NROF4W Workout breakdowns (for those confused in Stage 1)

emibrus1

I've seen several different posts from women who are thinking about trying to New Rules of Lifting for Women (commonly abbreviated NROL4W or NROLFW) but are totally bulldozed trying to understand how the workouts are laid out. I'm a visual person and it took me a little while too! So I thought it might be nice to break down the chart as simply as I could and help you guys get your starting point

Stage 1 Breakdown:
The workouts are made for 3 days a week. The examples always start on M/W/F. But you can do them on any day! The formula for the days is On/Off/On/Off/On/Off/Off. So if you decided to start on a Tuesday: Tues/Thursday/Saturday (Lift days)...Wed/Fri/Sun/Mon (Non lift days). You may add light cardio or general activities -walking, swimming, mowing, etc.- to your off days but be sure to take it easy to let those muscles rebuild on your off days!

Typically you'll do 3 workouts a week for 6 weeks - 18 TOTAL WORKOUTS

Those who feel they are total beginners can do 3 workouts a week for 8 weeks THEN 2 specially designated workouts on the 9th week - 26 TOTAL WORKOUTS*

*This is to accommodate the fact that you started lifted very light (such as 5 lbs. weights for your dumbbell presses). You need to progress to heavier weight for progress. So instead of slamming an additional 10 pounds to your weights every workout you can increase at a more gradual, comfortable rate to reduce chances of injury/burnout.

You can do the 2 special workouts no matter if you're on the 6 week or 8 week path. It's recommended for the 8 week path people though! Those last 2 workouts are basically a test to see how much weight you can use and for how long you can go (so no guidelines of 2 sets/15 reps each). Example: You can do 45 squats 27 times with 45 pounds. There is no goal...it's just an evaluation kind of thing (and a great workout to boot).

Here is my schedule (you can copy this or alter it to yours)


Stage 1 Workout A

Warm up - User's choice (I do 5 minutes of elliptical personally)
Exercises - Squat, Push-up, Seated row, Step-up, & Prone Jackknife*

*Push-ups and Seated Rows (along with Step-ups and Jackknives) are dubbed "alternating sets". This means you'll do one set of push-ups then 1 set of seated rows. Then your second set of push-ups followed by your second set of seated rows. Same with Step-ups and Prone Jackknives! First set of step-ups, first set of jackknives, second set of step-ups, and second set of jackknives. It not only accommodates your "rest period" between sets but it also lets those specific muscles rest even longer when you're doing the other exercise. (If you do 15 push-ups would you rather immediately try for 15 more or do an exercise that works your legs first instead? You're more likely to get both sets of 15 this way.)

HERE IS MY STAGE 1 WORKOUT A CHART THAT I MADE. Feel free to copy and print it!

Special note: "BW" stands for "Body Weight"...meaning I had no weights on in that exercise. If it's difficult to complete just keep doing your BW until you feel confident in adding weights (either through physically holding a weight or utilizing weighted vests).



STAGE 2 WORKOUT B CHART


So I hope this helps out at least one person out there! If there are any additional questions let me know or friend request me!

emibrus1

The images are slightly too big (you can see the majority of them though). I'll resize to fit better!

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Fixed!

And side note: Those spaces on either side of the slash marks (the rows beneath Set 1 & Set 2) are meant to record the weight you used and the number of reps you achieved.

So say this is Workout 1 (in workout A)
You did 15 squats with 25 pounds and then 7 squats with 25 pounds.

Beneath Set 1 you'd put: 25/15
Beneath Set 2 you'd put: 25/7