New rules of lifting for women

but NROL, also points out that if you choose a high enough weight that you can't complete all the reps in that set then that's fine. do the reps you can do and dont worry about the rest of the reps. for instance if you're at a weight where you can only do 4 reps, then do the 4. next time do more reps until you're doing them all.

i did loads of strength training in the past (former competitive powerlifter and played a sport where i needed to train primarily to increase my bulk and explosive strength) and although this is a bit different than what i had been taught, it's still not the same as saying only choose a weight where you can do ALL reps.

for the record, how i was taught (and what i've been doing with NROL) is that if i reach a weight where I can only do half the reps at that weight, i dont consider that the end of my set, i just drop it back down to the previous weight. the next time i do a few more reps at the higher weight until i'm doing all reps at that weight. once i can do all reps at that weight, then i increase the weight..

these are small little cheats that strength trainer and powerlifters do and have been doing for years. i just wanted to make it clear that mehdi isnt the only one telling people to do this.

You're right, yes, and some say Mehdi stole his entire schtick from Wendler. I'm just pointing out that NROL is still shooting for higher reps, whereas the entire mindset of 5x5 is different--it's the goal, not the backup plan. Regardless, NROL just has a dang lot of different split routines; that takes a lot of time.

yep.. the biggest drawback is that everything after stage 1 takes so much time. stage 1 took me anywhere from 25-40 minutes as the weeks went on.. stage 2 about 45- 60 minutes, stage 3 is about the same. i started going to the gym twice a day because i like being able to do 30 minutes of cardio on days and spend some time in the whirlpool the days i lift and i just dont have the mental strength or patience to spend 2 hours a day in the gym at one time.

besides that i generally like 90% of the exercises, but some of the moves i absolutely loathe (ie reverse lunge with forward reach, 1 pt DB row, 1 legged romanian deadlift). i'd rather work on my balance during yoga and use my lifting time for strength gains.

ok hopefully i havent dissuaded anyone from trying it out with that :laugh: