Strong lifts or NROLFW?

NRSPAM

Wanting to know which one you think is better, and why. Annnnnndddd GO! :happy:

MoreBean13

I prefer stronglifts because it's free and less complicated but they're both good.

birdiecs

It wasn't so much which was better, but I decided on Stronglifts for it's simplicity. I was really intimidated and overwhelmed by the idea of weight lifting. SL made it much easier to jump in, I read NROLFW but kept putting it off because I never felt ready.

NRSPAM

Ok, I should have added this...what's the difference between them. I already have New Rules, but don't really have a clue about Strong Lifts. ???

HappyStack

NROLFW is too many isolation exercises for me.

SL was something I did for about 2 months before realising 5x5 with warm-up sets was just too much volume for me.

lmhbuss

In for opinions! About to start lifting myself.

NRSPAM

Muscle weighs more than fat!!! Now watch everyone flock to this thread! See what I did there? :laugh:

HappyStack

NROLFW - complex routine, lots of days, lots of isolation exercises, not exactly a strength-gaining program. Some of the exercises are difficult to learn.

SL - basically the earliest version of Starting Strength before Rippetoe updated it. Even though it advertises itself as 5x5, by the time you've finished warming up, it's more like 8x5. It's only 3x a week. Compound lifts. Good for gaining strength, but you'll stall more quickly as a beginner due to increased volume. Mehdi likes to talk a lot through his instructional videos.

Winner? choose.

Personally, SS... added benefit that you can move onto SS's Practical Programming for advanced novices once you stall on the basic SS routine.

meshashesha2012

Starting strength

New rules gets too complex and less focused on strength after stage 2 ( 1 legged dumbbell deadlifts grrrrr)

NRSPAM

^^^Lol. Yeah, I was kind of like WTF? with the one point row exercise. Too much balancing for me. I didn't know they have you doing one legged deadlifts too!!! That's insane!!! Lol.

kellyscomeback

I started with NROLFW and abandoned it for Body Beast after 6 weeks.
If you have a gym with lots of equipment and time, go for NROLFW.

I don't have that, but I have adjustable weights so I opt'ed for Body Beast and love it!

meshashesha2012

^^^Lol. Yeah, I was kind of like WTF? with the one point row exercise. Too much balancing for me. I didn't know they have you doing one legged deadlifts too!!! That's insane!!! Lol.

The one points were bad too. I know my balancing on 1 leg isn't the best but id rather work on that in yoga, not when i'm strength training. I did really like the 1 arm db snatches though!

brandiuntz

I like Strong Lifts for the focus on compound lifts and "simplicity". It's the one I follow and I've gotten good strength gains so far.

Both are good programs. I'd say personal choice.

NRSPAM

Awesome! Thanks everyone for your replies. I always thought SL was a book. I just googled it, and saw it for free. :bigsmile: I think I'll probably do my own thing, and sort of combine the two. I definately need to focus on my abs and triceps right now. Those are my major problem areas. Plus I've pretty much already been doing SL already, just didn't know it before now. Lol. I do love some of the routines in NR though! Like the prone jackknife, and step-ups. I amaze all the guys at the gym when they see me stepping up on the huge box, that almost comes up to my hips. Lol. My main problem is time. I have LO's at home, and my time is limited. I do an hour of Zumba, and an hour of lifting 3x's/week. I really do like NR too, but just wanting to simplify it a bit. Thanks again! :drinker: :flowerforyou:

Cherimoose

New rules gets too complex and less focused on strength after stage 2 ( 1 legged dumbbell deadlifts grrrrr)

Single-leg deadlifts work hip stability and balance under load, which are essential skills that are under-trained in SL. So if your lifestyle is fairly sedentary (lots of sitting, minimal sports or other challenging activities), then NROL may be more appropriate, since it trains a broader range of essential skills that are lacking in your life. If you're already athletic and only want to add more strength, SL may be more appropriate.

