NROL4W Basics

orishp
orishp Posts: 214 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been reading a bit about NROL4W, and sorry if this has been posted before, but can someone give me the NROL4W in a nutshell? I just want to know if its right for me.

My main goal is not to do weight lifting really, my main goal is to prepare for a MS150 next year (150 mile ride in 2 days), but I am doing weight lifting to complement and help my weight loss.

A PT gave me a couple of routines that are few exercises targeting every major muscle, and I love them because I can do them in 30-40 min, and feel great about working out my entire body. But I am looking ahead at what my next challenge will be.

I don't have that much time to workout, as I do it at lunch time, so 45 min tops is what I can do, is that enough for NROL4W? is there a "light" version of it, that I can do maybe over a longer period of time, and granted, results will take longer as well, which is fine.

Also, would love to see results.

Just want to know if this is right for me.

Replies

  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    in a nutshell it's 2 things:

    1)to lose fat, stop spending hours on cardio and instead lift heavy weights on compound exercises and continue to increase your weights or choose a more challenging variation with each workout as much as possible while keeping good form.

    2) to lose fat, stop eating like a bird and eat yourself some food. if you have to eat at a deficit for weight loss, then go around 20-30% less of your TDEE. you'll need those calories to get through the workouts and for your muscles to properly recover
  • orishp
    orishp Posts: 214 Member
    Thanks for your reply, I guess this is really not for me then, as I don't want to give up the bike, or the goal I have set for myself.

    My husband lost about 25 lbs just training for the MS150 this year, without really watching his diet. Whoever says that you cannot lose weight while doing cardio has not met my husband

    Anyone else have additional insight?
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    yeah but men can lose like that because they have more muscle mass. why would you expect your female body to react to things the way his male body does?

    in any case, good luck with your goals
  • Naturebeckles
    Naturebeckles Posts: 44
    I've never heard of NROL4W until getting on this site 3 days ago, but let me share what I already do and what I've read up to this point.

    Every day I do some strength training and some cardio. It seems I need to kick it up a notch with the strength training, but maybe I'm doing it just right too. I'm not sure. My confusion is whether to do more weight at less reps (10) or do a little less weight at higher reps (15). The point is, building muscle will help you burn fat along with the cardio. You are literally damaging your muscles when you strength train, and they rebuild themselves at rest. they need energy to rebuild themselves, so you will burn fat that way. Higher protein in your diet will help feed your muscles too.

    Us women are built different too. Men will see results from strength training much faster because of their testosterone levels. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to that, but that doesn't mean we can't get to where we want to be. so I don't know if you want to be like me and mix the strength training and cardio together, but its worth a try for a while if you think what you're doing isn't doing the trick.
  • melmckay99
    melmckay99 Posts: 358
    From my limited knowledge about the cardio vs weight lifting is this: cardio makes will make you skinny (look good in clothes), but weight lifting will make you fit (look good naked too!!!). I do both, though my emphasis is on weight lifting. I have the NROL4W book and have read through it, only to find that I have more or less been following their guidelines without even knowing it :).
    This time around (at the weight loss thing) was my first time really getting into weight lifting, and coincidentally, it was the first time I've ever managed to lose weight! I went from about 142-120lbs, from about 28% BF to about 20%BF (I have a before and after pic in my profile).
    I always warm up with a 10 minute run and I try to do one long run per week (10-11km). I weight lift and do crossfit type of workouts. Best part about all the exercise is that I get to eat like a boss!!!!
  • smwooley
    smwooley Posts: 133 Member
    I've never heard of NROL4W until getting on this site 3 days ago, but let me share what I already do and what I've read up to this point.

    Every day I do some strength training and some cardio. It seems I need to kick it up a notch with the strength training, but maybe I'm doing it just right too. I'm not sure. My confusion is whether to do more weight at less reps (10) or do a little less weight at higher reps (15). The point is, building muscle will help you burn fat along with the cardio. You are literally damaging your muscles when you strength train, and they rebuild themselves at rest. they need energy to rebuild themselves, so you will burn fat that way. Higher protein in your diet will help feed your muscles too.

    Us women are built different too. Men will see results from strength training much faster because of their testosterone levels. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to that, but that doesn't mean we can't get to where we want to be. so I don't know if you want to be like me and mix the strength training and cardio together, but its worth a try for a while if you think what you're doing isn't doing the trick.

    It depends on what your goal is. If you want endurance for your muscles, then do the lower weights and higher reps. If you want to actually build muscle and strength, you will want to do higher weights with lower reps (4-8).
  • Naturebeckles
    Naturebeckles Posts: 44
    I've never heard of NROL4W until getting on this site 3 days ago, but let me share what I already do and what I've read up to this point.

    Every day I do some strength training and some cardio. It seems I need to kick it up a notch with the strength training, but maybe I'm doing it just right too. I'm not sure. My confusion is whether to do more weight at less reps (10) or do a little less weight at higher reps (15). The point is, building muscle will help you burn fat along with the cardio. You are literally damaging your muscles when you strength train, and they rebuild themselves at rest. they need energy to rebuild themselves, so you will burn fat that way. Higher protein in your diet will help feed your muscles too.

