Congrats Dave on the renewed exercise regimen. Over the years I’ve been hearing you go up and down on it, so I hope you’ll latch onto something for the long-term this time.

For me, the absolutely critical part is figuring out how to fit it into my day — like you said, an hour at lunchtime or whatever. I haven’t done much overt exercise for my entire life, but in recent years realized I needed to actively do something to keep my health up as I age.

My workplace has a huge gym, taking the travel logistics out of the way, and circa 2006 I start going to it. Until two years ago I was simply doing 40 minutes of cardio (elliptical and treadmill), but in Jan 2013 I decided to step it up. My employer was offering subsidized BMI testing (dunk tank) so I did a before and after, with four months of a new weight machine regimen in there. This year I started doing dumbbells. I’m in the best shape of my life now, and I’ve been able to say that pretty much every year since 2006! Incremental improvement, every year. I’m still a really skinny dude, and thus can’t use the number on a scale as a barometer of progress, but I definitely have muscle mass where I did not before. And having very little body fat means I can see the progress of my muscle build-up a lot easier 🙂

Keep it up!