ladies - do you recommend strong lifts or new rules?

lisajtubs
lisajtubs Posts: 62
in Fitness and Exercise
also, what is the difference between the 2. I started stronglifts about 3 weeks ago and am enjoying it, but i keep hearing about NROLFW!!!! i dont know which is best to do.

me, 5'5", 141 lbs, looking to drop about 15 lbs of fat and obviously strengthen. I will also do cardio (running outside) 2-3 times per week due to half marathon training.

Replies

  • Titanuim
    Titanuim Posts: 331 Member
    I'll break with mfp tradition and recommend the Strong Curves program, particularly as you are a run and it will build up your glute muscles.
  • Evelynnn2014
    Evelynnn2014 Posts: 42
    I have Strong Curves and NRFLFW. Sound advice in both of them. I've only done workouts from Strong Curves so far, but I love the focus on the glutes while still hitting other areas as well. I think I might have looked over Strong Lifts and it was too technically detailed for me as a beginner strength trainer. I strongly recommend the other 2 books, though.
  • ew_david
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
    Read New Rules for the information. Do the Stronglifts workout. I felt New Rules had a lot of extraneous lifts, whereas SL is more straightforward for a beginner.

    Your weight loss will come from a calorie deficit.
  • murphy612
    murphy612 Posts: 734 Member
    Read New Rules for the information. Do the Stronglifts workout. I felt New Rules had a lot of extraneous lifts, whereas SL is more straightforward for a beginner.

    Your weight loss will come from a calorie deficit.

    I second this
  • IPAkiller
    IPAkiller Posts: 711 Member
    Read New Rules for the information. Do the Stronglifts workout. I felt New Rules had a lot of extraneous lifts, whereas SL is more straightforward for a beginner.

    Your weight loss will come from a calorie deficit.
    Yes_this_point_up.gif
  • katro111
    katro111 Posts: 632 Member
    I prefer StrongLifts over NROLFW because of its simplicity. Not much thinking involved in SL and it's still a full body workout each time.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Read New Rules for the information. Do the Stronglifts workout. I felt New Rules had a lot of extraneous lifts, whereas SL is more straightforward for a beginner.

    Your weight loss will come from a calorie deficit.

    or do starting strength, which has excellent information and a really good workout (not that different to stronglifts - but the information that comes with starting strength is what makes it better than stronglifts)

    that said, I'm doing stronglifts because I was broke at the time I started lifting properly. but I would like to buy some of Rippetoe's books in the future and his you tube videos are good too.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    It really comes down to...do you like variety or do you like just going in and knowing what to do day in and day out. New Rules goes in stages, 1-6, with each stage having different exercises. Being a runner, New Rules was great with the step ups and different lunges so I really enjoyed the stimuli that those exercises provided to my turn over and stride power.

    ETA: Stages 3-5 of New Rules get pretty long...which is the biggest downside to that program. Where Strong Lifts you are in and out in about 45-60 minutes, I was finding myself in the gym for 2+ hours with New Rules. So that is another thing to take into consideration.
  • FancyPantsFran
    FancyPantsFran Posts: 3,687 Member
    need to look into strong lifts. I have New Rules and read over it but haven't started it yet. Im a little intimated by it..lol
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
    IMO, it depends on your comfort level with weights already. I started with NROLFW, and I felt like it really "held my hand" while I figured free weights out. The information in it was great. I made it through two stages, and by then I felt comfortable enough to go with Stronglifts. I think Stronglifts is a better program (JMO), but I don't regret the way that I eased into lifting with NROLFW.
  • GorillaNJ
    GorillaNJ Posts: 4,024 Member
    You can also look into the latest release from the NROL series... Supercharged. Lots of information, great workouts that focus on all the major muscle groups. Plus the workouts are totally customizable so once you get started and comfortable you can tailor the workout to fit you current fitness level.
  • MissHolidayGolightly
    MissHolidayGolightly Posts: 857 Member
    Read New Rules for the information. Do the Stronglifts workout. I felt New Rules had a lot of extraneous lifts, whereas SL is more straightforward for a beginner.

