I am in stage 2 don't worry dive in its fun

I just started on Wednesday, but I'm not new to heavy lifting at the gym. Trust me,I go to a really ghetto gym with tons of bros, but no one pays attention to anyone else. Just go in and own your workout!

I am restarting NROL4W this week. I am only going to be doing 2 days a week, as I am keeping my running while doing this (I run 4 days a week lol). I had started this in February of this year, and got to stage 5....but training for my first half marathon and doing this (stage 5 gets long...wow lol) just took up too much time and had to make a choice on which one to do at the time.

So starting a new again. I really like the compound exercises and they are great for core and runners like me (especially the step ups!). See ya'll in the stage one thread!

I did Workout B for the first time the other day and I was proper gasping for breath by the end!

I'm on Workout A2 tonight and I'm not looking forward to it - mainly because I usually have to queue to get anywhere near the squat rack, and also because the prone jacknife was such a disaster last time - I fell off the ball every time I tried! But it has to be done.

Going to go at 8.30pm tonight, gym closes at 10pm so hoping it will be somewhat quieter by then.....

I also run on the 3 days I'm not lifting. I have 1 rest day a week. I'm halfway through the C25K and I follow that with a 2000m row for my cardio. I'm working on improving fitness too so cardio is important to me.

Tonight was my first workout! I managed to do 8 reps on the jackknife, not easy! I'm re reading the chapter to make sure I'm doing it ok. I love the weight room, though it's low key and not crowded.

Just back from the gym and had a successful Workout A2.

I was able to actually use the squat rack this time, and so had my first experience with the Olympic bar! I had to ask a guy to lift it on to the rack for me, but I was able to squat it easily so will add weights to it next time. Last workout I just squatted fixed weight barbell and it was only 10kg, so today was a step up as the Olympic bar is 25kg.

I increased my seated row to 25kg, and my step ups I used 8kg dumbells instead of 5kg. I'm still a bit useless at press ups and have been doing them 'girl' style but did the full 2 sets of 15.

My biggest success of the evening however was the prone jacknife! 2 sets of 8 completely successfully at first attempt.

I read something in this group about rolling over the ball into position so tried that today and it made it so much better. Didn't even wobble. So happy!

All in all, a great session

Hello ladies!

I will be on A3 tomorrow where I will be doing 12 reps and further increasing the weights that I'm lifting. I believe we're supposed to increase every single workout session, but I used A1,2 and B 1, 2 workout sessions to just get used to the movements and the equipment...and I also totally overestimated my starting weights! I think I've worked out those kinks and can get on with it, increasing safely.

Since I too felt like I was "cheating" by not doing cardio, I decided to add HIIT twice a week, for 15-20 mins. I do it right after the workout and then use the full 48 hours to recover...so far so good!

I feel so motivated - glad to have a people to share this journey with!

I used to be able to do "real" push ups, not I'm doing "girl" push ups- my goal!
Glad to have this group, I'm doing workout B tomorrow, 2nd day of stage 1!
thx
xo

Just finished my first Workout B, man I found it quite a bit tougher than Workout A, my arms are rubbish! It's frustrating as I used to work at a horse barn and be so much stronger...that was about 12 years ago mind

I enjoyed Workout B more than Workout A but I was much more sore after!!! I have such weak arms!!!! But because of that I really felt the burn so came out of the session feeling like I'd really had a good workout.

I think overall I like A a little better, but I really like both workouts and they're both kicking my butt hardcore!

Hey guys! I'm on stage one also. I just finished the whole program and am doing it again. :bigsmile: Stage 1 is not my favorite but I'm pushing through. May not do the full length of stage 1this time....not sure yet. Feel free to add me if you want! Good luck everyone! This is a great program!

Hey guys! I just started the program last week. I did the third workout yesterday (the second time doing workout A). I increased my weights on the step ups, but kept everything else the same. For the squats I really wanted to make sure I had the form down and now that I am pretty confident in that I think I will increase my weights for next time. I am already able to do "man pushups" with no incline for the full set, so once the reps start decreasing next time I'm going to have to find some other variations to do. I was so sore after the first workout I could barely walk down the stairs, but the pain seems to have decreased a lot. I also saw a little bit of a gain this week on the scale, but I'm going to attribute that to starting the new workouts and unhealthy tailgating food on Saturday!

I finally started today after putting it off for several weeks. The thought of stepping into a gym and going into the weights section was quite intimidating to me and I felt really insecure and a bit scared about doing stuff wrong (and injuring myself).

So after changing into my workout gear I walked into the weights room and of course it was crowded with tough guys and not a single woman there. I just scanned the room for a minute or so and then quickly headed back to the cardio section to do a warm up on the stationary bike.

Then after gathering my courage I asked the guy at the front desk to show me how to squat. Apparently they only have instructors in the morning or late in the evening, and they are specifically there to help out. So we went into the weights room and he showed me the barbell and the squat rack and how to use it, but since I was already toppling over backwards trying to do a body weight squat he didn't let me use the barbell lol. He said the bar is 20kg which is almost half my bodyweight, and that it was better to use a lighter bar, then dumbbells to build up weight first.

We walked out of the weights room into a corner of the main room and he gave me a bar to practice with. I actually quite liked that corner, it was a little hidden away and they had some dumbbells, a reebok step bench and swiss balls, so everything I needed for the other exercises :-)

I don't think my form on the squats was good because I feel it more in my back than in my thighs. So next time I'll make sure to go when an instructor is there since they have more time to help out. The pushups were tough! And I chose a dumbbell row instead of the seated row. The prone jackknife was actually quite doable, I already pictured myself rolling off that thing and landing on my face lol

Now let's see if I'm sore tomorrow!