Stage 1

So, I did Stage 1 Workout A tonight.  The squats, step-ups and rows went fine (i.e. hard work but not impossible).  I am push-up incompetent and can only do 10 in a row, so I did 10-then-collapse-then-5 instead of actual sets of 15.  The prone jackknife was a mess.  This was only my second time using a Swiss ball and I'm not used to being able to stay balanced on it (which I do realise is the whole point) so my form on the first set was horrendous (but did actually manage about 5-in-a-row-then-3-in-a-row).  The second set was a disaster zone; I couldn't get more than 2-in-a-row before I fell off.  My wrists are still sore from all that weight-on-hands.

Anyway, my question is this.  If I wind up taking a few weeks to actually be able to do the exercises, should I start counting Stage 1 at the time I can actually do the work-out "right"?  Or is it normal to be this incompetent at the start and I'll be good enough in 4 weeks to move onto Stage 2?  My main goal (other than the whole fat-loss thing) is to improve so I'm on-board whichever the answer is.

You should count your workouts even if you don't complete the entire set of each exercise.  You will get stonger and better at each workout.  That counts!!  Good luck.  Keep up the good work.

Susiecue, I felt the same way when I started!  I am probably more Out of shape than anyone in this group.  Lol.  But I say this to tell you that I am in my second week and I am getting stronger and a lot better at the exercises.  I can tell a big difference in my muscles already.  So hang in there!

So, I had my rest day yesterday and I could feel my muscles when I walked, but wasn't actually *sore*.  Today, I'm sore.  If it doesn't clear up by this evening, am I best to go ahead and do Workout B a little sore or should I give myself a second rest day and do it tomorrow?  (I do find I generally get sore the second day after a workout - which is annoying if you're trying to do a 3-workout-a-week program!)

I was the same way.  2nd day was always more sore.  I went ahead and did the next workout anyway.  It worked well.  I am a routine person so if I postponed it would make it tougher.  I have been doing Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings - giving me 2.5 days bet Th and Sun and 2.5 days bet Sun and Tues.... only 2 days bet Tues and Thurs. 

If I broke my routine, it would make it all the easier to put it off more. I haven't missed a day yet.  I didn't take the 1 week off between stages because I have a vacation scheduled next week and want to take it then.  I will be just finishing stage 2!  yeah! 

Tonight is the 1st time I will have a conflict.  I have a meeting at my son's school at 6:30... I get home at 5:30 and normally do my workout first thing.  However, I don't want to go to his school sweaty and stinky!  I don't know if I will have the energy later... so for the first time I may hold off and do this one Friday night and then next week MWF instead of Sun, Tues, Thur.   I will be done with stage 2 then and leave for vacation Sunday.

Anyway - Sorry for rambling.... I recommend you just do the workout on schedule! 

Great!  I'll do that then.  Thursday's much more convenient than Friday would have been anyway.

Hey all,

question about doing lat pull downs at home~ since I can;t what is an alternative? I have been doing bent over rows...any other suggestions? 

Also, I do tue thurs and sunday. Seems to fit my schedule way better. I am on stage 1 workout 5 & 6...obviously workout 5 was today though.

thanks,

Sam

I work out at home too, and the alternative for the lat pulldowns is called a pullover. It's on page 201.  Basically you lie with your back on a bench, feet flat on the floor, and hold the weight (either a barbell or dumbells) up over your chest with straight arms. Then you lower the weight back behind your head, until your arms are in line with your torso and parallel to the floor. Bring the weight back to the starting postition and repeat for however many reps you are supposed to be doing that workout.

thanks ...totally missed it I guess.

I'm re-doing stage 1.  I was going to take a week off before week 2, but it turned into a little more than 2 weeks, because I wrenched my back.

Plus I was still learning and I don't think I was getting a good workout on some of the exercises.

  For example, my step-ups were not getting anywhere as I couldn't hold enough weight to challenge my legs without killing my wrists.  Then I heard about people using the bench as a step.  Now I'm still using my old step, but I stand on it and step-up onto the bench.  The bench by itself is a little too high for my short legs.  Right now I'm not even using weights to do it beacuse it's hard enough to keep good form without them!

Also, the swiss-ball crunches didn't seem to be doing anything... maybe I just don't know how to do them right.  Then I read about someone who was doing the swiss-ball crunches but putting their feet on the bench... much harder!  I definitely feel them now. 

So, my second time through I definitely feel like I'm being challenged.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not that strong, my deadlifts and squats are still pretty light weights, but some of the stuff I was doing was not giving me results. 

The only real changes I've made to the workout is that I'm doing front squats because my still healing shoulder won't let me do back squats yet.  And I'm doing lat pull-overs instead of pulldowns, and bent-over rows instead of seated rows, because I don't have any cabled equipment at home.  I have to make do with dumbbells and barbell exercises. 