I amaze all the guys at the gym when they see me stepping up on the huge box, that almost comes up to my hips. Lol.

I'm not trying to burst your bubble, but you're probably using your back leg a lot, instead of the front leg (which is the target leg). Try lifting the toes of your back leg off the ground. In other words, get on the heel of the back foot, then try to lift yourself using just your front leg. Very few people can do that with a thigh-high box.

NRSPAM

^^^Nope, I do it right. Been doing NROL for a while now, and when I started doing them, all I had to use was my kitchen chair. Didn't have anything shorter.

MoreBean13

Awesome! Thanks everyone for your replies. I always thought SL was a book. I just googled it, and saw it for free. :bigsmile: I think I'll probably do my own thing, and sort of combine the two. I definately need to focus on my abs and triceps right now. Those are my major problem areas. Plus I've pretty much already been doing SL already, just didn't know it before now. Lol. I do love some of the routines in NR though! Like the prone jackknife, and step-ups. I amaze all the guys at the gym when they see me stepping up on the huge box, that almost comes up to my hips. Lol. My main problem is time. I have LO's at home, and my time is limited. I do an hour of Zumba, and an hour of lifting 3x's/week. I really do like NR too, but just wanting to simplify it a bit. Thanks again! :drinker: :flowerforyou:

I would advise against doing your own thing and combining the two programs unless you're familiar with exercise programming. Focusing on your abs and triceps is a bad idea. Isolated ab work is frankly a waste of time if you're still trying to lose weight- your abs get plenty of work during the compound lifts, and that way you're hitting much more muscle at the same time. Focusing on triceps is imbalanced training- you have to do equal work in your program on your triceps and your biceps. Biceps and triceps attach together at the elbow and shoulder and anytime you do imbalanced training on one muscle versus another around a joint, you're risking injury in that joint.

This is why using a program as designed is important. The authors take this all in to consideration when they're writing it and give you a good program you can use without having to worry about it.

wolfsbayne

NROLFW - complex routine, lots of days, lots of isolation exercises, not exactly a strength-gaining program. Some of the exercises are difficult to learn.

SL - basically the earliest version of Starting Strength before Rippetoe updated it. Even though it advertises itself as 5x5, by the time you've finished warming up, it's more like 8x5. It's only 3x a week. Compound lifts. Good for gaining strength, but you'll stall more quickly as a beginner due to increased volume. Mehdi likes to talk a lot through his instructional videos.

Winner? choose.

Personally, SS... added benefit that you can move onto SS's Practical Programming for advanced novices once you stall on the basic SS routine.

Sometimes, I only warm up with the bar and I haven't had any problems with Stronglifts. I don't go through all of the warmups before I get to my workset.

NRSPAM

Awesome! Thanks everyone for your replies. I always thought SL was a book. I just googled it, and saw it for free. :bigsmile: I think I'll probably do my own thing, and sort of combine the two. I definately need to focus on my abs and triceps right now. Those are my major problem areas. Plus I've pretty much already been doing SL already, just didn't know it before now. Lol. I do love some of the routines in NR though! Like the prone jackknife, and step-ups. I amaze all the guys at the gym when they see me stepping up on the huge box, that almost comes up to my hips. Lol. My main problem is time. I have LO's at home, and my time is limited. I do an hour of Zumba, and an hour of lifting 3x's/week. I really do like NR too, but just wanting to simplify it a bit. Thanks again! :drinker: :flowerforyou:

I would advise against doing your own thing and combining the two programs unless you're familiar with exercise programming. Focusing on your abs and triceps is a bad idea. Isolated ab work is frankly a waste of time if you're still trying to lose weight- your abs get plenty of work during the compound lifts, and that way you're hitting much more muscle at the same time. Focusing on triceps is imbalanced training- you have to do equal work in your program on your triceps and your biceps. Biceps and triceps attach together at the elbow and shoulder and anytime you do imbalanced training on one muscle versus another around a joint, you're risking injury in that joint.

