sure anyone really knows why.<p>I would posit that the percentage of engineers or programmers with autism is higher than the general population. That shouldn&#x27;t be a controversial statement.<p>So I wonder if one of the benefits here of strength training or just building muscle mass in general is that it counters hypotonia. Also, I suspect that the rules, rigidity and structure around workouts and diet probably appeals to a lot of neurodivergent people.<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pxdocs.com&#x2F;autism&#x2F;low-muscle-tone-autism&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pxdocs.com&#x2F;autism&#x2F;low-muscle-tone-autism&#x2F;</a>

Ive had the same experience as this author, and as a desk nerd. I highly encourage people to find what works for them<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ravinkumar.com&#x2F;WhyFitness.html#WhyFitness" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ravinkumar.com&#x2F;WhyFitness.html#WhyFitness</a>

For various reasons, at 40 and years of being sedentary and my health failing, I settled on a combination of DDPY(oga) and consistent strength training with the assistance of a personal trainer.<p>I had previously trained in powerlifting a decade or so earlier, so I was a _little_ prepared, but honestly the combination of the two was absolutely lifechanging.<p>I cannot recommend it enough.

Just a note that swinging kettle bells, à la the simple and sinister book caused medial epicondylitis for me (buggered up the tendons in both my elbows). This is taking a long time to heal and limiting options on other exercises I can do that involve even a moderate grip.<p>My recommendation would be to rent a rowing machine and try that first.

I found the FitBod app during Covid and had a similar journey. I&#x27;d previously been a runner and also did some bouldering, and found that strength training was vastly more beneficial to my overall health. Strength, combined with some cardio (rowing), creates a stable system. Like focusing on full stack, instead of only frontend.

Any non-subscription favorite apps? I&#x27;ve been using Jefit for a long time. I like that it has easy data export, but some features are locked behind a subscription, and it doesn&#x27;t do much to encourage progression

strength training is very essential part of life. it makes your mind think more effectively. as a computer programmer i&#x27;d love to do pushups like around 50( that means 20 per set). to make my physique strong and muscular..this is ultimately effects your health.. so a healthy body have an healthy mind.

And my (maybe a bit amusing) question is: What is strength training of computer programming?

I follow ben vallack, so I have a Treadmill at my standing desk ( with a chair for breaks )

Why do we need a &quot;programmer&#x27;s perspective&quot;? Exercise has nothing to do with programming or engineering specifically. Exercise (ideally, some form of exercise that strengthens muscles that atrophy while sitting) should be a thing for everyone who sits behind for 40+ hours a week.

Anyone have any opinions on strength vs cardio + resistance (i.e. bands)?

Does anyone have a tip on how to start? I despise gyms, and would really love a tutorial to get an operation going in my garage. Maybe also an app recommendation?

Just came here to say that I hate that st ligature. I&#x27;m a fan of ligatures in general, but I find that one harder to read.