Lift and Chat: March 16 - 31, 2008
 

Hey look, the thread is early just for Fran's tidbit and question :eek:

What a difference a few pounds make! I'm finally below my YIKES! weight and everything is comfortably loose of fitting perfectly now. The funny and expensive effect of this is that the clothes I took to be altered two weeks ago feel too loose. But I'd soooo much rather have that problem than the opposite!

I did legs today and am including a lot of the NROLW exercises Those overhead squats are a bugger! I managed my last set with 65 pounds and barely got it re-racked. Pulled out the book and figured out what the squat to stand is- ouch.

Today was beautiful here. The daffodils are about to burst open in a few days and crocuses are blooming. That usually means we are about to get a whopping snowstorm to finish out March :lol3: My cat is fascinated by the reappearance of morning doves on the deck.

So Fran- what was that question?

Mel

I'm waiting for Fran's question too but maybe she found something better to do on a Saturday night, so I'll ask a question of my own.

This is really for my DH...maybe I should ask Mr.Lydia227. ;) Without getting into a huge post, I just need to know if I'm way off on my theories or calculations. Lately he's struggling with his weight and when he tries to limit portions/calories, he's just starving all the time. I suspect that if I plugged the numbers in, it would be clear that he's eating way too many carbs.

So, here's my questions. My DH is 6'4", about 250 and, to start, wants to lose 25 lbs.

1. Is 2000 calories a good starting point for him with no real exercise right now.
2. Should he (we for that matter) aim for a 40/30/30 split, with protein being the 40?
3. If I'm tracking food, I'm assuming that I should be able to go back and forth between calories/grams by assuming that protein & carbs are 4 calories per gram and fat is 9 calories per gram. Is this right?
4. If my math holds, he should be looking at about 200 grams of protein a day. (I doubt he's anywhere near that).

Anyway, thanks for letting me pick your brains. I will try to get him to add in the exercise but, other than walking, he's not too interested.

Mel - We had a really nice day here too but there's still too much leftover snow on the ground to see any possible flowers. :( Yay for you on the scale victories!!! That's so exciting! It's not been a great week for me. I know it's partially due to TOM but I can't blame all of it on that. Amazing how 2lbs. can make such a difference in the way I feel

Depalma - wow...I'm so glad your feeling better. You absolutely never mentioned the details of your "health issue" in the past but I'm thrilled you've gotten the "all clear"!

I'm so glad to hear that everyone is really enjoying the NROLW. I'm still loving it too but continue to struggle to fit in all of the workouts that I would like to. I actually quite like the prone jacknife now. It only took me a couple of tries but I don't look at myself. I might not be doing it perfectly but I'm doing something and I'm afraid if saw myself, I might never do it again! ;)
:D

The daffodils are blooming here, but BOY is it windy! I ran sprint intervals yesterday and I'm sure the wind added to my workout.

Well, I have finished 3 weeks of workouts at my new gym and I really love it! I am sore most days and today my biceps died, but I can already tell a difference in strength lugging the laundry around. My clothes are falling off and the compliments are flying fast and furious. The latter might not be a good thing though. I always think it is weird for people to notice how I look. I'm strange that way.

Most of the weight training I am doing is with free weights. Today I pushed this metal sled thing that was loaded with some weights. She also has this contraption....it is a square mat thing with bungee rope-type things that click into a harness. I have been doing squat jumps with resistence provided by the bungee rope things. So many new things!

I am looking forward to having my body fat measured again. (Did I really just say that?) I think it will be lower, but even if it isn't, I know there are real changes happening in my body.

I feel like I just discovered the seven cities of gold with this weight-training thing. I feel like I am proseletyzing (sp?) and I have already suggested that other people start, especially when they comment on my appearance. No one is quite as annoying as the newly converted, eh?

Ah, gosh, you all are too good to me!

MEL - yeah, for you! That's a great accomplishment!

Well, I've got to try that jackknife on my ball tonite. I have 3 spotters to I figure they can catch me before I flow into the treadmill, right? I might have a flat six year old at the end, but all in good fun!

Question: I read you all post earlier that NROLW is really for those with not a lot of weight to lose. Was that due mostly to the calorie allotments being somewhat high, or does the workout plan lack enough to make it worthwhile for someone still heavy? I have the book, but just wanted to verify what I thought I heard before risking life with the JKnife.

