I'm starting stage 1!
Options
Replies
-
hi everybody, and welcome to all the new ladies...my gym is also small, and sometimes gets full so i do change the order of exercises, i dont think that affects the process or the progress.
im almost half way through stage 2, i love that i got a new student/gym partner, she's super motivated, but wants to start from stage 2 with me, instead of stage 1....
from my side i love stage 2, it's a killer workout, thats all i can say, every time i do it, i burn MORE calories, same amount of time, so it means im really pushing myself.
now im conflicted because i checked ahead and i dont like stage 3, it gets toooooo complicated AND long. So im tempted to 1) repeat stage 1 or do stage 2 double .... or move on to another program, like StrongLifts 4x5.... i like that it adds squats every day, i really do love squats... but i feel like i will get bored with only 3 exercises each time, so i'd have to do a mix of nrol4w+sl5x5...
update, im on my same weight, losing abt 1lbs each week, yay! getting stronger without a doubt... yay! and omg, my calves, beautiful! yay! my arms, i kinda got what seems like muscle, as in "i flex and something moves"!!!!!!!! omg, i need to keep working those arms
all in all, i love my progress, i love my new strenght, my belly still similar but everything else changing for better 
0 -
hi everybody, and welcome to all the new ladies...my gym is also small, and sometimes gets full so i do change the order of exercises, i dont think that affects the process or the progress.
im almost half way through stage 2, i love that i got a new student/gym partner, she's super motivated, but wants to start from stage 2 with me, instead of stage 1....
from my side i love stage 2, it's a killer workout, thats all i can say, every time i do it, i burn MORE calories, same amount of time, so it means im really pushing myself.
now im conflicted because i checked ahead and i dont like stage 3, it gets toooooo complicated AND long. So im tempted to 1) repeat stage 1 or do stage 2 double .... or move on to another program, like StrongLifts 4x5.... i like that it adds squats every day, i really do love squats... but i feel like i will get bored with only 3 exercises each time, so i'd have to do a mix of nrol4w+sl5x5...
update, im on my same weight, losing abt 1lbs each week, yay! getting stronger without a doubt... yay! and omg, my calves, beautiful! yay! my arms, i kinda got what seems like muscle, as in "i flex and something moves"!!!!!!!! omg, i need to keep working those arms all in all, i love my progress, i love my new strenght, my belly still similar but everything else changing for better
that is awesome that you have seen such great results. I haven't lost any weight since November :mad: But I am only 4lbs off my goal weight so I don't really mind but I really hope I see some reduction in bodyfat % after lifting for a while.
I looked at 5X5 before I picked NROL4W and also thought that it looked a little boring. I like the way that this programme changes it up so often.
I have a quick question about the dumbbell shoulder press. I was fine when I started on a really light weight but last week I went up to 20lbs dumbbells and noticed that when I am bringing the weights down after each rep my right shoulder kind of crunches. I don't know if thats the best way to describe it. it doesn't make any noise but it feels like something is not quite right with it. I went back down to 15lbs and it is still doing it but not to the same extent. Do you think there is something wrong with my form or is it more likely that there was something wrong with my shoulder before I started?0 -
@May- again awesome progress
@DouMc- stay with the lighter weight if u feel something isn't right. It won't be worth going up in weight and you get hurt!
@schweet- welcome!!
Here my workout I did today
10 minute stair intervals level 11.
3 sets of 15: Squats 95#/stiff leg deadlifts 90#, Lunges with rear leg on box 20#/step ups 15#DB, leg press double press 180#/plea DB squat 50#.
Ended with HIIT :30 on 1 minute off for 6 minutes (burpees, jump lunges, moving squats) & side planks with a side lift 3 sets of 15 each side.
Also had a really nice compliment at the gym to keep me motivated the man said he would never guess I had twins (he has a set himself) & that someone who had only one baby would wanna look like me. Awww! Totally needed that boost to avoid temptation this mother's day weekend.
Love to all!0 -
^^^^^ What she said!!
Twinmom - That's a great NSV!!
I did my Stage 2 workout B1 - It was a killer! I did not rest between C-D workouts as they seemed manageable. But deficit deadlifts and bulgarian squats killed me almost!! My legs were jelly afterwards - but I managed 15 mins on the lliptical afterward for my HIIT.
My leg seems better, so I might try running next time.
Have a great weekend everyone!0 -
Hi everybody! Ok there's the good, the bad, and the ugly. The bad: weighed myself on my scale and not the gym scale and I'm actually up a whopping 4 lb! I look thinner though and my clothes fit the same. Went back through the threads here and it seems like stage 1 does that and the book is wrong you have to lower your cals, so I'm changing today to 1450 workout or not.
