Just started the New Rules of Weightlifting for Women, after hearing many good reviews on this site.

Anyone else doing the program? I was hoping to get some support from others currently following it. I joined the forums that are supposed to be for NROWL, but it really just seems to be a general fitness site.

I haven't started yet but I plan to start this weekend. I'd be very interested to hear other beginners' perspective. I haven't lifted regularly since high school and I'm alot heavier and used mostly machines back then so it's very new territory for me.

well gmailjunkie, let me know when you start! I found the first workout to be not too bad...but I am sore today for sure. Doing the squat was difficult for me, but the other exercises weren't too bad.

The exercises don't take a lot of time, which is nice. I finished up everything in maybe 20 minutes at the gym. Nice!

I've done it recently.

How are you finishing it in 20 minutes though? It sounds like you are skipping the warmup cardio/dynamic streches/warmup lifting sets? It should take around 40 minutes at least.

It may have been 30. I walk a half mile to the gym so "warming up" on a treadmill seems silly to me. I didn't do the stretches - I do a lot of yoga and don't find stretching to do anything for me.

I did the warm up lifting set, but it said that was only for the first exercise, right?

Sacha- do you find that the upper limit of the time you spend doing the routine is about an hour (assuming a non crazy busy weight room)?

I have to wash super carefully after working out so any hard work out also has to include a significant amount of locker room time. I can budget 6 hours a week to working out but not much more than that right now.

I realize it might take longer the first workout while I'm still nervous about form but the following two should really be under one hour gym conditions permitting.

Hello

I started NRL4W last week, and did my third workout yesterday. I really enjoy doing the exercises, although I have yet to bite the bullet and train in the 'proper' weights area. I tend to snatch a couple of dumbbells and then do my exercises in the general gym area rather than where the weights are...

Do you find it easy to alternate between exercises in a busy gym? Would be great to hear everyone's experiences.

I have the book and read it a while ago ... enjoyed reading it ..... but I don't think I could do it all at the gym ...

Also I was thinking to wait until I was a bit closer to goal before I actually started it???

When is the right time to start? Probably the answer is now ..... but I'm actualy quite scared of doing weights in the gym without a trainer??

I don't find it easy to follow the "order" of the exercises, so I tend to just make sure I get them all in when the equipment becomes available. Today I did the Stage 1 - B workout, so it was easy for me to alternate the swiss ball crunches with the lunges - i just took some dumbells over by my yoga ball. But I ended up doing the deadlift as my last exercise because it took me a bit of courage of being in the weights area to attempt it.

I'm not too concerned with being "perfect" or doing it all in the exact order. I just want to do all the exercises and have good form. The rest will come I figure...

I think you want to start now...maybe you can have a friend or trainer just for the first few sessions? I made my fiancee come with me the first session to show me how to do the squat as I was terrified I would be crushed by the bar and not able to get up. lol. I wasn't too far wrong actually, i found the squat incredibly hard to do as my knees felt like they were "ripping" each time i went to squat down. I've never had any knee problems, so that sensation was quite unsettling. I had the same thing with the lunge in the second work out.

I think most of the Stage 1 exercises will be fairly familiar/easy for you to do without a trainer. The only ones I was confused with were the squat and the deadlift. The deadlift turned out to not be so bad, and my gym actually has a machine to use for squats (but all 3 were taken up by guys the entire time i was there, otherwise, i think it would have been better for me to start with it).

Is it possible to just ask a gym employee or trainer on site to show you the few exercises you don't understand? Sometimes I see trainers at my gym walking around hoping to be helpful so you'll hire them - nothing wrong with getting some free advice.

Thanks for the reply wildflower .... the squat rack is one of the things that really does frighten me ...

Good suggestions .....

This is the first time I have heard about this book and I am intrigued. I read the first several pages on Amazon.com and just put in a hold request for it at my library.

I am already lifting heavy but I am on a caloric deficit which the author said can hinder my goal, so I am really interested in that part of the book. It would be nice to get a new workout or two as well.

Are people who are doing it also having the recommended protein shakes after the work out? My dietitian advises against protein powders because they aren't regulated the way food products are. It seems to me that I could achieve a similar effect with two flavored fat free greek yogurts.Actually 1 fat free- one 2 percent. Thoughts?

at first, the beginning work outs took me 25ish minutes. When you start alternating exercises with 3 sets of 10, that's when the work outs start going over an hour

I just asked the staff member walking the floor to show me when I had questions, or I just hit up a conversation with the weight lifting dudes. They're all pretty sweet and supportive, even though they look intimidating lol. And bring a friend if you can, it helps with the intimidation stuff, but it's totally worth it. I just kept my goal in mind and it kept me from walking away from the free weights and onto the treadmill when I was feeling overwhelmed/not sure/ Oh and I also hit up youtube to watch videos of people doing the forms. There are tons of people with bad form on youtube, so I tried to make sure to pay attention to who I was watching

gmailjunkie - I had some 100 calorie / 14 grams of protein shakes already in my house, so I did have them after some of the work outs. Another morning I worked out before breakfast, so I just had some eggs for breakfast, with whole wheat toast (20 some grams of protein) and then had a greek yogurt with kashi for lunch.

I'm not a fan of the protein shakes and agree that you can get that much from some food...but I don't know. I'm not getting my weight in protein, I'm getting about 100 grams thought which seems like a ton to me.

pinkflower you are just finishing the program, right? How do you think it helped your weight loss? Did you follow the diet advice at all or what level of calories did you eat at through out? Great point about youtube, I am definitely going to use that to view the exercises.

Brown How did you like the program the first time around? Glad you are doing it again, this is my first week.