Hi all,
Well, I've been reading the site for about 8 months, so I thought I would join the forums. In college I lifted for a semester several different times, but didn't go continuous because schedules and/or lifting partners changed/quit. I know that's on the noob excuse list. But I got inspired last year when I found this site. I quit smoking and drinking, and started lifting and doing cardio four days a week. That lasted about a week. I didn't have the willpower to quit smoking and drinking. But I did stick with the lifting religiously for 3 months, until I stupidly injured my shoulder doing jump squat thrusts one day. I was loving my results, but got disheartened and stopped doing much after my injury. But now I'm back to the point where I can't stand the way my shirts drape over my beer gut, so I'm doing some things differently again.

First, I want to take some small, attainable steps. I'm trying to not drink on weekdays. That's so much easier than quitting, because when I'm alone in the house I can not drink, but when I'm with the guys-well, you know how that is. Also, I'm not going to use the Q word. It's a psychological thing with me. I'm canoeing 1-2x a week, and playing basketball 2x a week. I'm trying to eat small portions more often, rahter than 3 squares, even though I'm not eating clean yet. I'm hoping to get into the gym next week and see if my shoulder will let me do anything yet. I haven't done any body fat calculations or anything like that, I use the mirror for progress reports.

My shoulder injury is to the biceps tendon and subscapularis. Has anyone else dealt with this specifically? If so, are there specific lifts which are good to do/not do to protect these tendons?

It totally sucks to be making good progress and then have an injury interfere. Although I'm aware that JS himself has worked through/around injuries. So I'm more determined to quit whining and start working. My plan is to attend the 2007 cheat meal, and I have enough pride not to show up with a gut. So that will be motivational.

I was one of those guys who ate everything in sight and drank straight cream but couldn't gain weight in high school, and it's difficult facing up to the fact that I need to change those habits if I don't want to be a big fatass by 25. Okay, a big-ger fatass. Thanks for listening.

Those baby steps are a good start. I don't know if you drink soda, but if you can cut that down or out, you can lose a decent amount of weight right there.

Another thing that might help is to go with low-fat or low calorie versions of things to wean you off of them. I love milk, but it's not great for weightloss. So I went from 2% to 1% and now drink skim and it tastes the same to me.

Sounds like you're making some deliberate, small, but effective changes. When you see results from these, it will probably motivate you to keep changing toward better fitness.

Great work so far. Keep it up. Glad you're here and started posting. Keep us updated on your progress.

What's up ice, welcome! Glad to have you.

I worked through a shoulder injury. I did no overhead stuff, no presses, no direct shoulder work. I did lots of running, squats, legs, arms, abs, back, and good nutrition. You can still kick it in the gym just try to let your shoulder heal by not aggravating it. It can take quite a while so be patient.

:tucool:

Hey.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I have quit drinking soda, because one of the other threads said that was good. I'm about to head to the gym, I'll let you know how it goes!

Well, yesterday I did arms and some cardio. Tonight I went and played basketball for over an hour. I had my first test with a beer craving today, but I held it off. I'm feeling great right now!