NROLFW vs Stronglifts vs Starting Strength vs Strong Curves

If you're working out at home, NROLFW can be difficult to complete. I had difficulties completing it at a gym due the equipment I had available. It always becomes very complicated and that drove me nuts.
I switched to SL for simplicity.
Starting Strength and SL are almost identical - SS has cleans if I recall correctly. I believe SL was based off of SS.
I've never done Strong Curves, I have the book and I was considering it but the gym I was attending at the gym, had a guy who would watch me while I deadlifted or squatted (like was legit watching me) so I opted to not do Strong Curves. I like having the book and I've used it as reference a few times so even if you don't do the program, I suggest getting the book, same with NROLFW.

I currently follow ICF 5x5 aka Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 aka Blaha 5x5. It's a lot like SL, in fact it's based off of it, but it has isolation work as well. It takes between 60-90 minutes to complete.

What are your goals (besides keeping your butt as you lose 5lbs)?

The lower rep, higher weight programs will focus on strength. The moderate rep, moderate weight will focus on hypertrophy (muscle mass).

With a lower rep program, your rest times may be longer because you might be lifting the weight fewer times but the effort is greater since it's more weight. On the flip side, the two lower rep programs listed have fewer exercises overall so it may even out.

NROLFW might be too complicated to learn in a month. It's 7 stages and each stage is 4-6 weeks or so with different lifts in each stage

PeachyPlum wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

With a lower rep program, your rest times may be longer because you might be lifting the weight fewer times but the effort is greater since it's more weight. On the flip side, the two lower rep programs listed have fewer exercises overall so it may even out.

That's a great point, I didn't think about rest time. I'll basically have to use the gym on peak hours, so fewer exercises might mean less messing about waiting.

Speaking of which, what do you do while you're waiting on equipment? Just move around and try to keep the heart rate up?

My gym only has one power rack and one bench press rack, so if i go at peak times I'm definitely waiting. If I am waiting on the squat rack and it's a bench day, I'll do bench first. If both are taken, I'll do whatever doesn't require a rack (deadlifts or rows) and if it's really crowded I'll do either light warmups like bodyweight squats or some inverse rows, etc.

This mostly only happens on weekends because when I go at 5am I am usually one of the first people in the weight room.

sgthaggard wrote: »

There's nothing complicated about NROLFW. The moves are in the book and they're fairly simple to learn. If you want your husband to help you out on form, I would spend time on your squat and deadlift.

The moves themselves aren't complicated but the program is.
It was a PITA keeping track of that program and I used a spreadsheet

sgthaggard wrote: »

lishie_rebooted wrote: »

sgthaggard wrote: »

There's nothing complicated about NROLFW. The moves are in the book and they're fairly simple to learn. If you want your husband to help you out on form, I would spend time on your squat and deadlift.

The moves themselves aren't complicated but the program is.
It was a PITA keeping track of that program and I used a spreadsheet

But her husband isn't going to be there to help her with the program (I'm assuming he hasn't done it), just the moves.

Right. As such, it's not (IMHO) a particularly good idea to try to learn however many different moves and variations, then do some of them, then try to remember how to do the others as they come up.

With SS or SL, you learn 5 lifts. For OP's goals, those 5 moves, and the progression that follows, is quite likely to be her best bet - especially since she won't have to figure out where to start (like you do with NROL).

I'd recommend doing SL 5x5 (sooo fun. I loved it my first time around) and, like you mentioned earlier, supplement at home with some glute work from Strong Curves. Trust me, you'll need them. I'm doing the SC beginner program right now, to get back ROM and posterior chain strength before starting SL again. However, I may not switch for quite a while, I'm enjoying SC so much.
But SL will be fun to do with your husband. Oh - your SL lifts will improve faster and with better form if you include the extra glute work, btw. Here's a fun story from Bret's SC book:

Kellie’s Notes on Muscle Size vs. Muscular Strength—My Davis Versus Goliath Story
I’m not intimidating by any means. Sure, I look athletic, but most people expect me to walk into the gym and head to yoga class. The other day, I was training with the Strong Curves Program and working on my barbell glute bridges. There just happened to be a band of male pro bodybuilders across the room doing a lot more talking than working. I guess my bridges caught their attention because one of them, a top ten Mr. Olympia contender who was only a few weeks out from a show, came over and asked if he could try the exercise. I warned him that it wasn’t as easy as it looked, and it took a long time to work up to the weight I was using, which was a meager three hundred fifty-five pounds. Surely, my tiny one hundred twenty-eight-pound frame was no match for this beast with forearms larger than my legs. He inched under the bar, barely able to get it over his massive quads, and lay there trapped. Sweat poured down his forehead, and grunts bellowed out from his throat, while the bar didn’t move a single centimeter. He couldn’t lift it off the floor with his hips because his glutes weren’t strong enough. He spent more time in the gym each week than I probably spent all month, but all that training didn’t translate to hip strength. In fact, many bodybuilders train their glutes inadequately, and it shows on stage. For a good twenty minutes after his humiliating defeat, he came up with several “tricks” that he was sure I had used to move the weight. But, rest assured, no trickery was involved. It’s just good work ethic, the right programming, and learning to activate the glutes properly so they grow in strength and size. Sadly for him, my glutes are just stronger than his in that range of motion.

Contreras, Bret; Davis, Kellie (2013-03-31). Strong Curves: A Woman's Guide to Building a Better Butt and Body (Kindle Locations 738-739). Victory Belt Publishing. Kindle Edition.

I've read NROLFW but it just seems too complicated. I have been doing something like StrongLifts for the past few weeks, but I realized my glutes aren't firing. So I just ordered Strong Curves and can't wait to start.