Good post. Especially the part about the mind-muscle connection. Lats, for me at least, are the hardest muscle to engage. Your mind definitely has to be there to make rows/pulldowns worthwhile.
Fractured both my wrists ****ing around on my bike when i was 12. Four years of football and worst injury I had was a fractured metacarpal and some sprained ankles.
Yeeee if you hit your maintenance on calories you're fine. You'll be able to tell from your workout if you lost any strength, but most likely not (you may have even made gains).
Abs will become more defined as you lower your bodyfat. Ab work will help, but bodyfat is the much more important. Find a good beginner program like SS or BLSS.
