Same. I heard a famous entrepreneur say on a podcast recently that every time he felt a bit of pain he knew it'd been because he hadn't hit the gym for a few days... 100%. I get back in the workout routine and it's all good.
On a positive note it's just insanely effective at getting me to exercise. I just have _no choice_ so I know I'll be regularly exercising so long as I'm still using computers.
This is somewhat similar to how I tend to exercise when I go hard at it. If I'm feeling down or I'm feeling dull pains I intensely workout and always feel better afterwards. I like to imagine I'm pushing the pain out with a rewarding kind.
if you're just starting out, you wanna start with the top 5 compound exercises. I'd recommend "starting strength" by mark ripetoe. There's thousands of exercises you can do at the gym but you'll get 80% of the output with just these 5 exercises.
squat
Hits everything from the legs to the core to the upper back.
deadlift
alos hits everything as well as the pulling muscles so it really builds your back
pullup
works your upper back muscles and arms
pushups/dips
works your arms and chest
plank
the ultimate ab excercise.
Honestly, the best advice I can give is to hire a personal trainer for the first few sessions. Get one that knows strength training specifically to watch yoru form and make sure you have that mastered BEFORE you start lifting any serious weight
BACKSTORY:
so a few years ago I sheared my knee. I could not walk more than a few yards before my knee started grinding. I had resigned myself to eventually need a knee replacement. a few months of working with a personal trainer on the squat fixed that. Its like the injure never happened at this point.
Upper body and core. At home, pull ups and chin ups and sit ups are the best. At the gym, weight machines isolating key muscles.
It's not rocket science - if your back is stuff and hurts, generally working out your back would have been a good preventative measure (but obv be careful with injuries etc!)
