New Rules of Lifting (for Women) Group - Part 2

baisleac

part 1 here - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/205238-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-group

We hit 500 posts gals. Pretty cool.

agthorn

Bump to get the new thread into My Topics :-)

GorillaNJ

I love my NROL.... not for women though! LOL

baisleac

I love my NROL.... not for women though! LOL

My husband's doing the NROLFW with me. We'll be moving on to the NROL workouts afterwards, but really... it will kick your butt.

smersh

I love my NROL.... not for women though! LOL

My husband's doing the NROLFW with me. We'll be moving on to the NROL workouts afterwards, but really... it will kick your butt.

That'd be me - I don't care that it says "for women" on the cover, I'm doing barbell squats and deadlifts. Picking up heavy things and putting them down is not gender-specific.

GorillaNJ

I love my NROL.... not for women though! LOL

My husband's doing the NROLFW with me. We'll be moving on to the NROL workouts afterwards, but really... it will kick your butt.

I am sure it is a kick *kitten* workout... I just started Strength 1 workouts and it is brutal!

kensky

There's a lot to respond to and it's (sadly) late for me but I saw in the old thread a query for progress pics from those who've done the program. I think I posted this before/during when I was at stage 3 or 4.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/251788-before-during-aka-30-lbs-lost

As for calories/weight gain/fluctuations, I really think it's best to have a loooong view. I go up and down (to my lowest weight which I then giddily record. I'm only human!) a good 5 lbs. depending on my sodium, hormonal fun, etc. I think the ideal is to eat enough so that you are feeling really strong/capable at the gym. I have to have 1500 as a baseline for this to happen and because I am egocentric find it hard to believe that anybody could do it on less than that, but I acknowledge that my mileage may vary.

neela31

bump

AlsDonkBoxSquat

bump

M_lifts

bump

idauria

Hi. I just got this book and am planning to start next week. In the book he has you do cardio intervals starting in stage 2. The only machine I have at home to do cardio is an elliptical. How would one go about doing intervals on the elliptical? Do I keep the resistance at level 1 and just alternate going all out and going slower?

agthorn

Hi. I just got this book and am planning to start next week. In the book he has you do cardio intervals starting in stage 2. The only machine I have at home to do cardio is an elliptical. How would one go about doing intervals on the elliptical? Do I keep the resistance at level 1 and just alternate going all out and going slower?

I've done elliptical intervals before with an moderate resistance (6-7 on a Precor machine). 10 min warmup, then repeats of 30 sec sprint (as fast as I can) followed by 2:30 recovery at a moderate pace. Don't remember what the actual times are in the book but it's easy to modify. If you don't put some resistance on the elliptical though, you're just going to end up flailing (and possibly injuring yourself) at the sprint speeds.

idauria

I was thinking that if I went all out at the lowest resistance I might just fall off the machine! LOL

One more question - regarding deadlifts, I know I won't be able to use the barbell at first, can I sub dumbbells until I work my way up to the barbell? I don't remember if this is addressed in the book.

Thanks!

P.S. I have been reading through this thread and am currently on page 9. Great stuff!

GorillaNJ

I was thinking that if I went all out at the lowest resistance I might just fall off the machine! LOL

One more question - regarding deadlifts, I know I won't be able to use the barbell at first, can I sub dumbbells until I work my way up to the barbell? I don't remember if this is addressed in the book.

Thanks!

P.S. I have been reading through this thread and am currently on page 9. Great stuff!

you can use dumbells for deadlifts but you really need to pay attention to your form. Why no bar?

meribethd

Hello ladies! I am on my week off between stage 2 and 3 and will start stage 3 on Monday. I was not really a fan of the workout in stage 2 that had the interval training. I don't mind interval training, but I found that with warmups and everything the workout took about an hour. I wasn't expecting such a long workout since both workouts in stage 1 and workout A in stage 2 were between 30 and 40 minutes for me.

How is stage 3? Are either of the workouts much longer? Maybe if I'm more prepared, I won't be so frustrated. Ha!

Also, I have completely quit weighing myself and counting calories. It was doing nothing but stressing me out. My clothes all fit and i am focusing on being as strong and as healthy as I can be. I am going to go with the theory that if I am active and eat a well-balanced and reasonable diet, with high protein (shake after lifting, of course!), lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, that my body will be the weight it is supposed to be. It's just a number, right?

idauria

I was thinking that if I went all out at the lowest resistance I might just fall off the machine! LOL

One more question - regarding deadlifts, I know I won't be able to use the barbell at first, can I sub dumbbells until I work my way up to the barbell? I don't remember if this is addressed in the book.

Thanks!

P.S. I have been reading through this thread and am currently on page 9. Great stuff!

you can use dumbells for deadlifts but you really need to pay attention to your form. Why no bar?

I have a bar, but am thinking it might be too heavy at first and I should work my way up to it.

kensky

The bar is 45 lbs and I remember it being too heavy at first. Well, scratch that. I remember *thinking* it was too heavy. I bet I could have done it instead of the 30 lb. fixed dumbbell I used instead. I think dumbells are more challenging to use good form with for deadlifts but not impossible. I might be tempted to give the bar a try first before you decide. Deadlifts are something women can generally start surprisingly heavy, in my experience.

scarletleavy

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this, actually just got the book in the mail yesterday and I'm so excited. I'm more than halfway through P90x at the moment and fell in love with lifting in the process. I always thought I was a cardio kind of girl, until I realized that I actually kinda hated cardio and really loved lifting weights.

