jamifishie Member

When I finished NRLFW, I started on the New Rules of Lifting Supercharged. I like New Rules because it's so flexible, and I belong to a pretty ****ty gym that doesn't have any barbells. I'm planning on switching gyms as soon as the ones I have my eyes on have some kind of joining special, at thich point I'm thinking about…

"Oops, I picked up some weights and now I accidentally look like Arnold." "Oops, I took a college course and accidentally got a PhD." It takes an extraordinary amount of effort to get a PhD. It also takes an extraordinary amount of effort to gain a bunch of muscle and bulk up -- that's even more true for women. The trainer…

Stage 1 focuses on getting you used to lifting. You should be perfecting your form and -- and I think that this is the mistake I see a lot of women making -- you should be lifting enough that you walk away tired. Seriously. If you think at the end of a set "I could do one more" then add more weight -- not more reps. The…

Yes, lower the weight. Focus on proper form and endurance.

Also -- if you do calculate your TDEE through a calculator like the one I linked, it will likely give you a higher calorie goal than MFP recommends. Don't be freaked out. Your body needs the right fuel to support your activity!

Your body needs protein in order to repair build the muscles that you're working in the gym. Increasing your protein intake is absolutely essential to seeing aesthetic results. My protein shakes are 180 calories and they have 26 grams of protein. That's using EAS whey protein powder and 30 calorie almond milk, mixed with…

You should focus on full-body workouts if you are new to lifting. It builds the strength that you need to sustain a split program.

I do it with dumbbells. Just search for the moves on YouTube.

The 45lb bar is a lot with a knee injury, but there are options to building your way up to the bar. Have you tried dumbbell squats or goblet squats? You'll need to use the squat (with weight) for the front spquat/push press from workout A in stage 2. Try the squat with two 10-pound dumbbells held at your side or on your…

I'm the office favorite -- always volunteering to load and unload! My roommate, who is lifting with me, can all of a sudden walk in heels like a pro. I think it's the core strength.

You will increase the sets as you go. You should try upping your weights first. All of a sudden, 2 sets of 15 will seem brutal.

Are you getting enough protein?? Make sure you're getting .8g per pound of body weight. It's tough, but I find that a protein shake on lifting days keeps me really full. If you find that you're still truly hungry after upping your protein, listen to your body. It needs fuel to repair those muscles and get you through your…

I started doing them with weight plates -- I add 35lbs now, but I'm also getting bored.

I'm a little happy to be finishing with stage 3, especially Workout B. The YTWLs were just tedious, and I never felt like I was really working especially hard. On the other hand, I loved workout A -- the dumbbell snatches were super fun, and my love-hate relationship with the body weight matrix left me feeling very…

One set is 15 on each leg.

Squatting with the Smith machine or dumbbells won't prepare you for lifting with the barbell. The Smith machine forces you into an unnatural range of motion that you can't replicate with free weights, and dumbbells force you to handle the weight differently. I'd say start with lighter barbells (maybe with fixed weights) if…

At 6', 170 lbs, you probably need to be eating more than 1510 calories a day. I'm 5'6", 155lbs, and I'm eating about 1600, shooting for 120g of protein a do (though really, I get around 100 - 105). I started at the very end of July, am down only 2 pounds, but have been building lots of muscle all over the place. Maybe try…

You won't miss the squats in stage 2…between the static lunges and the Bulgarian split squats, you’ll still be building all those muscles! Plus, the workouts in Stage 2 take a long longer. Just FYI.

Awesome -- thanks. I'm not up to 135 yet, so I'll just continue with normal deadlifts. I'm sure I'll outgrow dumbbells soon. I'm planning on switching gyms in 6-7 months. Until then...this one's going to have to work. Thank you!

There are no classes, thus, no classrooms. I don't touch the Smith machine -- I've just been using dumbbells. I think I'll just continue with regular deadlifts for stage two. Thanks.

Nope. No classes.

They do actually have plates for the Smith machine and some ab machines. Maybe I'll see if that works. Thanks!

A straight weight bench. It's quite a high step.

The calorie count one is awesome because you can copy paste it directly in there -- I hate adding one item by one item!

My gym doesn't have barbells, so I've just been doing dumbbell deadlifts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3QwaXNJfw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8YJ_tfLPJQ They've been working fine so far! We'll see as I progress to heavier weights.