Newbie. Any tips?
HappilyLifts
Posts: 429 Member
Hi everyone,
I got my book and am ready to dig in
A bit of background. I'm 43, 5ft7 and around 203lbs. My aim is to tone up and lose my apple shape, if the scales show loses that would be great, but it's more important to me to look different to what I am now.
I've maintained a lifestyle change since just before Christmas 2011. That lifestyle change has meant regular exercise at the gym or at home and I have begun to experiment with trying to find the right number of calories to help me lose fat. Not doing so well so far, comparing myself to others who've shown amazing before/during/after photos in short spaces of time (but yes, I know, I shouldn't compare myself to others!). I have only lost about 7lbs and a couple of cms, maybe it's my age, but if slow wins the race then that's ok, as long as I can see some results in another 3 months.
At the gym I see a personal trainer once a month and she sets me a programme. First she had me doing purely cardio, that was a challenge but I soon adjusted to it. The next time she added some weight machines, I enjoyed those. The last time she took me away from the weight machines and introduced me to press ups, planks, squats and lunges and some overhead bicep and tricep work with free weights (4kg) and some tabata or HIIT on the rower and cross trainer. I thought I would die! But I'm fighting back and can now hold a plank and side plank for 10-20 secs and do 8 press ups on my knees. That might not sound much, but it was a major "YEAH! FEEL THE POWER" moment for me :laugh:
I've decided to try out NROL4W because I enjoy feeling strong. I will mainly be trying to fit the programme to keeping out of the scary men's weight lifting room at the gym (maybe I'll get in there one day, but I'm not ready yet I just want to use free hand weights - dumbells, and there don't seem to be any women lifting heavy in my gym....maybe I'll start a trend one day! I'm from the UK, and it's a small gym, I'm not sure anyone would know NROL4W if I asked them.)
So, here I am, looking forward to pushing myself some more. I'm hungry for some results, after just over 3 months of my lifestyle change I'm sooo hungry for results I was starting to doubt the whole thing.
Foodwise I'm intending to eat above my BMR of 1650, I was planning on sticking at around 1800 on days I don't work out and up to 2200 on the days I do work out (I have invested in a HRM and found that I burn around 500 cals in 45 minutes doing the latest programme set by my personal trainer). Does this sound ok? I have a big appetite and love my food!
I am due another updated programme in the next week and will be asking her to challenge me with bodyweight moves and might ask about kettlebells too.
I am thinking about doing (but haven't yet looked in the book so this may all be subject to change):
Mon: personal trainer's programme - usually 15 mins cardio and 15 mins strength
Tue: NROL4W
Wed: personal trainer's programme - as above
Thu: NROL4W
Fri: Zumba, new discovery, I love it! Or Turbofire.
Sat: NROL4W
Sun: rest, or light activity in the garden/walking
I realise this is a really long post and that I've thrown loads of stuff out for potential discussion/tearing apart, but that's ok, I would really appreciate your tips, what's worked for you, that kind of thing.
Looking forward to being inspired! I'm ready for this!
I got my book and am ready to dig in
A bit of background. I'm 43, 5ft7 and around 203lbs. My aim is to tone up and lose my apple shape, if the scales show loses that would be great, but it's more important to me to look different to what I am now.
I've maintained a lifestyle change since just before Christmas 2011. That lifestyle change has meant regular exercise at the gym or at home and I have begun to experiment with trying to find the right number of calories to help me lose fat. Not doing so well so far, comparing myself to others who've shown amazing before/during/after photos in short spaces of time (but yes, I know, I shouldn't compare myself to others!). I have only lost about 7lbs and a couple of cms, maybe it's my age, but if slow wins the race then that's ok, as long as I can see some results in another 3 months.
At the gym I see a personal trainer once a month and she sets me a programme. First she had me doing purely cardio, that was a challenge but I soon adjusted to it. The next time she added some weight machines, I enjoyed those. The last time she took me away from the weight machines and introduced me to press ups, planks, squats and lunges and some overhead bicep and tricep work with free weights (4kg) and some tabata or HIIT on the rower and cross trainer. I thought I would die! But I'm fighting back and can now hold a plank and side plank for 10-20 secs and do 8 press ups on my knees. That might not sound much, but it was a major "YEAH! FEEL THE POWER" moment for me :laugh:
I've decided to try out NROL4W because I enjoy feeling strong. I will mainly be trying to fit the programme to keeping out of the scary men's weight lifting room at the gym (maybe I'll get in there one day, but I'm not ready yet I just want to use free hand weights - dumbells, and there don't seem to be any women lifting heavy in my gym....maybe I'll start a trend one day! I'm from the UK, and it's a small gym, I'm not sure anyone would know NROL4W if I asked them.)