    Us women are built different too. Men will see results from strength training much faster because of their testosterone levels. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to that, but that doesn't mean we can't get to where we want to be. so I don't know if you want to be like me and mix the strength training and cardio together, but its worth a try for a while if you think what you're doing isn't doing the trick.

    It depends on what your goal is. If you want endurance for your muscles, then do the lower weights and higher reps. If you want to actually build muscle and strength, you will want to do higher weights with lower reps (4-8).

    I'm not sure what I want more, actually. Hm...
  • rick_po
    rick_po Posts: 449 Member
    I have been reading a bit about NROL4W, and sorry if this has been posted before, but can someone give me the NROL4W in a nutshell? I just want to know if its right for me.

    My main goal is not to do weight lifting really, my main goal is to prepare for a MS150 next year (150 mile ride in 2 days), but I am doing weight lifting to complement and help my weight loss.

    A PT gave me a couple of routines that are few exercises targeting every major muscle, and I love them because I can do them in 30-40 min, and feel great about working out my entire body. But I am looking ahead at what my next challenge will be.

    I don't have that much time to workout, as I do it at lunch time, so 45 min tops is what I can do, is that enough for NROL4W? is there a "light" version of it, that I can do maybe over a longer period of time, and granted, results will take longer as well, which is fine.

    At the very start, beginning strength programs (including NROL4W, but there are others) are about learning the lifts. Fortunately for you, there's no reason to get complicated when you're first starting out. Just do a few important things to get stronger:

    1. Concentrate on a small number of compound lifts. Squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, lat pulldown, rows, and sometimes one or two others.

    2. Start light and get your form down. It's okay to do 15-20 rep sets while you're learning.

    3 Once your form is good, have a plan or schedule for adding weight. At first, you should be adding weight nearly every workout, or at least every week. Keep adding weight and keeping good form until you're struggling to finish 5 reps in your last set.

    4. Take at least one day off between strength workouts. You can do cardio on off days, but as you progress, the weights will get heavy, and a difficult cardio workout on off days might get really hard for you. If your main goal isn't strength and you start feeling physically overwhelmed, you can always cut back to 2 a week strength training. But early on, you should have no problem continuing your bike riding on days you don't lift.

    The length of your workout will depend largely on how much rest you need between sets. In the beginning, you probably won't need much, and you'll be out of the gym quickly, maybe as fast as 30 minutes. But once weights get heavy and you're resting 2 minutes between sets, you could be there for an hour or so.

    By the way, squats and deadlifts will do wonders for your biking!
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    I've never heard of NROL4W until getting on this site 3 days ago, but let me share what I already do and what I've read up to this point.

    Every day I do some strength training and some cardio. It seems I need to kick it up a notch with the strength training, but maybe I'm doing it just right too. I'm not sure. My confusion is whether to do more weight at less reps (10) or do a little less weight at higher reps (15). The point is, building muscle will help you burn fat along with the cardio. You are literally damaging your muscles when you strength train, and they rebuild themselves at rest. they need energy to rebuild themselves, so you will burn fat that way. Higher protein in your diet will help feed your muscles too.

    Us women are built different too. Men will see results from strength training much faster because of their testosterone levels. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to that, but that doesn't mean we can't get to where we want to be. so I don't know if you want to be like me and mix the strength training and cardio together, but its worth a try for a while if you think what you're doing isn't doing the trick.

    It depends on what your goal is. If you want endurance for your muscles, then do the lower weights and higher reps. If you want to actually build muscle and strength, you will want to do higher weights with lower reps (4-8).

    I'm not sure what I want more, actually. Hm...

    If you're not sure what you want more, go for the strength until you can squat your body weight, do 10 push-ups etc. Having a basic level of maximal strength fitness is going to help your endurance in the long run. Once you've got that base, do what makes you happy.

    I'm doing NROF4W but I'm also a runner, so I just ignore all of the fiction about the evils of too much steady-state cardio. The strength gains I've made have given me a more solid foundation as a runner. I'm more stable, more efficient and have less risk of injury now.
  • A_Warrior_Princess
    A_Warrior_Princess Posts: 344 Member
    Honestly I tried New rules of lifting last year but it was too complicated for me. I am doing stronglifts 5 x 5 3x per week and it is done in less than 30 minutes and I get one heck of a workout. Already lost almost 9 inches in 30 days and I still do my running almost daily, eat at TDEE - 20%. Hope this helps!
  • aljeca
    aljeca Posts: 83
    yeah but men can lose like that because they have more muscle mass. why would you expect your female body to react to things the way his male body does?

    in any case, good luck with your goals

    the whole premise of NROL4W is exactly the opposite of what you just wrote.. LOL... lift like a man to look like a goddess right?!

    I really liked NROL stage 1 - in fact I'm considering starting it again. It never took me longer than 40ish minutes including a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical. I don't see why you'd have to give up the bike - yes the book itself recommends a focus on weights rather than cardio, but I was still doing both and saw results. Also the book recommends you do 3 workouts a week but I usually ended up with 2 just due to my work schedule... And again still saw some results...

    I wrote out the first stage into a more easy to follow Word document if anyone wants stage 1 to try it out I can possibly e-mail it to you, send me a PM :)
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    ^^^Me too.

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