Starting strength and similar routines are great but be very careful of starting light and maintaining proper technique as getting injured can really impact your health and happiness in a lot of ways especially as we get older.
It is very easy to get injured doing squats or power cleans with any kind of sizable weight. For example the injury rates in CrossFit are estimated to be between 20-75% [1,2] of participants which means you're more likely to get hurt than to get fit. Personally I don't think this is due to the exercises being more dangerous but rather that the excellent group motivation of CrossFit working a little too well and people overreaching in their lifts.
For people starting out I highly recommend taking it slow, being patient and giving your body time to adapt. Start with a basic fitness class or trainer and work your way up to more strenuous exercises.
The fitness subreddit getting started guide [3] and FAQ [4] have a lot of excellent information and links to other resources.
It is very easy to get injured doing squats or power cleans with any kind of sizable weight. For example the injury rates in CrossFit are estimated to be between 20-75% [1,2] of participants which means you're more likely to get hurt than to get fit. Personally I don't think this is due to the exercises being more dangerous but rather that the excellent group motivation of CrossFit working a little too well and people overreaching in their lifts.
For people starting out I highly recommend taking it slow, being patient and giving your body time to adapt. Start with a basic fitness class or trainer and work your way up to more strenuous exercises.
The fitness subreddit getting started guide [3] and FAQ [4] have a lot of excellent information and links to other resources.
[1] http://ojs.sagepub.com/content/2/4/2325967114531177.full [2] http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/publishahead/The_... [3] http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started [4] http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq