Anyone NOT like the New Rules of Lifting for Women?

I have just started lifting, so am very interested in this thread.

i dunno. it made me bulky.



join this group and ask for opinions and you should get more input.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/102-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w

I didn't like it after phase two, I thought it started incorporating too many ancillary exercises that seemed random... like the exercise ball pikes... maybe it was just that I couldn't do it.

Plus I had a knee injury and couldn't do some of the lifts -- like the split squats.

It's a very good program, so there is nothing wrong with it.

Different people have different preferences in terms of "liking" it or not. But, the only way to know is to try it. It's a great book and a great introduction to weight lifting. They have other books with other programs as well. I do The New Rules of Lifting for Life. I just like it better for me because it helps me understand form and progression and to build my own program that fits into my dance lifestyle and past injuries. But, doing the Women's book first helped me to learn what I needed to learn to benefit from the Life book, figure out what I liked and build my own program that works for me personally. I'm glad I started with the women's book and glad I have the life book to move on to.

I agree, the book has lots of great information, that you will benefit from, even if you don't complete the program.

I liked the book and completed stage I, but didn't continue with it since I didn't have the right equipment. I got a couple of critical comments on a thread a few months ago, mostly saying that the subsequent stages seemed overly complicated. FWIW, I liked the results I got from Stage I last fall (I am doing dumbell-version of stronglifts 5x5 at the moment).


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819720-dumbell-lifting-for-women?hl=dumbell+lifting+for+women#posts-12293027

I did the NROLFW and the For Life plans for quite some time and while I like them on one level, I lost interest. What I didn't like about the plans is all the extra ancillary moves (the YTWLs in particular annoyed me) and I found I was missing doing plain old barbell squats. I wanted to do them every time, and the plans for NROLFW seemed too fussy and were taking far too long. I moved on to StrongLifts and liked the program much better, but I credit NROLFW with teaching me what I needed t know in order to brave StrongLifts. I'm taking a break from lifting at the moment, but when I get back to it I may incorporate some ideas from the new rules and couple that with StrongLifts.

I didn't like it after phase two, I thought it started incorporating too many ancillary exercises that seemed random... like the exercise ball pikes... maybe it was just that I couldn't do it.

This is a common (and fair) comment so I'm just going swing back and address it. Caveat, I haven't fully read NROLFW but I have read NROLFL and the complaint is the same so I'm making some leaps.

Although some of the moves are 'fussy' I find that the later stages of the book make the program resemble a real program. The beginner stage stuff is very basic, as it should be, but after lifting for a while I got great benefits from mixing some things up. Maybe wouldn't do glute bridges or bulgarian split squats or something but if 7 of the 9 exercises in a stage worked, that's cool. I swap out the other two for whatever the hell I want and then it's MY program.

The SS/SL stuff is great and it's where 95% of the beginning lifters on this particular site should probably be. But stage 1 of NROL is about the same as SS/SL and then it actually gives you someplace to go once you've got the basics down.

I didn't like it after phase two, I thought it started incorporating too many ancillary exercises that seemed random... like the exercise ball pikes... maybe it was just that I couldn't do it.

This is a common (and fair) comment so I'm just going swing back and address it. Caveat, I haven't fully read NROLFW but I have read NROLFL and the complaint is the same so I'm making some leaps.

Although some of the moves are 'fussy' I find that the later stages of the book make the program resemble a real program. The beginner stage stuff is very basic, as it should be, but after lifting for a while I got great benefits from mixing some things up. Maybe wouldn't do glute bridges or bulgarian split squats or something but if 7 of the 9 exercises in a stage worked, that's cool. I swap out the other two for whatever the hell I want and then it's MY program.

The SS/SL stuff is great and it's where 95% of the beginning lifters on this particular site should probably be. But stage 1 of NROL is about the same as SS/SL and then it actually gives you someplace to go once you've got the basics down.

I agree.

I started out with NROLFW and moved on to StrongLifts, and now I do my own program, that I know my knees can cope with.

Also the other thing I preferred about StrongLifts was that each session I knew what I had to do, and I could go into the gym with confidence and knock it out. Whereas with NROLFW I had to refer back to my paper sheets all the time, and it made me feel less confident.

