You want an anchor at base of plant tied to opposite side -- this prevents the plant from pulling/damaging its roots. It may look fine today, but resistance over time can pull it through the substrate.
Training is simply about manipulating apical dominance. Tallest growth tip on more primary branch will take the most resources and grow the fastest. LST is attempting to spread that strongest growth out across more than 1 branch. The more level you make it, the more even the growth distribution will be...
Growth may not be perfectly even, initially, but you can further manipulate it by temporary tying the taller branches lower than the shorter ones and it will even out quickly. Release when even.
to get a more horizontal bend, try bending in 2-3 spots close together... don't need to damage vascular tissue, so don't do this to the point of feeling it get squishy or anything like that... just creating multiple points in stem that help it create a near-90-degree bend. Now is the time to tie it down with the anchor in place and the bend if mostly formed on its own. The tie-down can pull it down the last little bit to level it out.
you usually get too many branches with LST. So, i'd bend it 'on a growth axis' so 1 is pointing up and symmetrical growth is pointing down.. .prune off branches facing down. You can always bend down between growth axes and now you have 2 branches at a 45-degree angle that can both easily grow upward, but like i said, usually don't nee dso many branches emenating from a small stretch of trunk.
Also, have a plan. you want 2.5-3 colas per sq ft... divide that by number of plants.. and you know how many colas you want per plant... don't waste time overcrowding beyond that. once you have the right number of vertical or future vertical branches, even it out and let it go. Easy to apply to any size area and any number of plants... just be systematic and it'll save you time, money and effort. Cutting off a bunch of growth is just wasting your money and time. find a path that reaches end goal of canopy with least amount of waste.