New Rules of Lifting for Women

Anyone read the "New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler?  I am in a new city.  Before I moved I belonged to Gold's Gym and I took a strength training class three days a week.  The instructor was excellent and I always had a very challenging workout.  I was noticing a lot of fat loss and muscle development.  I tried several gyms in this area, attending the strength training classes before settling on a gym.  None of the instructors gave workouts comparable to the classes back home.  I have decided I will have to strength train on my own.  The problem is, I work harder in a group exercise setting than on my own, and I am not quite sure how to structure a good workout on my own.  Sooooo - I bought the above mentioned book.  The author recommends doing the exercise programs as written - not to vary it much.  I did the first workout and it was not very hard.  It is recommended that I do this routine, alternating with a similar one, three times a week for four weeks before graduating to a more difficult routine. 

Anyone follow this program successfully?  Any suggestions on other ways I can structure a good strength training schedule.  My last hurdle is that I feel intimidated in the gym in the free weight section.  I force myself to do it because I really enjoy free weights more than the machines, but I do not feel comfortable.  Man, do I miss my old city and my old strength training instructor!

One thing I did love about this book though, was that the author convinced me to eat more.  I was suffering on 1200 calories a day, often failing and then feeling like a failure, and just as often succeeding but going to bed starving. The author gave good arguments to go to 1500-1800 a day.  A much more comfortable range for me.

Original Post by meganr:

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by greenpea88:

Just curious- what is everyone planning on doing after this program?  I know I have 6 months of this to go but can you repeat all the stages with just heavier weights?  Or are you moving on to a new program? 

 You could always move onto the original New Rules of Lifting.

That's what I'm thinking of doing - I bought New Rules of Lifting for my husband and he's working through that right now.  If we time it right, more or less, we should be able to just exchange books.

 hahaha.... my hubby got NROL after I got mine... I can't imagine him wanting to try mine though.  lol  I think his lasts a year & ours six mos.  I want to check out afterburn I & II - (disclaimer - I don't know what's in it - I just like the name!)

A year, hunh?  Well, then he'd be six months in and can show me the ropes.  Got plenty of time to make up my mind.

Ha ha, on Afterburn name!  I know what you mean.

By the way, just did workout B in Stage 3 for the first time today.  Love the rdl/barbell row combo, YTWL is harder than it looks.

Hi guys,

I am planning on starting this next week and I recruited a friend to do it with me so I don't look so retarded trying to figure out the gym equipment!  With our schedules and living far apart it's hard for us to meet more than twice a week to workout.  The book does say that 2 times a week will work... just curious if anyone here only does 2 or any opinions of 2 vs. 3?

I think it is ok to do 2X a week.  I do 3.  Whatever you choose, just make sure to do it religiously!  I havne't missed a day yet.

I just put a hold on the book at my local library, so as soon as it's available I'll start.

I feel like a moron- I didn't realize that you can make the ball crunches harder by using weights! I had been in an abs class for weeks, so my abs were already pretty strong, so I was bemoaning the lack of workout they were getting.

I'm supposed to go on a long, mountainous hike this Sunday...what do you guys think about fitting that in? He says specifically in the book that hiking is strenuous and you'll need a day to recover. I'm debating between doing the workout right before I go on the hike, or taking Saturday through Monday off of lifting. Any thoughts?

I know this has been discussed on the thread, but how many of you cut 300 calories from your maintenance amount? He said that if you must stray from maintenance calories, you should not cut more than 300 calories, and this is my plan for now...has anyone else done this? What results?

Original Post by emilyd22222:

I'm supposed to go on a long, mountainous hike this Sunday...what do you guys think about fitting that in? He says specifically in the book that hiking is strenuous and you'll need a day to recover. I'm debating between doing the workout right before I go on the hike, or taking Saturday through Monday off of lifting. Any thoughts?

What's your normal workout schedule?  If you usually workout on Friday, you'll want to give yourself Saturday to recover anyway.  And then if your hike Sunday really kicks your butt, you may not want to work out Monday.

Jetlee, I'm eating at maintenance on average and loving it! try it for a month before you start cutting back.