I didn't like it after phase two, I thought it started incorporating too many ancillary exercises that seemed random... like the exercise ball pikes... maybe it was just that I couldn't do it.

This is a common (and fair) comment so I'm just going swing back and address it. Caveat, I haven't fully read NROLFW but I have read NROLFL and the complaint is the same so I'm making some leaps.

Although some of the moves are 'fussy' I find that the later stages of the book make the program resemble a real program. The beginner stage stuff is very basic, as it should be, but after lifting for a while I got great benefits from mixing some things up. Maybe wouldn't do glute bridges or bulgarian split squats or something but if 7 of the 9 exercises in a stage worked, that's cool. I swap out the other two for whatever the hell I want and then it's MY program.

The SS/SL stuff is great and it's where 95% of the beginning lifters on this particular site should probably be. But stage 1 of NROL is about the same as SS/SL and then it actually gives you someplace to go once you've got the basics down.

I agree.

I started out with NROLFW and moved on to StrongLifts, and now I do my own program, that I know my knees can cope with.

Also the other thing I preferred about StrongLifts was that each session I knew what I had to do, and I could go into the gym with confidence and knock it out. Whereas with NROLFW I had to refer back to my paper sheets all the time, and it made me feel less confident.

Yeah, I can relate to that. It does cycle back to earlier stages and I got familiar with the moves. So, I would write it down on my workout log (so I didn't need to carry the book and be flipping through it). But, it's all part of the learning process.

The Newest NROL book that is out right now is The New Rules of Lifting Supercharged. So, if you are new to the NROL series, this seems like a good one to start with. I haven't read it, but it seems to be a reprint of the very first NROL book, but now geared towards men and women (like maybe they have photos of men and women instead of just one or the other), and they can incorporate the new things they learned and changed their mind about. It seems like each NROL book has new things in it, in which they say that in their last book they recommended something they no longer recommend now, or they learned something that they didn't know then. Perhaps they just say that to sell new books, though. The Life book that I am using was their most recent new book, before they did this reprint of the first book and called it Supercharged.

The only thing I don't like about it, aside from the 2 minute planks, because I hate staying still that long, is that it takes over an hour on the days that include the 15 minute intervals and body weight matrix. I've been using dumbbells, a step and stability ball at home, and finding substitutions on youtube for the moves I don't have the equipment for. I just started stage 5. I also follow their group on Facebook, where Alwyn Cosgrove sticks his head in from time to time, and read that the Supercharged book is better because it has more up-to-date information.

I liked it and did it for about a month. The problem was the I obviously did something wrong because I hurt my lower back. So, my advice would be to be careful and make sure to not overexert yourself.

The only thing I don't like about it, aside from the 2 minute planks, because I hate staying still that long, is that it takes over an hour on the days that include the 15 minute intervals and body weight matrix. I've been using dumbbells, a step and stability ball at home, and finding substitutions on youtube for the moves I don't have the equipment for. I just started stage 5. I also follow their group on Facebook, where Alwyn Cosgrove sticks his head in from time to time, and read that the Supercharged book is better because it has more up-to-date information.

I'm on the facebook group also.

Personally, I got all the books out of the library. Read them all, gained all the info and then decided which one I wanted to do (this was before they came out with the Supercharged book).

Thank you everyone for all the great opinions and reviews !! I have been working with a trainer but at some point it's just me, myself and I. Coincidentally enough, I reserved most of these books at the library today before I even saw the post. I would like to go through them and find something that fits what is close to my goals and abilities before I purchase them for myself.

I didn't like it after phase two, I thought it started incorporating too many ancillary exercises that seemed random... like the exercise ball pikes... maybe it was just that I couldn't do it.

Plus I had a knee injury and couldn't do some of the lifts -- like the split squats.

Yeah, I love the pikes! But, I agree that I switched away from the women's book and started the Life book because of my knees as well. They say very clearly that the program is not intended for people that have pre-existing conditions. I agreed with that and started the Life book, and am much happier with it.

thanks for sharing that, I'd never heard of "The Life Book", I'll have to look for it.

If you go to their web site, you can see descriptions of all the books and when they were written.