I'm really excited to start this program as soon as I can and I just wanted to say hi. Anyone have any general advice for beginners starting this program?

idauria

I am not new to lifting and have done deadlifts with dumbbells before and my form is pretty good. I just don't know what weight to start with. I have fixed weight dumbbells up to 10 pounds and we also have the adjustable weight dumbbells(which I don't love to use because they are big and bulky).

kensky

If you aren't new to lifting or deadlifts than I would start with the regular 45 lb. olympic bar, like the book recommends.

Scarlet, the only real advice I'd give to those starting out is to skew your calories more toward the NROLFW rec.'s than MFP calories. You'll find that you make more progress (strength, building lean muscle) eating more and then working out harder than "running on empty". It's a struggle to make that leap and if you visit our first gargantuan thread you'll see that it was a process for most of us to get there!

Meribeth, I find that the workouts (including cardio) all take me a solid hour to complete. I am still pro-cardio though so that is including a good 20 to 30 minute stint of eliptical/treadmill/etc. If a 60 minute chunk is too tricky to include in your schedule (I get that for sure!) I'd choose to split the weights and cardio up. I've had good luck doing cardio in the morning before anything else (read: breakfast) and then doing weights later in the afternoon/early evening. These days though, I have a good hour to hour an half of uninterrupted gym time as long as I get my butt out of bed by 5 am.

As for intervals on the eliptical, I do them all the time. I go like crazy on high resistance for a minute and then ease on down for two minutes. I started at 30 seconds of hard then a minute of...not so hard.

tameko2

what's the difference between the "for women" version and the regular one? Like someone else said - pick up heavy things, put heavy things down. Are there modified positions for boobs or something!?

baisleac

what's the difference between the "for women" version and the regular one? Like someone else said - pick up heavy things, put heavy things down. Are there modified positions for boobs or something!?

The original book was very geared towards men; mostly in the nutritional aspect and use of masculine pronouns and models.

tameko2

what's the difference between the "for women" version and the regular one? Like someone else said - pick up heavy things, put heavy things down. Are there modified positions for boobs or something!?

The original book was very geared towards men; mostly in the nutritional aspect and use of masculine pronouns and models.

I can live with masculine pronouns! The first review on Amazon quotes something from one of the author's blogs (I think) saying that you should start with bodyweight exercise first. Did most of you folks do that (guys or girls) or no?

I already do a lot of bodyweight exercises but my honey does not and I was thinking this seemed like a good book/program for him (he refuses to use my 8lb handweights even though frankly it would probably be ok as exercise, considering how out of shape he is and he thinks all my squats are ridiculous). If you recommend bodyweight training first, any suggestions?

idauria

Ok one other thing that confuses me....calorie intake. If I am going by his calculations, my resting metabolic rate is 1105(I am short and not overweight). When I use the multipliers, I get 1547 and 1768, no workout and active workout day respectively. MFP has me at 1200. So, what number should I be using as my daily intake? If I go over 1105 shouldn't I gain weight? This has me very confused.

alli_baba

I believe resting metabolic rate (or base metabolic rate) is if you never got out of bed in the morning and just slept the whole day through -- the calories your body burns at the very minimum. Even on a non-workout day, you will will be burning calories -- the amount depends on how active you are or how sedentary you are (even lifting the remote burns calories :-)

So, the lower number he talks about would include calories burned during your daily life -- running errands, working, cleaning, chasing kids, dogs, etc. And the higher number is for your workout day.

This is my interpretation but I could be wrong. I'm not trying to lose so I typically eat about 1800 calories a day (I really don't discriminate between workout and non-workout days). I hope this helps!

alli_baba

I believe resting metabolic rate (or base metabolic rate) is if you never got out of bed in the morning and just slept the whole day through -- the calories your body burns at the very minimum. Even on a non-workout day, you will will be burning calories -- the amount depends on how active you are or how sedentary you are (even lifting the remote burns calories :-)

So, the lower number he talks about would include calories burned during your daily life -- running errands, working, cleaning, chasing kids, dogs, etc. And the higher number is for your workout day.

This is my interpretation but I could be wrong. I'm not trying to lose so I typically eat about 1800 calories a day (I really don't discriminate between workout and non-workout days). I hope this helps!

baisleac

alli_baba got it exactly right.

kensky

So, what number should I be using as my daily intake? If I go over 1105 shouldn't I gain weight? This has me very confused.

Like I said earlier, I would skew my numbers closer to the NROLFW stats rather than the MFP suggested calories. MFP does not take in to consideration those (like you!) who are trying to build lean muscle.

idauria

So should I use the 1500 number? I am afraid to raise my cals. However I have to say I find that when I am sticking to 1100-1200 cals I am hungry a lot. I am trying to eat cleaner/more healthy but I am having a hard time finding foods that will fill me up longer than a couple of hours.

kensky

Yes. I would take that leap and bump it up to the 1500. It is a bit scary...but worth it.

GorillaNJ

Here is a great resource of workout sheets, you just need the book to answer a question so you can have access to them.

http://werkit.com/programs/nrol4w