Tidbit: I did 90 minutes of squats, overhead presses, glute presses, and modified lunges yesterday! I volunteered to help at dd's school with the scholastic book fair. Maybe you guys have seen this - it's where the scholastic panel truck shows up at the school with about a dozen metal trade-show type folding displays on wheel full of books and about one hundred small packing boxes full of books to stack on top of the trade show trunks. The day I volunteered for happened to be the pack up day, and I figured, sure, what's packing a few books. Well, I didn't realize we'd also be pushing the prementioned trunks to the front of the library and stacking all the heavy boxes on top of the 6' trunks to get ready for the pickup guy, AND, move all the tables and chairs back to teh original place in the library. 90 minutes of packing, overhead lifting, full body sled pushing, and dragging of chairs. Breaking a sweat, purple faced fun. Like sweat beads on my face. I thought I was going to be absolutely crippled getting out of bed this morning, but I wasn't!!!

Sorry it wasn't as exciting as maybe I made it out to be - but to me, it surely was.

Elisa, I'm not the one to give advice on men's fitness, but I will just add that my dh drives me absolutely nuts by chewing gum constantly (like 5 mins after finishing eating) bc he complains about being starving constantly as well. It's really weird. I know he's a carb junkie also, having gone thru the low-fat 90's with him, and that's not helping things.

elisa - I'm not one to give advice on men's fitness either but I'd think 2000 calories sounds low for a man who is 6'4. Would he be interested in weight training? Or does he just want to do walking? You could always pick up the New Rules of Lifting (for Men) for him.

Fran - I believe I weigh more than you and I am doing NRLW :) I think the advice regarding it being for those with not a lot to lose really did have to do with food intake. All the exercises do seem doable. I find the prone jackknife difficult but not impossible. I also am getting better at it. For the jackknife, I start with on the ball with my stomach and roll out. I tried putting my feet on the ball from a plankish position and it didn't work.

I have a pic of my new home gym. It is kind of exciting and scary all at once. I have a home gym! :)

http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/10/64/40/homegy10.jpg

It took the delivery guys nearly 4 hours to put it all together. After they left, I started my first workout. The bench is super heavy and moving it is a workout in itself although it has wheels on both sides. I did 1B and my legs are a bit sore today. I can't wait to try 1A tomorrow with it.

Nelie, your gym looks fantastic! Are we all invited over to work out with you? :devil:

About NRLW -- I agree that the calories seem high for a someone who has a lot of weight to lose. It seems to me that the nutrition aspect is geared to a normal to slightly overweight woman with body fat to lose. Regardless, the calories are still too high for me to even maintain on, so I skipped that section as not relevant to me. But I think the workouts would work for a woman at almost any weight level. That being said, there are exercises that I couldn't do until I had dropped about half of my excess weight due to balance issues, specifically squats and lunges. Since you already have the book, Fran, maybe give the exercise part a try? :)

I agree, the calories are way too high for me to maintain on also, and his age ranges for different caloric intake don't go up far enough in years. Am I supposed to sit on my ever-widening butt at this point in my life and stop moving? I know a lot of women do...but not me.

Part of the issue with the calories is that those of us who have lost a lot of weight or have spent most of our lives yo-yo dieting, or are already watching our food and working out, seem to have changed our metabolisms and just burn less doing the same things that a never obese or never dieting person burns or requires. I think Meg posted a study a while back in Maintainers in a thread call "We Really are Different" which showed that the formerly obese burned 20% less calories during exercise than the never obese. Meg- refresh my memory if I'm way off!

The exercises are great. I know that he says to not tinker with the program, but for a strong, experienced lifter they can be progressed. For a beginner, they are doable. For someone with a lot of weight to lose who still has stability problems, they are modifiable.

Just my two cents.

Mel

Nelie - I love your gym!!! Wow, if we had that, I think my DH would start lifting weights. I'm trying to get him to join my gym but I don't know if that's his "thing". I'll see if he wants to read the original NROL. I wish we could have a gym like yours at home but I just don't know if it's possible. And yes, 2000 calories seemed a bit low to me too but I have a strong feeling that he might have also screwed up his metabolism over the years. I just don't know where to start really. Time for some more research, I guess.