So, here I am, looking forward to pushing myself some more. I'm hungry for some results, after just over 3 months of my lifestyle change I'm sooo hungry for results I was starting to doubt the whole thing.
Foodwise I'm intending to eat above my BMR of 1650, I was planning on sticking at around 1800 on days I don't work out and up to 2200 on the days I do work out (I have invested in a HRM and found that I burn around 500 cals in 45 minutes doing the latest programme set by my personal trainer). Does this sound ok? I have a big appetite and love my food!
I am due another updated programme in the next week and will be asking her to challenge me with bodyweight moves and might ask about kettlebells too.
I am thinking about doing (but haven't yet looked in the book so this may all be subject to change):
Mon: personal trainer's programme - usually 15 mins cardio and 15 mins strength
Tue: NROL4W
Wed: personal trainer's programme - as above
Thu: NROL4W
Fri: Zumba, new discovery, I love it! Or Turbofire.
Sat: NROL4W
Sun: rest, or light activity in the garden/walking
I realise this is a really long post and that I've thrown loads of stuff out for potential discussion/tearing apart, but that's ok, I would really appreciate your tips, what's worked for you, that kind of thing.
Looking forward to being inspired! I'm ready for this!
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Replies
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I'm a newbie too, so I can't answer all your questions. I'm also "new" to exercise. I joined a gym in March for the 1st time in about 10 years, and I've only done cardio for the first 4 weeks (mostly treadmill & elliptical). I just finished reading NROL4W on Friday, and I'm starting it tomorrow. I've NEVER used free-weights except for trying some "Barbie-weight" TV workouts. So heading into the free-weight area of the gym is going to be intimidating for me, too, but it's something I'm just going to push through and do.
After reading the book & some posts here though, I think your non-NROL4W days might be too intense, but I'm certainly no expert. My plan is to do 3 days of NROL4W (M-W-F), then add light cardio (easy treadmill or elliptical) on Tuesdays & Thursdays, and take weekends off during Stage 1.0 -
Welcome! Hope you will enjoy the program. I really did. I think my only caution is trying to do too much. A lot of people have found that they needed to cut back on cardio while doing the program. Even though the workouts in Stage 1 are not long they are still hard if you are lifting enough weight. Then the later workouts incorporate HIIT or body weight based things. If the strength training you do with the trainer is hard, it will be hard to do these workouts the next day because of fatigue/soreness. In any case, once you start you will have a better sense of it so don't be afraid to modify your plan. Think those calories sound good. Did you do the calcs from the book? I have found that these workouts started making me really hungry after awhile. Only other caution is don't be discouraged if you don't see changes overnight. Take pictures and measurements and stick with it and think you will be happy with how it changes your body.0
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I am thinking about doing (but haven't yet looked in the book so this may all be subject to change):
Mon: personal trainer's programme - usually 15 mins cardio and 15 mins strength
Tue: NROL4W
Wed: personal trainer's programme - as above
Thu: NROL4W
Fri: Zumba, new discovery, I love it! Or Turbofire.
Sat: NROL4W
Sun: rest, or light activity in the garden/walking
The book says you should have rest days. I think if you do lifting two days in a row it will be too much and your muscles will not have time to rest and you will over train.0 -
thanks for the replies. It sounds like my plan will need adjusting once I've finished reading. I got up to the meal plans section last night.
Karensoxfan, good luck starting out today! Let me know how it goes?0 -
You want to do way too much, but it is the case for alot of newbies LOL. Then they do the first workout, can't barely walk for 3 days 0
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You want to do way too much, but it is the case for alot of newbies LOL. Then they do the first workout, can't barely walk for 3 days
This was me! Especially after the lunges! I am on week three and I am SO dead-tired after a workout. It is way more strenuous than anticipated! There is no way in the world I could do Zumba a day after a workout! But, that's just me. Anyway... welcome! Good luck!0 -
You want to do way too much, but it is the case for alot of newbies LOL. Then they do the first workout, can't barely walk for 3 days
Exactly0 -
You want to do way too much, but it is the case for alot of newbies LOL. Then they do the first workout, can't barely walk for 3 days
This was me! Especially after the lunges! I am on week three and I am SO dead-tired after a workout. It is way more strenuous than anticipated! There is no way in the world I could do Zumba a day after a workout! But, that's just me. Anyway... welcome! Good luck!
LOL Advice taken
Actually, I can barely walk today, and all I did yesterday was my usual cardio, 2 sets of 15 squats with 4kg dumbells, 2 sets of 15 lunges from each leg (without the weights :laugh: )!
I still don't feel ready to start. I need to make some notes on the workouts and also get to know the exercises before I start (prone jacknife....never heard of it until now!)
Hopefully by Monday I'll be ready to start. I'm going to tell my personal trainer about the workouts when I see her so that I don't end up doing weights all week!0
