NROLFW Group

Hey ladies,

I was looking for a New Rules of Lifting for Women group and couldn't find one. So, naturally I decided to create one. I just wanted to let you all know that there is one now. Hopefully all you NROLFW followers will join! :)

The book has a suggestion for an alternate exercise to the lat pulldown.  I forget the name of it, but you lie back on a weight bench with the barbell held over your chest (arms straight) then lower it behind your head (arms still fairly straight).  They say it's not as good as the actual lat pulldown, but the best you can do without the necessary machine.

hey thanks, I must have totally missed that - i'll take a look again.

On the third workout of Stage 7......these workouts are leaving me totally drenched by the time I leave the gym, but with the most amazing feeling of accomplishment!   Tough love, I guess!

I LOVE this program --

I finally received my book and did Stage 1 First Workout in A and B.  I did the workout at home and I really liked the substitute for the lat pull-down.  My biceps and triceps are so feeling it.  I can feel that it is not doing to the lats what the cable machine would do.

I am really curious about the eating plan.  I am barely halfway through my calories and it is already 5:00 pm.  It may take me a week to get the calories in me at the proper percentages.  I am not a big protein eater so I think I will be adding whey protein to just about everything.  I also read some posts about adding silk tofu -- thanks ladies for that great idea.  I can see that I am just going to have to fend for myself because I cannot expect my husband and daughter to go along with all the recipes.  My husband is trying to eat better and my daughter just has to eat what is in the house.

Oh I also hate lunges.  When I first joined the gym (which I hardly go to unless hubby drags me) I got a trainer for 3 sessions.  He kept trying to get me to do lunges....."dude, I am paying you, forget the lunges...not going to happen!!!".  So, I see in this workout I have to do lunges....I did them and I survived.  I just fell once.....I still hate lunges!!!

Way to go, Puppykisses!

I agree, lunges are cruel and unusual punishment - I wish they weren't so darn effective.

A note on the food - it will take some adjusting, especially if you were eating to lose weight before you started lifting. Give your body and your brain a little time to adjust. I ended up adding dense calorie snacks to my work day so that I eat more than half of my calories before I get home. A half cup of cottage cheese, a piece of fruit, and some walnuts  sprinkled through out my day helped - then I didn't have to gorge myself later.

Enjoy your next workout!

I'll do your lunges if you do my stepups.  Me hates stepups, loves lunges.

edit for spelling, the grammar is by choice.

any updates on people's weight/measurements?

I'm still up 5 lbs from starting the program :(

No loss in weight, but no change in measurements either, so I don't know what to think. As much as I want to keep up with this, I'm really grappling with the increase on the scale when I worked so hard to get down to my original weight...

As we discussed in the group, I am in the same boat. And it doesn't make sense to me. Previously, whether I was losing or maintaining, the calories out/calories in equation worked for me.  On NROLFW, I'm up 5 lbs and I honestly cannot see how that could be explained by diet.

I'm striving to measure even more precisely to see if I can figure it out.

Im maintaing my weight. Well, it fluctuates daily. I have been as high as 120, and as low as 117. But I know that if it is fluctuating it is't real weight. I am on workout 5 of Stage 1. I have noticed a slight decrease in my waist line. ( no real difference in measurements but I can "feel" it. I have also discovered new muscles in my arms!!!  I just feel stronger so I know that means I am making positive changes. My muscles hold ALOT of water, so this might explain your weight gain. Also, I upped my cals to the numbers they give in the book, and I saw an INSTANT gain of 3 lbs, and it is just now starting to fluctuate downward. ( that could explain it to) Also you are probably replacing fat with muscle, just not enough to show a difference in measurements yet. ( newbie gains) Keep up with it!! Im doing HIIT 3x weekly for 15min after each workout. ( maybe try that) Then I am only in the gym 3x a week but get an intense fat burning workout.

Stress and anxiety aren't good for weight loss. THe minute I decided that I wanted to be in the best shape possible and to make my body "work" for me ( gain muscle=burn fat) and to ignore the number on the scale I started to feel the differences my program was making. I suggest you dont weigh yourself for awhile. Stay at a 300 cal defict , dont overtrain, and eat all your cals EVERYDAY!! You want to feed the metabolism fire!!!

P.S.I don't eat "clean" so to speak.....I eat all the protein required and whole grains and salad with every meal, but at night I enjoy a cupcake or two, or perhaps ice cream etc. I stay within my calorie range, but I enjoy my starbucks lattes and cupcakes too.!!

My advice: Don't stress and give yourself and your body a break. Do the program at a deficit and by the book. Don;t overtrain and hinder your progress. BE PROUD OF YOURSELF!! You are doing great things for your body!! ( and if you can't explain your weight gain with extra calories ( like 17,000over) then it isn't real weight. It may just take you longer to get off that initial cal upping weight gain. Think logically about it! Do the numbers!!

Hi, cure,

This program can't be "newbie gains" for me, since I was lifting using a different program, with fewer reps and therefore heavier weights before.  I could conceivably have gained 1 pound of muscle in a month but not 5.

Unlike many people, this program is not a calorie increase for me but rather a decrease, since I am not doing the triathlon training program over the winter.  The calories recommended by the book is similar to what cc calculates, and the deficit is what I was planning to do.

I don't think I was miscalculating badly -- I had successfully lost 30+ pounds between September and June of last year, by keeping a 500 cal deficit, logging and measuring food, and then successfully maintained for 4 months over the summer while training for a triathlon, not logging or measuring, but keeping an eye on calorie balance.

I've started logging and measuring more precisely over the last week, keeping a slight deficit.  Hopefully the calories in/calories out numbers will start to make sense eventually

I expect to gain some weight because this is more calories than I normally eat.  I am going to take the authors advice; eat the number of calories calculated then if I do start to gain consistantly I will then eat less.  I just cannot seem to get the proper amount of protein.  I am going to make the peanut butter whey protein bars, they look really good. 

I thought I might gain weight eating the higher calories (1800-2200 vs. 1500-1800), but it looks like I only put on water weight that took about two weeks to come off, and now I'm down a "real" pound from where I started three weeks ago.  I don't eat as much protein as the book says; I get up to almost 30% on workout days due to the shakes, but my nonworkout days are 50-25-25, which seems to be as low-carb as I can get without living on protein shakes (which I don't want to do).

I'm nearly done stage 1!! For calories I calculated maintenance then lowered that by about 25%, and it's working great for fat loss!! I upped my protein intake A LOT!

Also, in my search for a good whey I discovered trueprotein, and have become a very active customer and advocate! I love the guys over there! They're super helpful and you can find anything you need! I asked for a discount code in case you ladies wanted to look into it.  Flavors and quality is excellent! It can be a bit confusing since they offer so much, but they are extremely knowledgeable and I've educated myself so you can ask me any questions! the code is KYN741, and it helps get me points for free protein too! But seriosuly, this stuff is awesome!

It seems like everyone is so much farther alomg than I am.  I am still on stage one and will be starting workout 5.  I did workout the first 2 day workouts and did not log just to get my weights figured out so I did not count those two days.  So far I am enjoying the gym a bit more and I like eating more.  I have a piece of dark chocolate every night and I have been drinking a glass of wine also.  I feel so fortunate to be able to eat more.  I also lost a pound this first week!! Must be the wine and chocolate...lol

You're about the same as me, I think.  I'm about halfway through Stage 1.

Don't feel bad puppykisses, I'm brand new - only completed working number 1 (as in A1).  I'm just a lurker at this point - first I was considering buying the book, then read it and procrastinated, now I'm finally in action.  So far so good though, if only I can keep my balance during the prone jack knife - ha!  Now, I'm off to do work out number 2...  

The prone jack knife is a joke.....I mean it.....it is the author's joke on all of us doing this workout.  I do not do it alternating with the step-ups, I do them at home in a room with the door closed.  I certainly do not want to see myself doing them in a mirror!!!

I will workout tonight doing workout B day 3.  Since I over-indulged this weekend I will add some cardio.  I usually do a total of 15 minutes but I will make it an even 30.  I hate cardio

Yeah - just wait til you get to the evil Body Matrix in stage 3.  lol

Prone Jackknife - if you push your shins into the ball and concentrate on only bringing your knees to your chest, you will get the hang of it!  It is not too bad once you do!

Hi Everyone,

Is this group still open (sorry I didn't read through all the posts yet)? I was almost done with Stage 1 but work got crazy and I had an entire month off from the gym :-( I think I may add an extra A and B workout depending on how I feel. My first day back was last Monday and I actually didn't do too bad.

Anyways, I'm excited to be back in the gym again and hear how everyone has been doing with NROLFW.

***EDIT*** found the group!

Original Post by yogagirl6853:

Yeah - just wait til you get to the evil Body Matrix in stage 3.  lol

my god, body matrix is killer. i just started phase 3 today and actually couldn't do the second set. my quads were dead. 

would it be okay to do it earlier in the day/the day after lifting? i just don't know how effective it will be if i'm wiped from the weights beforehand.