Here's what happened

I'm Tanto, and in the last quarter of 2020, I couldn't turn my head without pain.

I was 38, sitting at a desk 8+ hours a day (just like I'd been doing since the early 2000s), and my neck, shoulders, and back were wrecked. I'd tried everything: two years of daily stretching, months of physiotherapy, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, and chiropractor — nothing worked. I thought this was just my life now.

Then, out of desperation, I tried something I never thought I'd do: strength training. I started with an empty barbell, learned from the Internet, and committed to 3-4 sessions a week. Within months, the pain started to fade. Within a year, it was mostly gone. Now, three years later? Pain-free. Here's the full story.

I'm not a trainer or a physio. I'm just a guy who figured out what worked after everything else failed. And I'm sharing my journey here to help someone who's in the same pain I was in years ago — stuck in the cycle, wondering if this is just "how it is now".

This blog is for sedentary people dealing with chronic pain who've already tried the "conventional" solutions and are ready for something different. I'll show you the same approach that fixed my pain: building full-body strength through compound movements.

My transformation happened in the gym, but if you want something you can start at home, I put together the 3x3 Squat System — designed to give the same benefits that fixed my pain.