Stage 1
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Hi,
I haven't started yet, but I'm just getting to the part in the book with the workouts, and I'm planning to finish reading this week and start lifting Monday (Apr. 16). So, in the process of planning, I have a few questions:
1. The book says to take a week off after Stage 1. But week 6 of stage 1 only has 1 workout (B8). If I do it on a Monday (May 21), does that mean I start Stage 2 the following Monday (May 28, on 6 days rest), or do I take one full calendar week, and start Stage 2 on the following Monday (Jun. 4)?
2. Also, during Stage 2 (assuming it's also about 6 weeks?), I'm going to be in Europe on vacation for 2 weeks. Assuming I won't have access to the necessary equipment while I'm away, do I just take a break from lifting those 2 weeks, or should I delay my Stage 1 start so that those 2 weeks are my break between Stage 1 and Stage 2?
Thanks in advance for any help with these planning questions.
*I admit I haven't read this whole thread yet, so if they're already asked & answered, feel free to say so, and I'll try to find them as I do read through it.
it can be however you want it to be. i personally like starting things on a sunday, so i'll technically be taking a week and a half off .
and ooohhh ladeedeeda ms fancy pants with her vacation.
just kidding have fun! and yeah stage 2 is only 8 workouts total which works out to be less than 3 weeks if you do 3 workouts a week. same with stage 3 0 -
What is C25k?
Couch to 5k.0 -
and ooohhh ladeedeeda ms fancy pants with her vacation. just kidding have fun! and yeah stage 2 is only 8 workouts total which works out to be less than 3 weeks if you do 3 workouts a week. same with stage 3
Thanks everyone.
LOL @ the Ms. Fancy Pants. FTR, the only reason I mentioned that my vacation's in Europe is b/c I won't have access to a gym. If I was travelling domestic, I'd probably try to stay on schedule and just use the hotel gym or find a branch of LA Fitness nearby.
Come to think of it, do European hotels usually have mini-gyms in them like lots of American ones do? Hmmm...0 -
Karen - you actually have a few options.
1. at the end of stage 1 are the AMRAPS - if you do these then you would be done on Friday May 25, then take a week off and start stage 2 on June 4.
Thank you! This works out perfectly with the timing of my vacation, and I'm so excited that I could be done with Stage 2 before I go. 0 -
Thanks!What is C25k?
Couch to 5k.0 -
and ooohhh ladeedeeda ms fancy pants with her vacation. just kidding have fun! and yeah stage 2 is only 8 workouts total which works out to be less than 3 weeks if you do 3 workouts a week. same with stage 3
Thanks everyone.
LOL @ the Ms. Fancy Pants. FTR, the only reason I mentioned that my vacation's in Europe is b/c I won't have access to a gym. If I was travelling domestic, I'd probably try to stay on schedule and just use the hotel gym or find a branch of LA Fitness nearby.
Come to think of it, do European hotels usually have mini-gyms in them like lots of American ones do? Hmmm...
sorry i wasnt making fun of you.. i'm just a hater cus i can't wait to take my barbados vacation in august :drinker:
my vacation plan is always to try to not gain weight. you're definotely better than me if you can fit in workouts 0 -
@meshashesha -- I didn't think you were making fun of me. I took it lightly, but then realized I might have come across as show-offy, which I don't think I am.
As for exercise on vacation, sometimes I pack sneakers & workout clothes and take long brisk walks, or do some time on the treadmill (esp. when I go to CA for work and wake up before the crack of dawn b/c of the time difference!), but in Europe, I'm hoping for lots of walking through the course of our days.
I have ZERO intention of restricting my culinary options while I'm there though. I want to try everything, and just exercise moderation in quantity. I especially can't wait to try every kind of authentic French cheese I can get my hands on...0 -
Mesha and Karen, awwwww!
I didn't take either comments bad. I love the humble attitudes. I think I have found my fave group and thread 0 -
There's a special place in hell for people who don't rerack their weights. *shakes fist* Mr Big Burly Man, if you're strong enough to squat 205lbs, you're strong enough to put the plates back!
My squat is up to 85lbs now, my barbell row (I opted for that over the seated cable row) is up to 70lbs. I discovered something odd over the weekend though. I was doing lat pull downs, but I was at the gym near my mom's house since I was home for the long weekend. At my university gym, the machine has two cables attached to a bar, and I was using it set at 35lbs (which seemed pitifully light compared with other people I've seen). At my mom's gym, it's a single cable, and I had to put it up to 70lbs before I got enough resistance. What gives??0 -
Hi all--happy Thursday!
Coquette--I'm so with you: I hate it when people don't rerack. Also hate it when the plates are nowhere near the squat rack (but that's just because I'm lazy).
Jbrown--I'm feeling the same way today. I "gained' 2 lbs in the past week, and while I totally know with my logical brain that it's just muscles retaining water, etc., it still feels sucky to the other 99% of my brain. BUT, I measured myself the other day and after only 2 weeks of workouts I've lost inches in most places. Soooo...I'm trusting in the process. I'll either hang tough and watch the weight go up and down and up and down, or put my scale away for awhile if I get too bummed out. I've done that before, and it helped.
Did A5 today, up to the 3 sets of 10--I was dreading that, but really liked it! For the first time, I felt like my pushups were do-able, and did a better job getting my butt up in the air on the jacknife. Yay!0 -
There's a special place in hell for people who don't rerack their weights. *shakes fist* Mr Big Burly Man, if you're strong enough to squat 205lbs, you're strong enough to put the plates back!