    Your weight loss will come from a calorie deficit.

    or do starting strength, which has excellent information and a really good workout (not that different to stronglifts - but the information that comes with starting strength is what makes it better than stronglifts)

    that said, I'm doing stronglifts because I was broke at the time I started lifting properly. but I would like to buy some of Rippetoe's books in the future and his you tube videos are good too.

    Agree with all of this. New Rules was a good read but I found the workouts spend too much time on single side dumb bell exercises instead of the full barbell lifts. Rippetoe's Starting Strength and Practical Programming include more basic barbell strength training progression. I focus mostly on the barbell stronglifts but throw in some of the New Rules exercises as well.
  • Love2lift72
    Love2lift72 Posts: 157 Member
    Read New Rules for the information. Do the Stronglifts workout. I felt New Rules had a lot of extraneous lifts, whereas SL is more straightforward for a beginner.

    Your weight loss will come from a calorie deficit.

    or do starting strength, which has excellent information and a really good workout (not that different to stronglifts - but the information that comes with starting strength is what makes it better than stronglifts)

    that said, I'm doing stronglifts because I was broke at the time I started lifting properly. but I would like to buy some of Rippetoe's books in the future and his you tube videos are good too.


    Both of these. I read New Rules. I then got the Starting Strength and it's a very thorough book. Definitely worth the investment. I do SS, but as was mentioned it's not that different from SL. There is more of an emphasis on form with SS.
  • ftrobbie
    ftrobbie Posts: 1,017 Member
    Wrong sex but I have read NROL, good stuff, tried reading Starting Strength, wow it's hard going. I am doing Stronglifts just because of the free app. Just completed week 3. I am in and out of the weights section in 25-30 mins. No need to make it any harder.
  • AndiGirl70
    AndiGirl70 Posts: 542 Member
    I'm in stage 2 of NROLFW and I thought it was a great intro into the free weight room. I don't think I'll ever go back to using the circuit machines now. I can see of the next stages will be more time consuming but I've not looked into the other programs to compare. I have a trainer start me up at each stage and we do modify some of the exercises for me. I'm super happy with my results so far.
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
    Ooh, Posting to follow. I am trying to get up the guts to start something like this.
  • lisajtubs
    lisajtubs Posts: 62
    thanks for all of the replies - i might just keep with the SL for the minute, and look into incorporating some of the curves butt ones later. its just hard to believe that I can get a good workout in the 20 mins it takes me to do this!
  • inthezone77
    inthezone77 Posts: 23 Member
    You don't need to read a book to do Strong lifts, it's easy to follow, especially with the app. You can get info on technique through the app for just view their website. Doing it for 3 days means you can still run :) ( I haven't viewed the others so can't comment on them)
  • inthezone77
    inthezone77 Posts: 23 Member
    Once you start getting to a heavy weight, it will take you longer than 20mins. I'm doing it in an hour now, that includes warm up sets and around 2.5 mins between each set
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    thanks for all of the replies - i might just keep with the SL for the minute, and look into incorporating some of the curves butt ones later. its just hard to believe that I can get a good workout in the 20 mins it takes me to do this!

    it may take 20 minutes to start with, but as the weights get heavier, you will end up needing to rest longer between sets, so the workout does end up taking longer than 20 minutes, but it's still a shorter workout than most others, because it involves the major compound lifts.

    basically, the compound lifts work your whole body at once, so instead of working each muscle individually (like with programmes of a serious of isolation exercises), you work them all together in one exercise... you may think of squats and deadlifts as being leg exercises - but they also work the core and deadlifts work the arms hard as well (you have to keep your grip, which gets harder the heavier the bar gets). This is why you will need more rest time between sets, but in terms of maximum exercise within a limited time, you're working all your muscles really hard together in one go.

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