I'm off to do some laundry and make some green cookies (for work, not for me, I hope!)

:D

Fran: I have to agree with Mel/Meg about the caloric intake and how it applies to those who have/had significant weight to lose. Here is how I'm working around and with their "rules."

* Caloric intake. On my lifting days I should take in 1990 calories. :yikes: Take home message, slightly increase calories on lifting days with a protein shake, 200 calories, immediately after the workout. If I find a gain or maintain at this then maybe just hardboiled egg whites and half an apple.

*Cardio. I'm all about HIIT long before I read this book so we agree there. However, last spring and summer I played with the duration of my cardio sessions and found that if I want to lose I need to be doing no less than 45 minutes five or six days a week to get me over that maintenance number. It is hard to do HIIT every day I agree and some days I just didn't have it in me to do a whole session. On those days I did the best I could and mentally checked it as a "recovery day". I still did the cardio but with less intense and frequent HIIT moments during the workout.

*Lift Heavy. YES YES YES. I figured this one out long ago on my own too. What is the point otherwise. Besides it's just plain fun to feel that resistance deep inside your muscles.

*Take a break after each four or six week period. ~sigh~ I wish I would have given myself permission to do this. I intuitively knew this but had a hard time permitting myself to do this. :dunno: I know it now, it's been validated more by injury than the book. I think because I accept this part of my life as permanent I no longer think of it as a race to the finish line of uber fitness for me. Besides, these weeks off allow me to get my house in order again as well as clear my head.

There are probably other points I could ponder if I searched through the spine broken, highlighted marks of this book. But off the top of my head these is what I've been thinking about as it applies to me. Overall I think the book is a good introduction to lifting for women. The nutrition section is okay but the caloric suggestions still make me dizzy. I think that for most people that point is going to be trial and error even if they are working with a good dietician. My advice, just try it. Honestly record your input as well as your output(exercise) and see what happens with consistency. All things can be tweaked.

Nelie: That is an awesome set up! :high: I'll be over tomorrow! Just kidding. What a nice space to have as well. Our basement is still unfinished so even if I had the equipment it would look more like an iron pit down there. But maybe someday. While I find watching others at the gym motivating there are days when I really just don't want to have to negotiate around other people either. :p Those would be good days for me to be cast down into my own torture chamber until I am fit for the public again. :devil:

Elisa: I will let DH know you have a message for him. :D I have to tell you that he and I have very different approaches to weightloss. I eat, he does not. ~sigh~ I still make sure he gets dinner every night though. He wouldn't dare not partake. ;)

Midwife with Muscles: Yeah for you! :dance: It is a little weird when people begin to notice the changes in your body. If felt a little odd about this attention as well. But after a while they get used to the healthier and fitter you. This is such and exciting phase of weight lifting and reshaping, enjoy all that you discover through the process. Caution...mirrors could become your new best friend. :rofl: Just don't make it too obvious as you walk past the mirror displays in Target. :o:D Yeah, lady, that really is you, now move your cart along. :rolleyes: :rofl:

I am of the belief that one should start as high as possible and still lose weight rather than cut dramatically. This helps ensure that most of the lost weight is from fat while preserving as much muscle as possible, helps with initial compliance, keeps the body from going into starvation mode, and most importantly leaves room for further reductions if the weight loss does plateau.

Has he tracked his recent intake and the scale results of that recent intake? That would give us hints as to what his metabolism is. Of course, if he has tracked his recent food intake and has found that he has been eating an average of 3000 calories for the past two weeks and has gained 2lbs over that time, then we can guestimate 2500 calories as maintenance and plan our caloric deficit based on that. However, without that information, we'll have to wing it a bit.Absence of any indication that he has a slowed metabolism, I wouldn't start him at anything below 10 calories per pound of body weight and would actually prefer closer to 12 calories per pound to start. This is between 2500 and 3000.



I'm male myself, but nowhere near 6'4" and my metabolism is probably not optimal after a significant weight loss. Much, at the beginning probably lost too fast on too few calories. I maintain around 14 and 15 calories per pound of body weight. Since, your husband's metabolism is probably in better shape than mine, he will probably end up maintaining his new 225 lb self on between 3150 and 3350 calories. However, my personal maintenance level is factoring in exercise but is also balanced off somewhat by having a desk job.

