New Rules of Lifting for Women group?

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  • polly_polly
    polly_polly Posts: 32 Member
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    Hi all - new here. I just got the book and got started yesterday and I am really excited. It's great to find this informative and supportive thread. You'll be seeing lots of me :)
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    Hi all - new here. I just got the book and got started yesterday and I am really excited. It's great to find this informative and supportive thread. You'll be seeing lots of me :)

    Welcome. It's always nice to have more people join this thread. I was so happy when I found it. I've been doing the program for a few months now and it's great - you will LOVE it!
  • kensky
    kensky Posts: 472 Member
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    Hi Polly!
  • tolygal
    tolygal Posts: 602 Member
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    So the extreme heat has gotten the better of me. I haven't lifted in over a week or worked out at all in about a week. (My last workout was a run, and only b/c it was raining and I wanted to COOL DOWN!! :noway: You know it's hot when you go for a run to COOL DOWN!!) My apartment (which is where I lift, too!) has no A/C and no ceiling fans; I have one oscillating fan that I keep at the end of my bed so that I can attempt to sleep. I've postponed breakfast a couple of times so that I could eat at work because I was so hot when I woke up that I felt slightly sick. :sick:

    So now that I've complained, on to my question/reason for posting: Should I redo Stage 1 before moving on to Stage 2? Or maybe just redo the last few workouts? I never did 1B8 or the Special workouts, and I was just getting to the point of feeling challenged by my weight selections, so I'm not sure if I want to try and repeat the workouts I'm used to, or move on to Stage 2. Any thoughts?

    If you've only been "off" for a week, I don't think there is any need to repeat phase 1. In fact, they suggest taking a week off between each phase, so it sounds like you should be ready to go. I had to take about 4-5 weeks off (so far). Since I was off for so long, I am going to repeat about 2 weeks of Phase 1 before I start phase 2. But I don't think you need to - JMO.
  • kensky
    kensky Posts: 472 Member
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    Are you all on M/W/F schedules as far as your lifting days? I am. Sometimes I feel like it might be not quite enough time for muscles to recover. If my muscles are really crazy sore, like on the first day of the 5-sets-of-incline-reverse-crunches session, then I wait an extra day but really don't like to do lifting stuff on Saturday since the gym is extra packed.
  • BifDiehl
    BifDiehl Posts: 474
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    Hi Everybody! I was able to find the book at a going-out-of-business book store yesterday! So night I'll start reading. I think for the first week or two I'm going to ask my neighbor if I can use his weights in his basement. Then I can get started and be searching Craigslist for weights.

    Yay! I'm very excited to get going. I'm only 5 pounds from my "goal weight" but my body sooo does not look like I want it to look and I think if I commit to this program I will get closer to the body I want! So glad I found this thread. :bigsmile:
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
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    Are you all on M/W/F schedules as far as your lifting days? I am. Sometimes I feel like it might be not quite enough time for muscles to recover. If my muscles are really crazy sore, like on the first day of the 5-sets-of-incline-reverse-crunches session, then I wait an extra day but really don't like to do lifting stuff on Saturday since the gym is extra packed.

    My schedule is a bit funky, but it's mostly: Insanity, Lift, Insanity, Lift, Insanity, Rest, repeat.
    Sometimes it's: Lift, Insanity, Lift, Insanity, Lift, Rest, repeat.
  • tolygal
    tolygal Posts: 602 Member
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    Are you all on M/W/F schedules as far as your lifting days? I am. Sometimes I feel like it might be not quite enough time for muscles to recover. If my muscles are really crazy sore, like on the first day of the 5-sets-of-incline-reverse-crunches session, then I wait an extra day but really don't like to do lifting stuff on Saturday since the gym is extra packed.

    I do Tues, Thurs, Sat or Sun because I'm at the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then I pick either Sat or Sunday depending on how I feel or what's going on - I have to do that day at home. Then on my non-lift days I try to do some sort of cardio, but most of the time my muscles are tired and I just let them rest so I can lift better the following day.
  • jataijah
    jataijah Posts: 192 Member
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    Are you all on M/W/F schedules as far as your lifting days? I am. Sometimes I feel like it might be not quite enough time for muscles to recover. If my muscles are really crazy sore, like on the first day of the 5-sets-of-incline-reverse-crunches session, then I wait an extra day but really don't like to do lifting stuff on Saturday since the gym is extra packed.

    Im doing MWF. By the weekend I really wore out. Before this program I worked out 6 days a week. Now I find that Im doing the 3 days and MAYBE one cardio day. But thats how I know Im getting a good workout though. Im really starting to see the definition in my arms.
  • neela31
    neela31 Posts: 180 Member
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    I did my first workout today. It was horrible :( I feel so weak! I couldn't even balance on the ball to do the prone jacknife. I think I did a total of 4 :( I hope it gets easier! I also used dumbbells for the exercises because I didn't want ot invest in a barbell just yet.
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    Are you all on M/W/F schedules as far as your lifting days? I am. Sometimes I feel like it might be not quite enough time for muscles to recover. If my muscles are really crazy sore, like on the first day of the 5-sets-of-incline-reverse-crunches session, then I wait an extra day but really don't like to do lifting stuff on Saturday since the gym is extra packed.

    Im doing MWF. By the weekend I really wore out. Before this program I worked out 6 days a week. Now I find that Im doing the 3 days and MAYBE one cardio day. But thats how I know Im getting a good workout though. Im really starting to see the definition in my arms.

    That's the first place I say real change too but I got scared so I eased back a bit but in retrospect I should have just kept on going.
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    I'm feeling a bit strange in regards to the program during this stage. I don't seem to have seem much improvement, in actual fact I feel kinda flabbier? mmmmmm???? strange.