This is why using a program as designed is important. The authors take this all in to consideration when they're writing it and give you a good program you can use without having to worry about it.

I've been doing machines/weights/lifting for a couple years now. I wasn't going to JUST work on abs n triceps. Just work on them more. I basically already do the SL's, (just didn't know it, because I didn't know what SL involved) I just do other things too, like the exercises that NR has me doing, only I was excluding some of them, mostly because of lack of time, or because I'd rather do something different with my triceps/abs. Thank you!

HappyStack

Sometimes, I only warm up with the bar and I haven't had any problems with Stronglifts. I don't go through all of the warmups before I get to my workset.

How long have you been lifting?

You can get away with this in the beginning, especially as a rank beginner, and still manage to do 5x5 sets across. One of the other programs Mehdi based his program on is Bill Starr's 5x5, except he removed Bill's ramped sets for sets across (usually to the detriment of linear progression). Pendlay's 5x5 also uses ramped sets.

meshashesha2012

New rules gets too complex and less focused on strength after stage 2 ( 1 legged dumbbell deadlifts grrrrr)

Single-leg deadlifts work hip stability and balance under load, which are essential skills that are under-trained in SL. So if your lifestyle is fairly sedentary (lots of sitting, minimal sports or other challenging activities), then NROL may be more appropriate, since it trains a broader range of essential skills that are lacking in your life. If you're already athletic and only want to add more strength, SL may be more appropriate.

I amaze all the guys at the gym when they see me stepping up on the huge box, that almost comes up to my hips. Lol.

I'm not trying to burst your bubble, but you're probably using your back leg a lot, instead of the front leg (which is the target leg). Try lifting the toes of your back leg off the ground. In other words, get on the heel of the back foot, then try to lift yourself using just your front leg. Very few people can do that with a thigh-high box.

i know what the SL deadlift works, thanks

it's just not an effective way to work hip mobility for me considering i have frequent balance issues because of inner ear problems. hence why i find the movement a waste on time in a strength training program for ME

wolfsbayne

Sometimes, I only warm up with the bar and I haven't had any problems with Stronglifts. I don't go through all of the warmups before I get to my workset.

How long have you been lifting?

You can get away with this in the beginning, especially as a rank beginner, and still manage to do 5x5 sets across. One of the other programs Mehdi based his program on is Bill Starr's 5x5, except he removed Bill's ramped sets for sets across (usually to the detriment of linear progression). Pendlay's 5x5 also uses ramped sets.

I've been lifting since November. If I feel I've got a weight that's going to give me problems, then I'll do more than the bar, but I'm short on time as I lift during my lunch break.

HappyStack

I've been lifting since November. If I feel I've got a weight that's going to give me problems, then I'll do more than the bar, but I'm short on time as I lift during my lunch break.

Yeah, I got stuck around 2/3 months, and that's when I started to do research on the pros/cons of the high volume in SL & the straight sets system it has, found out SL switches to 3x5 after you need a certain amount of deloads and decided to go with 3x5 from the beginning once I'd recovered from surgery.

Most people will swap the original 5x5 program out for something different. You see it a lot on the Stronglifts "inner circle".

wolfsbayne

I've been lifting since November. If I feel I've got a weight that's going to give me problems, then I'll do more than the bar, but I'm short on time as I lift during my lunch break.

Yeah, I got stuck around 2/3 months, and that's when I started to do research on the pros/cons of the high volume in SL & the straight sets system it has, found out SL switches to 3x5 after you need a certain amount of deloads and decided to go with 3x5 from the beginning once I'd recovered from surgery.

Most people will swap the original 5x5 program out for something different. You see it a lot on the Stronglifts "inner circle".

I've seen that, too. This is the first time that I've had to deload while I've been on. My squats are progressing pretty good, deadlifts, also. It's the other ones that are giving me problems. 3x5 would certainly help my time restrictions, but I'm not ready to drop to it, yet.