The ugly: my lame floor pushups. What happened my nose is so Farr away from the floor - going back up to 30% inclines.
Last but not least, the good:
One point row 30#
Push press , got 50# without much difficulty, could go to 60# I think.
Step ups: went with risers slightly past 90 degree (basically 2 cardio steps on top of each other) 30#
Reverse lunge: 30# my legs were wobbly
Plank 1 min 10 sec
Wood chop: 40#
Pushups my nemesis.
The HIIT felt good now I just have to get through a mothers day dinner wish ^me luck!0 -
@maya nooooooooooo you can't leave new rules!!!!!! Stage three may look complicated but it's only three weeks. If you can do six weeks of stage one you can definitely do three weeks of kinda complicated.
Thanks you guys twerking is an art form I take great pride in.
I'm in Indiana with protein powder and an ez curl bar doing tabata in the hotel room cause I know I'm going over my cals. I'm really excited about finishing phase two and starting phase three. Bikinigeddon is in four weeks with six weeks till my first day trip to the beach. I haven't been taking pictures like I should so when I have these moments of self doubt I don't have anything to pull out. I know my thighs are tighter and quarters could be bounced off my calves, my arms look good (I'm getting triceps!) It's just this stomach and lower back of mine. I'm so stuck of being middle squishy you guys.
I did some calculating and if I keep the schedule I have now I'll finish new rules on July 28 which blows my mind cause that isn't far off at all. Hopefully by then I won't be squishy middle anymore. Happy lifting this week ladies0 -
Thanks for the advice guys. I did B7 yesterday and stuck with 15lbs for the shoulder press. my shoulder was still crunching a little but it wasn't sore so I continued on. I went up to 105lbs on the deadlift, 71 on the lat pull down, 20lbs for the lunges and crunches with a dumbbell held over my head. Afterwards I went on the treadmill to walk on an incline (I can't run on the treadmill because I find it incredibly boring), I did about 5 minutes very fasat at a steep incline, then reduced it to recover before going back up but while I was going slowly I got engrossed in the movie that was being shown on the tv in the gym that I forgot to speed up again!! i totally zoned out for about 20 mins!!
I love reading this thread, you guys are all amazing!0 -
"Indiana with Protein Powder" lol could be a good name for a band.
I hear you on 2 counts squishy middle and too many cals today what with that mothers day buffet. Was hoping after today's 2A1 workout that the middle gets less squishy in stage 2. Diet diet diet.
You'll get your bikini bod - I can feel it!@maya nooooooooooo you can't leave new rules!!!!!! Stage three may look complicated but it's only three weeks. If you can do six weeks of stage one you can definitely do three weeks of kinda complicated.
Thanks you guys twerking is an art form I take great pride in.
I'm in Indiana with protein powder and an ez curl bar doing tabata in the hotel room cause I know I'm going over my cals. I'm really excited about finishing phase two and starting phase three. Bikinigeddon is in four weeks with six weeks till my first day trip to the beach. I haven't been taking pictures like I should so when I have these moments of self doubt I don't have anything to pull out. I know my thighs are tighter and quarters could be bounced off my calves, my arms look good (I'm getting triceps!) It's just this stomach and lower back of mine. I'm so stuck of being middle squishy you guys.
I did some calculating and if I keep the schedule I have now I'll finish new rules on July 28 which blows my mind cause that isn't far off at all. Hopefully by then I won't be squishy middle anymore. Happy lifting this week ladies0 -
I am on my last workout of stage 1 today. I have been wishing for the last week that my gym's lat pull down and cable row machines went up by increments of 10, not the 15 they do. 75 is too light but 90 is so hard I can barely bust out 6 reps :P
I also got frustrated last week with the step ups. The dumbells I needed (25s) were too heavy for me to hold in my hands for long,but also uncomfortable to hold on my shoulders. So I switched to an Olympic bar (45 with plates on it) and it was doable but felt a lot harder as I had to stabilize my core while stepping , and it just felt so long a bar to be holding while stepping...0 -
Sunshine: that is an awesome name for a band. Let's learn some instruments and get famous guys!
Pudding: congrats on finishing up stage one! I'm sorry you had so many things frustrate you. I know what it's like to be in limbo with weights but the important thing is you came up with good solutions and finished!