One question is why is there no real exercise right now? Especially if hunger is a real issue with calorie restriction, why not burn off extra calories, so less of the defecit has to come from reduced intake?

Anyway, my personal opinion would be to start him between 2500 and 3000 calories. Shoot for 2lbs per week loss. If you aren't seeing that target, then you can reduce calories slowly or, preferably add exercise slowly (about 100-200 calories either way) until you do. 2000 calories would be the absolute lowest. If he doesn't see results on that intake, then he absolutely needs to move more.

The protein numbers seem good. The macros are actually what I have found works best for me, but I have also found I am pretty sensitive to carbs. If he really loves his carbs, you can start him with a "zone" type setup and do 40-30-30 with the 40 being carbs and tweak it from there if needed. This may help with compliance.

Depalma - thanks, as always, for the great information. I'm not sure how great his metabolism is either but I've never really tracked his exact eating. I plan my own intake and then (roughly) assume that he should eat approximately 1.5 times what I do! Simple and basic but it seemed like an okay place to start.

I think maybe the 40/30/30 split with 40 being the carbs could be an easier transition too. As for the "why no exercise?" I don't know. Part laziness, part lack of interest in the gym. I just don't think he's ever found anything that interests him but, if he were honest, he would admit that he hasn't tried in a while.

I think I'll pick up that book for him, maybe reading NROL will inspire him like it did me! I've told him that if he just moved more, he could eat more, but I'm not sure he believes me!!

Thanks to everyone for all of their suggestions and tips!

:D

Remind him that exercise doesn't have to be done in the gym. Take a bike ride, hike in the mountains, walk on the beach. Does he have a competitive side? He's a tall guy, about some basketball. Shooting hoops could turn into challenging his buddies to some 1 on 1, which turns into some pretty active pickup games. There are plenty of activities. One is bound to interest him.

Now if laziness is the problem. Keep finding projects for him to do around the house. As the "honey do" list grows, you might hear the reply, "I can't! I have to go to the gym!"

Meg - Yes, everyone is invited :)

Elisa - My husband really loves kettlebells. He really wasn't doing too much weights but once we got the kettlebells, he hardly ever misses a workout. I know I talk about them a lot but they are awesome little balls of iron :) He has noticed a vast improvement in himself from just a couple months of kettlebells rather than years of off and on regular weights. I also agree, there are lots of activities such as biking and hiking and what not that your husband may enjoy.

This morning, I did workout 1a (5th workout). I was so excited to do squats with a challenging weight. I think my bar weighs 20 lbs and I added on 80. It was a nice workout. I could've probably added on more weight but I'll save that for Thursday. I also did step ups with the barbell (40 lbs) which was also nice. I have to work on developing my barbell shelf, I think I mostly have it and the barbell does have a little cushion so it isn't bad but on the first rep, I find myself adjusting into the right spot.

Hi guys,

You've all been very chatty! I don't even know where to jump in. :)

Fran, I made the comment about the NROLW based on the nutrition section. I was/am very skeptical that you can lose more than a few pounds of bodyweight without reducing calories. Or, if you can lose real weight, that it would take forever and ever. Part of their argument is that you won't be able to do the workouts properly unless you take in plenty of calories. I don't know whether that's true. I've pretty much been maintaining since I started lifting weights, so I haven't ever tried to do it on less than 2000 calories per day. The authors disagree, but I still think that the nutritional section is really good only for women with a few pounds of body fat to shift more than for women with lots of weight to lose.

(Interestingly, in the frequent discussions about this issue on the NROLW message board, the big problem appears to be with people who identify as 'chronic under eaters'--people who always and habitually eat below their calorie levels. Those people really do need to eat more if they are going to build muscle and have the energy to lift heavy. For those of us who have never had a problem with under-eating...well...I think we can sort out the optimal calorie level on our own.)