    I'm finishing stage 4 but I'm not really enjoying this stage, no matter how heavy I go I never seem to work up a sweat like i have on the previous stages? Also I've had to substitue the static lunge, rear foot elevated with with squats using the squat rack as I'm unable to hold heavy enough weights to challenge my leg muscles.

    Any thoughts, ideas about what I may be doing wrong, just not seeing much progress since the end of stage 2 really? :huh:
  • kensky
    kensky Posts: 472 Member
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    My first best guess would be calories, sunshine. I felt progressively stronger and more and more solid as the program went on, especially when I bumped up my calories a bit and put prioritized protein consumption above all else. I lifted heavier (and got sweatier!) the more I ate.
  • duckpond11
    duckpond11 Posts: 197 Member
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    Hi, just bumping this for later. I'm still reading through the book, and just digesting it all. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that I should eat more calories. I just changed my target goal on MFP to lose only one pound per week and it has me at ~1500. I already work out 3x a week doing a Body Pump class (cardio weight lifting) and burn ~375 on those days, but I find eating nearly 1900 calories on workout days to be too scary and have yet to start religiously consuming my workout calories. Seems like if I was doing NROLFW I'd probably need even more calories? I didn't do that math yet. I have a ton of weight to lose (well, 85 pounds or so), so I am not even close to goal weight. However, I've been having a really hard time with losing and gaining the same 5 pounds since I started, despite my exercise program and pretty good adherence to the MFP calorie goal I used to have (~1200). This is my first week at 1500, and it does feel great to eat more, that is for sure :). I am still not sure if it will help though. I am recovering from an injury right now, but hope to start NROLFW in a month or so if all continues to recover. The other thing I'm not sure about from the book is that they say you need no extra cardio on top of your 3 weight training sessions unless you just like cardio. Well, I hate cardio, so I'd like to believe that very much, but it sounds like all of you that are having good success are also adding on cardio workouts. (currently while I'm recovering from my injury I do yoga 2 days a week, but no extra cardio).
  • elizabethblake
    elizabethblake Posts: 384 Member
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    Just wanted to say hi!

    I'm currently reading the book, just started the workout section. I started reading this thread to see how long the workouts take because I workout at lunch and all the rest times had me thinking it'd be a 2 hour workout - glad to see that's not the case!

    I've been doing Jackie Warner's program for 13 weeks - 20 minutes interval cardio 5x week, lifting (but not whole body) 3x week, and have made good progress but I can see from the posts that I'll be lifting a lot more once I start NRLW. And I'm excited to do it!

    My office building has a gym in the basement (hence the lunchtime workouts) that has a good bit of equipment but not a lateral pulldown machine, so I'll be doing some modifications.

    Hope to finish the book this weekend and get started on Monday! All you ladies are awesome, I've loved reading about your progress (and I share the struggle to eat more calories - I started at 1200 and eat most of my exercise calories back, but there are days where I'm ravenous and it's crazy not to eat when your body is telling you to!) and can't wait to participate in the convo!
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
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    I think... I need to do some more recuperative strength work on my left leg before I do any additional squats or lunges. My right hip muscles and quads are starting to protest most mightily, showing I am overusing it and under using my left leg.

    Therefore... when the workout schedule calls for squats, I shall do left leg extensions and curls using the attachement on our weight bench. When the schedule calls for lunges, I shall do dumbbell step ups. Both exercises will be substituted until I can match left to right in degree of difficulty.

    Broken knee caps and careless doctors suck!
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    My first best guess would be calories, sunshine. I felt progressively stronger and more and more solid as the program went on, especially when I bumped up my calories a bit and put prioritized protein consumption above all else. I lifted heavier (and got sweatier!) the more I ate.

    mmmm..... thanks kensky. I just don't know, I upped my calories and whilst I didn't lose I didn't gain either? I really don't know what to do? :sad: I'm still quite fat it you know what I mean?
  • kensky
    kensky Posts: 472 Member
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    Well, let's not focus so much on the fat as much as upping the strength. I did a super-quick check of your food diary and if you aren't ready to up your calories by another 100 or so (which I can relate to, believe me) than how about making a real commitment to at least 100 gms of protein every stinkin' day...lifting or not. I believe that 100 should be the bare minimum protein limit and ideally the weighttraining pros say something like 1 gm per lb. of body weight. (I don't know how that converts to kilos though, arrgh.)

    I think that when you give your body--your muscles--the fuel it needs to grow, this will up your metabolism and make your body the more solidly muscular machine we are all trying to build around here.
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    Well, let's not focus so much on the fat as much as upping the strength. I did a super-quick check of your food diary and if you aren't ready to up your calories by another 100 or so (which I can relate to, believe me) than how about making a real commitment to at least 100 gms of protein every stinkin' day...lifting or not. I believe that 100 should be the bare minimum protein limit and ideally the weighttraining pros say something like 1 gm per lb. of body weight. (I don't know how that converts to kilos though, arrgh.)

    I think that when you give your body--your muscles--the fuel it needs to grow, this will up your metabolism and make your body the more solidly muscular machine we are all trying to build around here.

    I think you're absolutely right. Starting in the morning I will commit to at least of 100g of protein each day. Thanks for your advice - you always keep me focused and motivated :-)
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    Just started stage 5 this week and I LOVE it! I love the lower reps with heavier weight - I pushed myself as much as I could and I fel super strong. I really hope this stage is where I see significant change in my physique.

    Anyone else have any tips for maximising fat loss and strength?

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