Like I said before, there’s definitely hope. Hang around here long enough and you’ll realise when we’re actually being mean and when we’re just being direct. The fact that you’re engaging and responding sensibly to most of this is good.
Practicalities:
Always be completely honest (if only with yourself) about what you are and aren’t willing to do. I think it was Charles Poliquin who said that once a goal becomes important enough, you will do what is necessary to achieve it; but if it isn’t, you won’t.
Pick a push, a pull, a hinge, a squat and a carry. Do all five three times a week. Every week add weight or reps. I would suggest dips/assisted dips, inverted rows (use a band to assist if necessary), back raises, leg press (not quite a squat, but it’ll pack on size) and dumbbell suitcase carries. Do 20 reps of everything except the carries and do 20 metres of the carry per arm. Take as many sets as needed to do those totals. Every week add five reps until you hit 50 reps. Then add weight/reduce assistance and drop your reps to 30. By the time you work back to 50 you’ll probably be ready to make friends with the barbell.
Make more effort in your eating than your training, because it’s that important. If money is an issue, rice, ground beef, potato, milk, eggs and whatever vegetables are cheap are a perfectly good base.
Thanks man. Not only that but it’s text and text is hard to communicate through I find.
True enough. It comes down to what I want though, right? I mean, do I want to be a 200 lbs 5% BF bodybuilder who does shows? No. I only want to be 190 lbs and 10% BF. Eventually I want to get into boxing as well.
Plus, a lot of my training is designed to help with my pectus excavatum.
Sounds good but, is there something wrong with my current workouts (aside from not pushing hard enough, I mean the weights and exercises)?
Kk. I don’t think my diet is that bad. I just need a few extra calories. I weighed myself today and I weigh 158.6 lbs
This is a loftier goal than you might think. It will also require very good nutrition for a fairly long time.
Shift the focus to getting big and strong. Get big and you’ll look fine.
Wrong, maybe not. Could you do something better? Absolutely, hence what I suggested. That would put you in a position to do most any exercise (within reason).
However, it could be very much improved with minimal effort. Good work on the weight gain.
It’s not about looks - I mean, yes, it’s about looks, BUT the reason I’m doing the exercises I’m doing is to stretch my ribcage and (hopefully) repair the cavity. Aside from surgery, it’s the only thing I can do.
I don’t want to just LOOK like my ribcage is normal, I want it to BE normal.
Ok well I’m really hesitant to give up the exercises. Unless you can tell me 100% that they won’t change my ribcage, then I’d rather stick with them. Like I said, I want my ribcage back to normal, or at least stop it from further imploding (pectus excavatum gets worse with time they say).
Cool, and thanks.
What I really want (my dream diet) is as close as is possible to a sup;er pill/smoothie.
Even back when I ate rice and beef I used to blend it up so that I could eat it fast and not waste time.
If there was a way to get all the right amount of calories, fats, carbs, protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals, with minimal cost and effort I’d be in heaven.
You mentioned eggs which I’ve heard are good but can you eat them raw? I heard salmonella is a thing with those.
I was thinking of adding those to my shakes.
Tuna and cheese sandwiches are good too but they are a bit expensive. WAAAY quicker than roast beef sandwiches tho, and better for you I think.
For the back extensions, really think about using your hips and hamstrings more, and your back less. Really concentrate on hooking your heels in and pulling with your hams. Drive your hips into the pad with your glutes.
On leg extensions, make sure you have the machine/seat set up right. You want your knees right in line with the “joint” or “pivot point” or whatever you call it on the machine.
Switch to hyper ext or drop the load. I may have overlooked some posts, but did you add weight the second time you tried it? Go higher on the reps instead. 10 is not a magic number. Save the plates for the big movements/exercises.
[quote=“FlatsFarmer, post:113, topic:223698, full:true”]
For the back extensions, really think about using your hips and hamstrings more, and your back less. Really concentrate on hooking your heels in and pulling with your hams. Drive your hips into the pad with your glutes. [/quote]
Ok, I’m not sure what you mean… do you mean like pelvic thrusting?
I don’t do leg extensions, I think you confused “Leg Lowering drill” with extensions.
Think of hyper and back ext like an angled straightlegged DL. With hypers you keep your spine straight, but backs you bend slightly (Repeating myself from earlier post). Bending is fine for picking up a coin from the floor, but any load shold be added with increments. Heavy loads is for regular DL (or hypers for that matter) where your spine is kept straight.
