At 15 years old, I started playing competitive hockey and working out regularly. These workouts included lifting weights and aerobic activities (no stretching).  I worked out pretty regularly and lifted heavy until about the age of 21, when I realized that my lifting was getting in the way of my cello playing.  Truth be told, it wasn't the lifting it was the type of lifting (I don't work on biceps anymore) and the type of cello practicing I was doing.  From age 21-41, I didn't lift heavy and just played hockey and did body weight exercises. In July 21, 2021 , I pulled out my back pretty badly and I decided it was time to change my habits as I didn't want to be a crippled 50 year old that couldn't play catch with his son.  I started with a stretching routine of 5 minutes a day for 3 weeks which progressed to 10 minutes a day and eventually for about 6 months, I was stretching for 30 minutes a day.  After this, I started lifting again and got serious about working out.  I have not missed a day in stretching since July 2021 and I don't plan on missing another day. Period! I have progressed to the point where I am able to play hockey 3 days a week, lift four days a week (one day with max weights) and do abs food days a week (needless to say, I go at it every day for 30-90 minutes).  I try to hit Zone 4-5 cardio 3 times a week and zone 2 cardio on all other days.  My cello playing has not been impacted and I have never felt better on the the ice (I feel like I can hang with college kids with energy and ability on the ice).  On the drop down menus to this page, you can find my progression and how I go to where I am today. Hopefully, I keep this going so I can be working out well into my nineties and able to play with my grandkids. Just to repeat, this is just what I did and not recommended for everyone. I would highly recommend reading Atomic Habits, read outlive by Peter Attia and listen to interesting podcast by people like Andrew Huberman, Layne Norton and Peter Attia if you want to hear the professionals talk about working out and resistance training benefits (Stuart McGill is a back specialist that I followed and read about when I was preparing my back ).