Thanks guys.
LoRez: It’s good to know I’m not alone. I’m trying to eat more. I just recently subscribed to a website where you can punch in what you eat and it’ll tell you how many calories, protein, etc. it gives you. I do struggle at eating a lot, just because it gets mentally exhausting, but I guess that’s part of the package and I need to suck it up. I’ll drop the cables though. That seems to be the consensus and it makes sense. Thanks for the alternatives. I’ve been working a lot on shoulder mobility too, so I’ll try the guillotine today (today’s my shoulder dsy anyway). If it proves too much, I’ll save it for later. Thanks for the tip, and the link.
fisch: I do lean forward, but I’m starting to think that by being tall and skinny, my center of mass is high and unstable. Obviously this isn’t a problem for kickboxers, etc., but they also weigh more and get balanced.
Chris collucci: No, not secret. So my main goals are based off getting my deadlift, squat, bench, and overhead presses up to “decent” strength according to one of Tom Henrique’s articles*, where my goals are calculated based on my bodyweight. So my squat and deadlift goals are 210 lbs. Not a lot by TNation standards, but it’s my first bench mark as a beginner, so I’m happy with that. I’m not sure what my max for these exercises are. I only do each of these big lifts once a week, and I keep going up every time I do. I’d guess my 1RM is probably around 130 for squat, and maybe a bit more for my deadlift. So yeah, I’ve got work to do, but I’m okay with that. And for the record, I’m not actually so much looking to stay at my weight, as I figure that if I just do the exercises and eat right, the weight will come on its own. I’m not against growing, but I’m not focusing on it either. Is this a bad mentality (honest question)?
My other goals are even more bodyweight related. So, I can almost do 5 dragon flags, I’m on my way to 50 pull ups (at 20 now), I can do 5 handstand pushups against a wall, and am progressing towards doing 3 unaided ones, and I can do one really shoddy muscle-up, but I want to get 5 solid ones down. In two more months, I’m going to look at where I’m at and reset my goals accordingly. This is my first time, so I think I’ve made some too hard (pull ups), and some are probably too easy (I’m almost there with the dragon flags). But that’s part of the experience, right?
Also, when I started exercising 6 months ago, I started with crossfit. It’s fun. It introduced me to a lot of exercises, my teacher drilled proper squatting technique into me, and I experienced some gains, but I realized it wasn’t solving my flexibility issues (and I was smart enough to realize that would mean injuries down the road), and I wasn’t really getting much stronger from week to week. That’s a little more of where I’m at.