New Rules of Lifting for Women vs New Rules of Lifting for Life

bionic_woman
bionic_woman Posts: 28 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone, I've not exercised since July, but want to get lifting for fat loss, strength and fitness. I'll turn 40 next month, so I'm not sure which book to get, New Rules of Lifting for Women or New Rules of Lifting for Life. Can anyone give some advice?

Replies

  • madammags
    madammags Posts: 97 Member
    bionic_woman wrote: »
    Hi everyone, I've not exercised since July, but want to get lifting for fat loss, strength and fitness. I'll turn 40 next month, so I'm not sure which book to get, New Rules of Lifting for Women or New Rules of Lifting for Life. Can anyone give some advice?

    Check to see if your local library has them and/or any of the other frequently recommended books (e.g. Starting Strength, Strong Curves) or other books in the series (I use Supercharged, myself).

    The author of the NROL books is good about using updated information in the theory parts of the books, and I found it a bit frustrating how much energy he spent on trying to convince his reader that females should lift heavy (I was already convinced, thanks) in NROLW.

    I haven't looked into NROLL, myself, but I think it uses a 'pick and choose' way of program building (Supercharged does as well), where it gives you a list of exercises in each category and you can pick the one most appropriate to you. I like this way of doing things, but some people prefer to have a program where all the exercises are set already, in which case NROLW or something like Strong Curves is probably a better bet.
  • bioklutz
    bioklutz Posts: 1,365 Member
    I was 40 when I started lifting weights (41 now). I went with new rules of lifting for life because of my age and lack of experience. There is a good sample workout in the book for starting out. But it is a pick an exercise in a category style workout. I am happy with my choice and enjoy the workout.

    If you do decide to use NROLFL ignore the nutritional advice in the book (other than getting adequate protein).

    I would definitely follow Madammags suggestion of seeing if they are available in the library so you can compare.
  • bionic_woman
    bionic_woman Posts: 28 Member
    Thank you both for your replies! Will definitely check if my library has them.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited January 2016
    bionic_woman wrote: »
    Hi everyone, I've not exercised since July, but want to get lifting for fat loss, strength and fitness. I'll turn 40 next month, so I'm not sure which book to get, New Rules of Lifting for Women or New Rules of Lifting for Life. Can anyone give some advice?

    I got 'New Rules of Lifting for Women' from my library and found it hard to follow, so I bought his follow up book, 'Strong,' figuring he would have worked out the issues. 'Strong' has a new irritation of not having the pages where the exercises are found listed on the workout summary page, but since it's not a library book, I wrote in the page numbers. Taken alone, this seems minor, but it is one of many examples of lack of user-friendliness.

    He's switched some exercises around, deciding that some NROLFW Stage 1 exercises were too advanced for Stage 1.

    My latest gripe is that the bodyweight exercises, even with variations, are too difficult. I've been doing them as part of my yoga routine and only now, after doing them for a month, can I perform most of them. One is still a joke to contemplate. But you are 9 years younger than me, and hopefully stronger :)

    I do like the idea of the program very much, but think the ideal person for it is not new to lifting weights, can already do bodyweight exercises like pushups and plank, and does not have knee issues that would present a challenge for doing squats, etc.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    bioklutz wrote: »
    I was 40 when I started lifting weights (41 now). I went with new rules of lifting for life because of my age and lack of experience. There is a good sample workout in the book for starting out. But it is a pick an exercise in a category style workout. I am happy with my choice and enjoy the workout.

    If you do decide to use NROLFL ignore the nutritional advice in the book (other than getting adequate protein).

    I would definitely follow Madammags suggestion of seeing if they are available in the library so you can compare.

    I got 'NROL Supercharged' from my library for my OH. This is also a "pick an exercise in a category style workout." This would probably be less frustrating for me. Between my frustration and other reasons, I chucked all the weight lifting and am doing yoga that includes bodyweight flows, plus bodyweight exercises.
  • paulandrachelk
    paulandrachelk Posts: 280 Member
    Just finished reading new rules for lifting{nothings else in title} and am most of the way through NROLW. Prefer NROL as equipment and routines are more like what I am familiar with from long ago
  • paulandrachelk
    paulandrachelk Posts: 280 Member
    PS--also did the library routine

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