Hey Everyone. I just got the book today and I cant wait to start. I have read about half the book, but I have so many questions for you all;

1. Right now Im eating between 1700-1800. CC calculates my maintaince to be 1900, but since I have been doing a fair bit of cardio, I have been losing weight at a good pace. NROLFW calculated my daily burn to be 2055 on workout days and 2329 on workout days. Do you think I will be ok eating 1700-1800 calories? I still have 35 lbs to lose to get to my goal weight, so I would really like a deficit.

2. For christmas, I have asked for free weights. The ones I was looking at go up to 25 lbs. Do you think I will need heavier weights??? Do I also need to buy a barbell, or can I do the entire program with free weights? What other equipment will I need to invest in?

3. Does everyone drink protein shakes after their workout, or did you just try to eat more protein?

4. What are you doing for cardio? Can you do a little bit of cardio on lifting days (20-30 mins) and then cardio on alternate days (60 mins). Or should I eliminate cardio? Remember, I have 35 lbs left to lose, so what would you recommend for cardio?

Thanks in advance for the answers. I will be watching this thread like a hawk.

The book says not to cut more than 300 cals from maintenance, so that should be ok, But don't punish yourself if you get hungrier because trust me, you will!

you will need more than just dumbells for the program in my opinion, if you are really going to try and go heavy as directed. 

i drink my protein shake religiously after each workout.

Stage one requires no cardio, however starting with stage two, you do cardio every other workout for 15 minutes (2:1 intervals).

There isn't a problem with doing some cardio, however for your muscles to grow, they need rest and they can't rest if you are working them out hard every day. 

There's a suggestion in the book of how to schedule the NROL workouts along with other types of exercise (don't have my book with me at the moment, sorry!). So you don't have to completely rule other exercise out, but you really need to listen to your body and if its tired, give it rest!

Original Post by meganr:

Original Post by emilyd22222:

I'm supposed to go on a long, mountainous hike this Sunday...what do you guys think about fitting that in? He says specifically in the book that hiking is strenuous and you'll need a day to recover. I'm debating between doing the workout right before I go on the hike, or taking Saturday through Monday off of lifting. Any thoughts?

What's your normal workout schedule?  If you usually workout on Friday, you'll want to give yourself Saturday to recover anyway.  And then if your hike Sunday really kicks your butt, you may not want to work out Monday.

I'm not so much on a schedule, I just do three a week with at least a day in between. I'm going tomorrow, so I would also go on Thurs and Sat unless I took my double break days before then. I'm debating whether it's worth it to me to take so many days off!

Original Post by msmeg1984:

The book says not to cut more than 300 cals from maintenance, so that should be ok, But don't punish yourself if you get hungrier because trust me, you will!

you will need more than just dumbells for the program in my opinion, if you are really going to try and go heavy as directed. 

i drink my protein shake religiously after each workout.

Stage one requires no cardio, however starting with stage two, you do cardio every other workout for 15 minutes (2:1 intervals).

There isn't a problem with doing some cardio, however for your muscles to grow, they need rest and they can't rest if you are working them out hard every day. 

There's a suggestion in the book of how to schedule the NROL workouts along with other types of exercise (don't have my book with me at the moment, sorry!). So you don't have to completely rule other exercise out, but you really need to listen to your body and if its tired, give it rest!

 Thanks msmeg.

So do you think I should subtract 300 from what the book estimates as my burn on workout days (2329) or should I add the weight lifting exercise to CC estimates and subtract 300 from that. I ask because of the big difference between the books and CCs estimate of my daily burn without exercise (2055 vs 1890).

Original Post by keb1984:

Hey Everyone. I just got the book today and I cant wait to start. I have read about half the book, but I have so many questions for you all;

1. Right now Im eating between 1700-1800. CC calculates my maintaince to be 1900, but since I have been doing a fair bit of cardio, I have been losing weight at a good pace. NROLFW calculated my daily burn to be 2055 on workout days and 2329 on workout days. Do you think I will be ok eating 1700-1800 calories? I still have 35 lbs to lose to get to my goal weight, so I would really like a deficit.