My protein powder and I are headed out of Indiana. I'm ready to be home. I do my last a workout for stage two tonight when I get home as well as another tabata. I'm going to try to do two since I didn't do one last night. Pray for me.
My back fat is slowly exiting stage left so I'm much more optimistic about my ability to actually get this done. I think so often as women we underestimate our abilities and forget that losing weight isn't a crap shoot with a 85% chance of failure. It's science. Really simple science and if you do the work the results will come. I know I've picked a date on the calendar for when those results should be here but I know my body doesn't care about bikinigeddon and the results will come when they come. I'm going to try to let my anxiety go. Here's to hoping that works.0 -
@twinmom, you're an inspiration!!
@maya: ohhh don't leave NROL4W! Maybe at least try the stage 3 first? If it reeeally sucks, then you let us know I'm still going for B6 tomorrow, and kinda afraid that stage 2 is too complicated, but I'll try it out first. What I'm really looking forward is for the chin ups!
@redlipstickly: you got this, girl! Keep doing it, the strength will come, the fat will go! I always get all excited reading about your progress, you have such an energy!
@sunshine: don't worry, eat well, and the push ups will get better! For me they jumped so quickly that I was surprised. Really, from one day to the next, I could just do them. So cool!
@DouMC: second what twimmom said: go easy if you feel something is not right. I hurt myself with step ups too high, but if I had stopped when I started feeling my form degrading... maybe it would have saved some trouble!
@Pudding, I also have that issue with the cable rows and the lat pull downs (I'm still on stage 1) when the jump is too big. I don't have an answer for you, but what I've been doing is, I try to increase and usually get just 5 or 6 reps. Then I go back to previous weight and do as many as I can for the remaining sets. Next time, I try the next weight again. I've been finding that, more often than not, I can at least do more repetitions with the heavier weight
And to all the other ladies who are coming, starting, finishing, welcome!
On my end, I'm super excited as tomorrow my boyfriend will join me in my gym! Great to have someone to help me with my form. I think I'm doing it well, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have someone to point out if the back is losing the arch on the squats, right?
I'm also happy that even if I kinda stopped my calorie counting and I'm slowly re-adding a bit more carbs in my diet, my measurements are still going down (1 less cm in the hips, yay!). I am fitting in ALL OF MY OLD PANTS! I'm so happy! Progress pictures are also looking good (@redlipstickly, take pics! I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised!). When I finish stage one (in two weeks, I think), I'll post them here
Finally, I wanted to say that every now and then I log my day at the end of the day just to see more or less how is it going. On Friday I ate something like 2200 calories (when my target is 1700 now), but still the next day the scale was down to my lowest weight again. Crazy scale, I say. I'm trusting it less and less.
Cheers to all! Keep rocking! 0 -
Pushups my nemesis.
sunshine, this is the story of my life too!! I suck at push ups. Still with incline or knee
My shoulder press has improved much so I am happy about it.
@redlipsticklyfe - Girl you are kicking butt!! I'm sure you will have a hot bod by bikini season
@catdevrandom - Enjoy working out with your bf. Good to know you are maintaining well, without the hassles of calorie
counting. Keep up the good work!
I did Stg 2A workout 2 today.
Used the barbell instead of dumbbells for step ups and lunges. Felt much better. These workouts seemed faster, since I did not take 75s break between sets
I did not like the jefit app as it does not show supersets. Just wrote it down on a piece of paper and got it done
FSPP 15lb DB 2*10
Barbell Step ups 50lb -Can def increase next time
Push ups - Switched to knee as I get better ROM with that than inclines.
Rear foot elevated lunges - 50lb barbell - again, can increase next time.
One point row - 15lb
Planks - For the first time, 2*1min was easy - like I was not completely shaking by the end
Woodchops 50lb
inspired by red, I ended with barbell complex after this.
(Barbell Squat, deadlift, benchpress - circuit style *10 ) * 3
Still no change on the scale. I have been the same weight when I started mid March - but I have lost inches. My husband said I look leaner now - all over
Have a great workout everyone!0 -
I have the same problem and I did this very thing this morning.@Pudding, I also have that issue with the cable rows and the lat pull downs (I'm still on stage 1) when the jump is too big. I don't have an answer for you, but what I've been doing is, I try to increase and usually get just 5 or 6 reps. Then I go back to previous weight and do as many as I can for the remaining sets. Next time, I try the next weight again. I've been finding that, more often than not, I can at least do more repetitions with the heavier weight
I did B3 today (really B4 for me). I was really struggling with the B workouts, but when I did it last week I lowered the weights and really focused on my form. I think it really helped because today I was able to increase weights for everything (well, for 8 reps on the first set of the lat pull-down)! I'm pretty sure I can even go up again on everything on Friday, too. Hopefully I'll be able to do 2 full sets at 70 on the lat pull-down, at least.0 -
Also, I let myself not track my food over the weekend. I'm still tracking during the week for now.
