start slow. Be consistent. Back off when things don't feel right. Don't do heavy lifts you haven't been trained on. (Example: deadlifts without proper form are bad news.) Don't listen to guys who say injury is part of it. Lifting is very safe - provided you do things right. (Going for your PR on an overhead lift without a spotter - uh, no.) And nope, you don't have to lift to exhaustion every time. Especially when you're lifting alone, stop a couple reps short of your max. You'll still benefit. (Yeah, look it up if ya don't believe me.) And don't skip your warmups - ever. My ripped buddy was especially "ripped" when he skipped his warmup and ripped his pec. Off to surgery. I brought him dinner afterwards, and found him huddled with a big bucket to barf in (post-anesthesia can be a bummer).

Good luck, man! It's gonna change your life for the better - even if your life's already awesome.

No. I'm not Schwarzenegger. No, I don't own a gym. Yeah, lots of guys on here know more than I do. I'm just a fairly fit, middle-aged dude who doesn't skip his workouts. 🙂