My squat is up to 85lbs now, my barbell row (I opted for that over the seated cable row) is up to 70lbs. I discovered something odd over the weekend though. I was doing lat pull downs, but I was at the gym near my mom's house since I was home for the long weekend. At my university gym, the machine has two cables attached to a bar, and I was using it set at 35lbs (which seemed pitifully light compared with other people I've seen). At my mom's gym, it's a single cable, and I had to put it up to 70lbs before I got enough resistance. What gives??
I hate that!! I workout at home now but always hated that at a gym. Um, I can't lift 200 lbs right now so put your damn weights away!
I have noticed the same thing with cable equipment before, not sure what the deal is.0 -
@coquette - I saw somene post before that the cable they used had two cables and the weight being used was per cable/handle, which totally makes sense if you had to up it to 70 lbs using 1 cable.
I'm so glad I work out at home, because I can yell at my hubby or son if they don't put the weights away! :bigsmile:
@ Karen - I do the same thing when I go out of town for work. Although I'm dreading going to Atlanta at the end of the month because I'm going the opposite way and will have to try to drag my butt out of bed really early, so I may have to do some exercising at night.0 -
i actually THOUGHT about non reracking my dumbbells yesterday after my lunges. the path between me and the rack was filled with tons of people, 2 of which were doing that hulk smash exercise on the cable machines (the ones where they have to step out several feet from the machine and sweep their arms in front of them). the only way was for me to take this long route between machines and rolling exercise balls. i felt like i was in game of Mario....
but i did it. i hated it. and i'm convinced that racking, unracking, plating and unplating need to also be considered part of your workout.0 -
but i did it. i hated it. and i'm convinced that racking, unracking, plating and unplating need to also be considered part of your workout.
I totally agree with this!0 -
PROPER SQUAT TECHNIQUE VIDEO FROM STRONGLIFTS.COM GUY (and my results today):
Hi all,
So I did 5A today (out of order) did B first this week, long story.
Anyway, I do squats every time (instead of lunges on B workouts), and I just learned this past week that I had NOT been squatting low enough. Perhaps you ladies already know this, but I did not! I subscribe to stronglifts.com and Mehdi just sent a great video on proper form for squats and he explains everything.
You may want to check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnV7vEi7Sz8&feature=youtu.be
So, for today:
SQUATS: 85#, 95#, 95# (big plates, woo hoo!)
PUSHUPS: on the floor, 15, 15, 10
SEATED ROW: 95#, 100#, 100#
STEP-UPS: (reebok step plus 3 risers) 3 x 20# dumbbells
JACKKNIFE: 3 x 12
I just LOVE these workouts! Who knew?! 0 -
@coquette - I saw somene post before that the cable they used had two cables and the weight being used was per cable/handle, which totally makes sense if you had to up it to 70 lbs using 1 cable.
Thanks for that, it makes sense and sort of confirms what I thought. I try not to compare myself to other people, but it was definitely weird to see that other women were doing 60, 70, 80lb pull downs and I was struggling with a piddly 35! If it's per cable though, that makes WAY more sense.0 -
Will any of you stage 1ers be my friend? I am looking for some friends to share the journey with. I did the same for c25k and if definitely helped! I just started 1A Tues and will be doing 1B tomorrow.0
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Will any of you stage 1ers be my friend? I am looking for some friends to share the journey with. I did the same for c25k and if definitely helped! I just started 1A Tues and will be doing 1B tomorrow.
sent you a request :happy:0 -
but in Europe, I'm hoping for lots of walking through the course of our days.
I have ZERO intention of restricting my culinary options while I'm there though. I want to try everything, and just exercise moderation in quantity. I especially can't wait to try every kind of authentic French cheese I can get my hands on...
I was at Disney World for a week in March and I took the same approach -- lots of walking (but no other exercise -- I didn't have a gym) and unrestricted eating. This was my first real vacation in many years and I let myself eat the tasty things. For the week after I got home, I was up 2 lbs, but I lost them quickly after that. It was definitely worth being set back a few weeks in my weight loss. I purposely didn't start NRoL until I came home so I wouldn't have to pause in the middle, though.
I did 2B yesterday and I finally got the weights at the point where it was haaarrrddd. Suddenly it clicked for me that eating at a big deficit would make lifting so much more difficult. I felt like I needed to power up my body in order to pull this off. I'm excited to move to 12 reps instead of 15 for 3A tomorrow. I can't imagine upping the 2B weights without taking the reps down a bit but I'm curious about what I'll be able to do for this next round. Since Thanksgiving, I've been in the gym almost every day doing either a high-reps-low-weights BodyPump class or doing cardio. I've dropped out most of the cardio since I started NRoL, partially because of the way my schedule has been and partially since it's de-emphasized in the book. I'm glad I pretty much reached my maintenance weight already -- this program doesn't really seem geared towards much weight reduction. I've spent most of my life skinny-fat so this seems like a good route to take now that I need a new approach. I'm hoping to do a fair amount of biking when the weather's nice, but I don't feel I HAVE to get the gym on non-lifting days just to help my calorie deficit.0 -
I only have 2 workouts left of stage 1. I'm having a bit of a problem though. I don't think anyone can actually offer advice, just venting.
I have a joint problem and it's gotten a lot worse with the DOMs. Joints that haven't bothered me in years are now acting up. I'm going to finish up stage 1 and see if maybe stage 2 works better for me. But I think I need to lower the weights a little. I've been doing 90 lb squats and dealifts (not including wt of the bar ~20 lb), 120 lb rows, 85 lb lat pulldowns, 2X 30lb lunges, 2X 25 lb step ups, 2X 20 lb shoulder presses.
I feel really letdown that I'm not doing as well as I'd like and it scares me that I may have to stop completely.0
