New rules of lifting for women vs Stronglifts 5x5

I've never done Strong Lifts 5x5, but I'm doing New Rules right now, and I love it. Pick one, try it out and if you don't like it, try the other one.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1181889-strong-lifts-or-nrolfw?page=1#posts-18458287

There both really quite different. Stronglifts is purely a strength based routine...it is awesome for building raw, functional strength in a very efficient manner. It's focus is on the compound lifts that are to foundation of pretty much any routine, but the heart and soul of a power-lifting routine. It is very basic and very simple and that is the beauty of it...there are no assistance exercises or isolation exercises, just those compound lifts...this is what makes it such a great beginners routine. The rep range is optimal for raw strength gains.

New Rules is what I would deem a lifting/fitness routine. The rep ranges you work in will build strength over time, but not as efficiently as Stronglifts will. I would say that where Stronglifts focuses primarily on your strength, New Rules is more physique and overall fitness oriented. This makes this routine a bit more complicated for some...though my wife jokes that, "yeah...it is more complicated...than hanging out on the elliptical."

That said, I've looked at the routine and watched my wife do it and it does go far beyond just the compound lifts. Those compound lifts are still at the root of the routine, but it just goes well beyond them and incorporates more assistance work as well as general fitness work like lunges, box jumps, balance stuff, etc. I guess that's why people say it's overly complex...but I think it just depends on what you want to get out of it.

My wife did Starting Strength with me (similar to Stronglifts) and then Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 routine and now she's doing this. Given her previous knowledge from working with me she found the first couple of cycles to be very boring and easy, but she is enjoying things now and likes the variation in routine vs SS and Wendler's routine which is pretty much the same stuff over and over as they are more liken to power lifting routines.

I would also add that while my wife could appreciate the strength gains she had with SS and Wendler's program, it got to the point for her where enough was enough...she didn't really have any interest in squatting 300 + Lbs or being a power lifter and became more focused on her overall fitness. I ultimately found myself in the same boat and was at a point where my muscles were handling the load, but my CNS was shot to **** and I was having tendon/ligament issues as the weight had gotten really heavy when I stopped Wendler's routine. I now do more of a hypertrophy routine that still hits those compound lifts, but I do a lot of extra "fitness" type stuff as well like lunges, pull-ups, dips, hanging leg raises, box jumps, etc. I work primarily in the 8-10 rep range now with lighter weight than I would in the 5/3/1 rep range and my strength gains aren't so linear and much slower...but that's ok...I spent a good year doing a Strength based routine and am happy to have built that base up...but you do get to a point eventually...unless you really want to go the powerlifting route...which at almost 40 is not going to happen.

Ultimately, your journey will be your own and as you get into it, your goals will likely change...I'd say pick one...stick with it for awhile.

starting strength (SL is just a basic version of starting strength)

nrolfw got entirely too complicated for me considering it's supposed to be a strength building program. not to mention the fact that if you do it in a gym you WILL be the a*hole for having to goal tend as many as 3 workout stations or you risk a station not being available when you're done with a set of another exercise. considering that anything after stage 3 starts to get really time consuming, adding on having to wait around while someone else has jumped on the lat pulldown machine or needs the dumbbell you aren't currently using means that your gym time could increase by like 30 minutes. of course this isnt an issue if you work out at home