kat: you made great progress in stage 1. Congrats!

Daisy: I had that problem too with the cramping of the hand. I was able to finish my sets, I'm hoping my hands strengthen as the rest of me does.

JCJS - great work on your squat. Last week I realized that early morning I can't do math so I loaded the bar to 115 instead of 105, and I did it!

I'm also starting stage 2 on Thursday and I'm a little worried. It's great we'll be starting at the same time!

That is so great!! Way to go!! It will be nice to have someone to move on with. I'm hearing some horror stories..lol!

hello

I did S1A4 today...was meant to do that one Saturday but I was too tired to do it before work as I was out the night before...

It was great at the gym today...Really quiet!

I had a problem with my grip today...i think...my left hand hurt when i was holding the weight...kind of as if my palm was cramping...does that mean my grip is too weak? If so what can I do?

Looking forward to my next workout as I will be half way then...

Hey, Daisy! I have the same issue with my lunges. My issue is that I have very weak wrists and carpel tunnel in my left. I've only been able to get to #25 in each hand, and by my last rep my left wrist and forearm are shaking. Using my gloves has helped keep my grip.

jcjs--congrats on hitting your goal! And congrats to those moving on to stage 2...

I am doing S1B2 tonight, hoping it goes better than last weeks. With my lymph drainage problems, I forgot to do my manual massage before lifting and my grip in my right hand was non-existant when doing my deadlifts, even with gloves! :sad: My fault though. Tonight I'll try doing my exercises my PT gave me and see if they help with my grip issues. My left hand can hang on all day long, so hopefully I can get the right hand on board so i can finish my reps.

Sunday when I did Workout A, my husband watched me do prone jack knifes and then tried to do it himself. Needless to say, he has a whole new respect for my ability to not fall over when I do them. :bigsmile:

Hi All,

I am going to start in a week & going over specific exercise this week to learn form, mainly the prone jackknife. A few questions and would appreciate your input, for those of you who were doing lifts prior to starting NROL4W, how much did you have to decrease the weight to start stage 1 to allow for the higher reps or did you skip the higher reps altogether? . For example, I do stronglift 5sets X 5reps X 100# for squats. Now I realize I can't do that weight for 15 reps, do I half it and then increase it up as the program suggest. Just want to get a feel what everyone's experience was and if you saw additional gains.

There is no machine for Wide-grip lat pulldown at my gym any suggestions for an alternative wo.

For the "special wo", to complete same exercise for 1 set AMREP. Does this start on day 1 or is this once stage 1 is completed to determine gains in endurance.

Thanks

Nefetete - I am not sure what to advise you on your first question about whether to lower your weights. On the lat pull they give an alternative in the book with dumbells. Lay on your back with the dumbbells held straight up over your chest, then lower them backwards so then your arms are parallel to the floor. The special workouts with as many reps as you can is after you finish stage 1. I have read around here that not everyone does them.

Jo - on the step ups, I do all one leg first, then all the other leg in the set, I don't alternate legs. It is two sets working both legs in each set though, not one set right leg and one set left.

I do the following:

Squat
Pushup
Seated row
Pushup
Seated row
Step up (R & L)
Prone jack knife
Step up (R & L)
Prone jack knife..... and then repeat from the top. Is that right?

I do the following:

Squat
Pushup
Seated row
Pushup
Seated row
Step up (R & L)
Prone jack knife
Step up (R & L)
Prone jack knife..... and then repeat from the top. Is that right?

no, you do 3 sets of the squats. then push-up/seated row 3 times. then step up/PJK 3 times.

on your other question on the step-ups/lunges, is your step high enough/are you getting low enough? what weight are you using?

You start with the amount that you think you can lift the required # of repetitions to failure, meaning you would have a hard time pushing yourself to do one more. The first time you lift, you really have a hard time guessing that. So, after you try it the first set, if it was too easy, then put some more weight on for the second set. These numbers are going to be different for everyone.

When I increase weights, I add 5 or 10 pounds at a time generally, depending on what exercise it is for and how easy it was last time.

I think I started with 5 pounds on the dumbbells but quickly went up to 10 because 5 was too easy.

Edit: I forgot to address your question about calories and cardio. I upped my calories a bit based on the numbers in the book, but I only eat to the top limit of calories on lifting days, I eat less on lifting days, and I'm not doing any other cardio right now. I'm getting pretty good results with no cardio, and I don't really like it so that is working out well for me.

I'm not officially starting NROLFW yet, but I did go through all the workout yesterday (A&B) to get a feel for the routine and also be comfy at the gym with the new sequence of exercises. Figured out starting weights with upping them gradually and going for 15 reps. Totally recommend doing this if you have the flexibility before starting the program. I also had to go back and re-read the book on how some exercises were done, don't laugh but the one that gave me the hard time was step ups. Kept going back and forth on the height, and weight.

Anyhow, after yesterday I know I am going to love stage 1 :bigsmile: can't wait !!!