I'm also considering backing off the scale. I am a daily weigh-er and I had been tracking it on 3 apps (including MFP). I'm still weighing daily, but not recording. I can tell it's unreliable right now and tied more closely to water retention than anything else.0 -
I did stage 1 workout A last night, but I'm off to the gym for a yoga class, so I'll post later 0
-
sunday was my first try out at stronglifts 5x5, and oh boy im feeling it today. i thought it was too easy, was i wrong, obviously my muscles disagree....
i know some of you have been asking me to continue on nrol4w. i went ahead and looked at the stages 3&5 forum and it seems everybody has the same opinion, long useless workouts. i gotta say i really enjoy the diversity, and the foundation is giving me at lifting, i just dont want to waste my time for a whole month while i could be gaining strenght with another program. i really want and need my body recomp.
i will definitely give it a try at workouts A and B anyways, when the time comes, and decide what to do from there on.
on a non workout related story, a bit of humor, friday after an awesome lifting workout, 604cals burnt, i locked myself out of my car at the gym AND. my phone died. lol. had to ask pple at the gym for a charger, it seems im the only non-iphone user left... but eventually found someone, got to call my cousin and he came to the rescue. learning experience...0 -
i've read some of you struggling with push ups... i read in stronglifts that is common since we are literally asking our arms (i know mine are WEAK) to push our body weight.... ouch... he's one of the most annoying pple on earth but he advices to do chest press instead, start with 45lbs (empty bar) and work our way up by 5lbs or 10lbs depending on our own strenght... since it works the exact same muscle group and basically same position but lying down. And once reaching our body weight, im theory you should be able to do push ups.
i didnt give it a second thought since i already can do push ups, nor did i look any further into that theory, but might be worth trying...0 -
Cat: You can fit all your old pants! That's awesome! I love those moments. It's like you can go shopping in your own closet. That's exciting that your Bf is going to the gym with you. Having a work out buddy is always a plus.
Mnsmov: You're losing inches! I'm so excited for you! You're doing so well with the program. How did you like the barbell complex?
Maya: Nooooooooo you've left! Please come home. The kids and I we cry for you every night. Lol just kidding. Enjoy 5x5. As a matter of fact I'm thinking od doing 5x5 when I finish nr so I'm definitely interested in what you think of it and the progress you have.
No lifting yesterday. I was just way too tired so I'll lift tonight and throw on a couple extra tabatas to make up for the teensy bit of weight I gained. I'll actually end up doing tabatas every day this week hopefully. I love how **** they are and I always feel like a super hero when I finish them. Plus I feel life they really do help me get this weight off. I just booked a bodpod appointment for the end of stage 4. As if bikinigeddon wasn't enough reason to get my body right. Happy lifting ladies!0 -
Pudding1980: My gym has removable weights that can be added to the stack of weights on the cable machines so that you can go up in smaller increments. Does your gym have anything like that?
Maya I am also curious to see how you get on with stronglifts. I am loving this programme so far but I mainly love squats and deadlifts and from my quick browse of the later stages I don't know if I am going to be able to keep doing as many of them.
I just did A8. I couldn't get at the cable machine to do the seated row so I did barbell rows instead with just the bar. Not sure if I did them correctly but they were hard so I don't think I was completely off!0 -
Morning!! The twins have been sick so sorry I've been MIA for a few days! Everyone is doing great, NSV' s, inches lost, strength gains- it all rocks!
Had my shoulder/back workout Tuesday. 10 minute elliptical warm up.
First set pulley underhand grip row 80#/barbell military press 30#.
Second set seated wide grip pulldowns 80#/shoulder T raise 5#DB
Third set seated chest fly 60#/TRX Y fly
Ended with unassisted pullups, full extension, set of 4-3-2.5 with pushups in between with our toes on a medicine ball (holy core work!)
I'm still frustrated as the scale isn't moving and I'm not losing inches. Sure, getting stronger is great, but I wanna SEE something!
My cortisol levels are super high and I need to see an endocrinologist. I know I'm stressed and don't get the best sleep, but I thought my depression and anxiety medication would help lower the cortisol because I have less stressful episodes???
Hoping to get answers, until then I'll keep working hard!
Keep it up everyone 0
