RafsMX, conciously excercising for the first time in my life.

[rafsmx]

Hello everyone, I'm a 22 y/o mexican college student. I've taken the decision to get my body in shape for the first time. I have always been very thin and weak, I lived by myself for 3 years and I realized how nature-weak I am.

I began my journey to a gym, got slightly injured twice, injures that have taken me out of execercising one month each (I'm recovering from a light abdomen pulled muscle). And so I'm starting to think I'm doing something wrong.

I've been progressing on weight lifting, and now I'm even ablo to do push-ups (which I couldn't do one 6 months before). My goal is to be able to do pull-ups, and gain muscle. I drink Wfactor protein shakes, but I take suggestions. I take A LOT to gain weight, I went to a nutricionist and she gave my a diet with a lot of calories (since I really dont like to eat any meat). I wanna be healthier and stronger to be an example in every level in my life, not only academics or arts. I believe that the closer we are to our simplest nature, the better we can be, and being a weak human being is not natural, I see my baby nephew and I've learned how nature really asks for us to be strong but somewhere in the way I got lost. There's no point on thinking about it (for now) I just want to get into it.

I'm around 140 pounds (70kg), I'm 1.73 meters tall (about 5').

My diet is very fat-low. Eating a lot of chiken and plain meat, lots of vegetables and nuts, I've been avoiding grains for 2 weeks now, but it has been a hard task, specially because in MX almost every meal goes acompanied by a grain or legume.

By reading the blog I've come to realize that, even though I can lift more weight, my whole muscle structure is weak. So, I'll be browsing around to see what's this all about.

I'll be going back to the gym next gym, so here are my 2 questions:

Any begginers advice (besides the ones from the blog) for strength training?

and, in the paleo diet, do u eat potatoes? I've read some articles saying NO to them, but I love them =(. I left sodas, potato chips, and almost every junk food, but I love natural boiled potatoes.

Well, I'm in for the callenges, getting to know you guys, and hoppefully become the one who can give proper advice in the future.

Thanks.

(BTW, if I have any spelling or grammar mistakes that you want to point out, I'll be grateful, since it'll improve my english writting.)

[BadWolf]

Welcome! It's hard for me too to cut out grains. I love black beans and rice, chili, bread, all that stuff. I still eat those things, but I know I need to eat less of them. I've mostly cut out pasta, which is the worst for me. do you have a big outdoor market near you? When I was in Puebla and Xalapa I noticed there were huge markets with lots of different foods. Maybe make a list of foods you like that are bad and come up with some healthy alternatives, or just stroll the market and look for things that are healthy and look tasty. And remember to use spices, it makes everything tastier!

Definitely work on strengthening your body in a safe way. Injuries will slow your progress and at worst will mess you up for life. I'd had two back injuries before I was 23 (I'm 25 now) and it was the worst thing ever. Please don't let this happen to you! Have yo useen the Beginner Bodyweight routine on the blog here? It is great, just make sure you keep good form to avoid getting hurt. Good luck!

[Morrigainz]

You could check out any videos by Mark Rippetoe on YouTube...he will help you lift safely and without injury.

As far as paleo and potatoes, I don't think they are. But you don't have to be 100% paleo 100% of the time. Also, I have swapped potatoes for sweet potatoes which are somewhat better.