I was wondering if those of you on stage 1 (or those of you who are done) are doing HIIT on your off days, or added to the end of the workout, or not at all. I kind of forgot what the book says about that but I'm considering adding it in at some point just to boost the calorie burning a bit. I am on about the 10th or so workout of stage 1, and not really seeing any results at this point. Any ideas?

I haven't been doing HIIT as part of Stage 1.  From the looks of it, it doesn't enter the program until Stage 2 (which doesn't mean you can't do it earlier; just means I haven't been).

In terms of results, my weight has stayed pretty constant, but I'm definitely noticing stronger legs/arms (thighs in particular - not bigger, just more . . . defined?) and I finally saw a drop in my waist measurement last week (13 workouts into the program), so progress is happening - just slowly.  FWIW, I'm pretty much eating maintenance calories (1800-2200, usually around 2000-2100).

those sound like good results susiecue. mine, well i've been getting stronger, just need to reign in the eating/drinking. holiday & winter time are just not good for my waistline. i actually finally had a good workout tonight, down to 10 reps on stage 1 & lifting heavy enough, so i got my 'fix' which i can only get from lifting heavy without too many reps. im somewhat limited as my gym goes up 2kilos every dumbbell. not to mention i can only seem to get in 2 workouts per week, no matter how i schedule things. other things just keep coming up.

Yeah honestly I would be happy if i was seeing any results at this point! I guess I am feeling stronger, but definitely not looking stronger. I am going to measure again at the end of this month, and I finally had my husband hide my scale so that I can't weigh myself obsessively. I am hoping to see some measurement changes by that point. I have to agree with octo-luv though that I am always struggling with eating the right things, and Holidays aren't going to make it any easier! I try really hard to eat healthy and most days are almost all good food, but there are always a few things in there that I shouldn't eat.

I started Stage 2 today...harder but I was ready for a change. I liked it though! I am hoping for some weight loss now that I will be following workout B with HIIT and I also cut my calories after seeing that during stage 1 I had 0 weight loss. I re-measured and will keep that as progress as well.

I am hoping that the holidays wont cause way too many temptations and I will still be able to lose a little. Heres to hoping...

Hi there-

I need some help. I am about to start the NROLFW Stage 1 tonight. I dont even know how to read these charts!

Help!

Stage 1 has 16 workouts (although the book says you can do an extra go round if you want).  Each workout has a varying number of sets and reps, but it's not actually as confusing as it may seem initially.

For the first workout in Workout A (it's page 140 in the hardback), you are going to be doing:

2 sets of barbell squats - 15 reps per set - 60 seconds of rest between each set

Then there are two groups of alternating sets  - meaning do the first exercise, rest, then do the second exercise, rest, do the first exercise again, rest, do the second exercise again.

Alternating set B
(B1) 2 sets of Pushups - 15 reps per set - 60 seconds of rest between each set
(B2) 2 sets of seated rows - 15 reps per set - 60 seconds of rest between each set

Alternating set C
(C1) 2 sets of stepsups - 15 reps per set - 60 seconds of rest between each set
(C2) 2 sets of prone jackknife - 8 reps per set - 60 seconds of rest between each set

The next time you workout, you'll be doing Workout B (pg 141 in the hardback) which has a similar structure.  Then you go back to doing Workout A again and so on until you finish all of them.

thanks meganr- my only question left is when i move onto workouts 3+4 (which are 2 sets of 12 mostly vs the 2 sets of 15 in workouts 1 & 2)

so i do workouts a and b twice each then move onto doing workout A with 2 sets of 12 reps right? how do i know how much to increase the weight at that point?

That's right.  Workouts A and B twice each (alternating) then drop the reps from 15 to 12.

In terms of increasing weight, what I do is log the weights I used and make a comment next to them if I think I'm okay to go up in weight the next time I do the exercise (see my journal entries for examples; note that my bar weighs pretty much nothing; I'm not using a 40 pound bar). 

When dropping the number of reps, you can try the next weight up (e.g. 10 pound dumbbells if you last used 8 pound ones) and see how it goes; you'll know after about 2 reps if you weren't ready to increase the weight.  I found that decreasing reps didn't *necessarily* mean I was ready to increase weight - especially between 2 sets of 12 and 3 sets of 10.  But sometimes, I'd increase weight even though I wasn't changing rep numbers.  Listen to your body; it'll tell you what it can handle.

thanks so much

now im excited for my workout tonight! this is new for me to follow a program. i only have about 5 lbs to lose, but i want a nice "CUT" look for my upper body and im hoping that lifting heavy weights in a new way for me will help achieve that!

Good question Chelslaw I was wondering the same thing about increasing the weights, and Susie answered that pretty well.