2. For christmas, I have asked for free weights. The ones I was looking at go up to 25 lbs. Do you think I will need heavier weights??? Do I also need to buy a barbell, or can I do the entire program with free weights? What other equipment will I need to invest in?

3. Does everyone drink protein shakes after their workout, or did you just try to eat more protein?

4. What are you doing for cardio? Can you do a little bit of cardio on lifting days (20-30 mins) and then cardio on alternate days (60 mins). Or should I eliminate cardio? Remember, I have 35 lbs left to lose, so what would you recommend for cardio?

Thanks in advance for the answers. I will be watching this thread like a hawk.

 1. I would say eat at maintenance and see what happens.  If you have some pounds left to lose - I would maybe cut 300 cals from maintenance if nothing budged after a couple weeks.

2. You definitely need a barbell set with more than 25 pounds.... and a bench with a squat rack.  For squats, you want to load up the bar just below shoulder height so you don't have to lift it up to that height.  Some dumbbell bars that you can use the free weights on are good too.

3.  Yes - I have one immediately after each workout!  Yumm & yes also try to eat more protein.  egg whites, salmon, etc.

4.   I have started HIIT on non-lift days.

Have fun!!

I have a question about muscle pain/injury.  I did workout A1 on Friday and when I did B1 yesterday, I couldn't do the lunges because my legs are still sore from Friday's squats.  Next workout is A2, which scares me some because if I can't do a lunge, how in he11 am I supposed to be able to RE-do squats?  Should I just warm up and push through the pain? 

I wanted to do 3x a week, but that's just not a possibility if my legs won't cooperate.

I ran a half marathon two weeks ago and my legs are almost as sore now, after a 20 minute workout, as they were after 2 hours of all out running!  Geez, just what is UP with this book?  Gotta love the fact that it hits you where you least expect it to.

Original Post by skinny_kitty:

I have a question about muscle pain/injury.  I did workout A1 on Friday and when I did B1 yesterday, I couldn't do the lunges because my legs are still sore from Friday's squats.  Next workout is A2, which scares me some because if I can't do a lunge, how in he11 am I supposed to be able to RE-do squats?  Should I just warm up and push through the pain? 

I wanted to do 3x a week, but that's just not a possibility if my legs won't cooperate.

I ran a half marathon two weeks ago and my legs are almost as sore now, after a 20 minute workout, as they were after 2 hours of all out running!  Geez, just what is UP with this book?  Gotta love the fact that it hits you where you least expect it to.

 LOL - the lunges were the worst for me too!  I had no coordination mostly.  Just take it as you can.  If you are way too sore to do the exercises, then wait a day or two.  If it is a little sore, go ahead and do the next workout.  ARe you drinking your protein shakes after a workout?

I'm about to start my first workout today. I feel like an idiot, but can someone explain to me what I'm supposed to do in stage 1? Do we complete workout A first, then workout B and then go on to stage 2? Or do we complete both at once, doing each exercise everytime we workout until we're done with both? My understanding is that during stage 1 were doing squats, pushups, seated rows, step-ups, prone jackknives, deadlifts, dumbellshoulder presses, pulldowns, lunges, and swiss ball crunches every single time we work out...am I right about this?

Sorry, I'm just not a chart person :)

@jetlee, You need to do workout A one day, and workout B on the next day, alternate those 2 workouts until you've completed 8 of each. 

So today you would do squats, pushups, rows, steps and jackknives  -- I think it's 2 sets of 8.   Next time you lift, you do the deadlifts, etc.  

Thanks Karozel! Another question: can I continue to do a spinning class during stage 1? Or am I forbidden from doing any kind of endurance exercise during the first stage? Were any of you gus even able to get a run in during the first workouts?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm really excited to start!

I don't think anything is forbidden.  It all depends on what your goals are.  Schuler believes that in order to build muscle, you need adeqate calories and recovery between workouts.  So if you are doing an intense spinning class, give yourself enough rest before lifting again.  I don't think I ate enough or recovered enough in between sessions so I lost some muscle definition in my arms last month.  But I lost a few pounds and I am happy with the results.  This month I want to build more muscle so am eating more and I think the weather will force me to bike and hike less too.  Hopefully I will rebuild my nice biceps.