Anyway, I'm back from my trip rounder and flabbier than ever before. I worked out yesterday and it felt FANTASTIC. I'm never going away without my sneakers again! I purposely left them behind because my knees have been taking a beating recently (*warning*: if you have any knee problems at all, do NOT do the bw matrix in Stage 3!!!!) and I wanted to rest them. But I've been craving exercise all week. Today is bright and sunny and gorgeous. If I have time, I'm thinking today might be the day for the first bike ride of the year. Hooray!!

ETA: The gym is so cool, Nelie! I'm completely envious!

Nelie - those kettlebells scare me but at least they don't take up too much room. I'll look into them. And I'm still scared to try the step ups with a barbell...I'm afraid I'll kill someone in the gym! I think I'll have to though, the dumbells are too hard on my hands as the weight goes up.

Depalma - your suggestions are great and I guess maybe laziness is the wrong word because he loves to walk for hours but has a bad knee which takes away bike riding and running. I think just picking up the pace a bit could turn the leisure walks into exercise! My gym has a special where they basically give you two months at almost no cost and then, if you choose to stay, you pay the regular price. I keep hoping he'll come and even if it's just to try a few things and see if anything "sticks". One thing at a time, I guess.

Well, my St. Patrick's Day cookies are done but I still have to get to the laundry!

:D

I think the thing to remember with NRLW is that is aimed at the average woman. Interesting so many of us have noticed it lacking in specific info for individuals outside of what they considered "normal" (ie. higher weight, age, etc.). I found it kind of odd that a book written specifically for women has no reference whatsoever to pregnancy - pre or post partum.

I am excited 'cause today after a long chat (ok - & a few tears from me - darn hormones!!!) dh & I came up with a new plan for working out. Up until now we have been eaching going (or trying) on our own, but this has been working less than ideally for me thanks to the hormone induced fatigue. We're going to try to go as soon as he gets home from work each day & then eat supper when we return. I think this will keep us both more motivated.

Hi, Elisa.

I'm with Depalma on finding the right kind of exercise. Some people just don't like going to the gym. I'm one of them. In fact, I hate going to the gym. No, wait, hate really isn't a strong enough word.

If I was ever going to join a gym, it would be something like Gym Jones (gymjones.com)

Ok, so Lydia will read this and laugh because the Gym Jones site is a bit of a manly man thing and after all I'm more of a books and coffee kind of guy. :coffee2:

Still, I like the idea of exercise as play. I was a wrestler in high school. I hated going to the gym then too, but I loved spending hours on the mat - even if it was just getting pinned all the time :dizzy:

Now I run, or at least I have been until recently due to work stress. I'm looking forward to getting back to that.

On the diet side, Lydia already noted that I just turn off the eating thing. That works for awhile. It isn't healthy though and I don't recommend it. I did it recently because I felt I was too heavy to safely start running. I've dropped 25 since xmas and now I'm ready to get back to a more balanced diet and exercise. Still, it won't be anything too scientific because I know myself and I'll never stick to it. I just try to set my life up so that output is greater than input and let the rest take care of itself.

Good luck to your hubby!

LG - I think the book is supposed to be generic and meant really to work for 'any' woman but really it is more so the average woman. I could've seen myself at 300 lbs working the program but not the eating portion. I also wouldn't think an intense weight lifting program that builds up would be meant for pregnant woman and their answer would probably be 'wait until afterwards'. As for after giving birth and nursing, I'd imagine the lifting and eating program would both work.

Thanks Mr.Lydia227! ;) My husband also really cut back on his calories in order to lose weight in the past, but I'm not sure that it's done great things for his metabolism. This is reaffirmed when we go out for a big meal and he drops a couple of pounds on the scale the next day.

I am off to the gym today to do a NROLW workout today. I had slacked off a bit so I'm not sure where I should be, but it will be one of the Stage 1 workouts...although I think I like 1B better. I'll pick one and get back on track from there.

No getting on the scale today for me...it would be too sad! :(

:D

Morning. :wave: It was a gorgeous weekend here. Yesterday DH and I hiked our local butte (881') which was my exercise. Funnily enough, I have more DOMS in my lower thighs this morning than from squats/lunges. I suspect it's from the going down the steeper parts. All in all it felt good, but I can tell my knees won't handle too much. I know there's a really steep part to our Grand Canyon hike, and I'm hoping they're right about the rest being pretty level. :)

Elisa, I really like a couple of the exercises from 1a and 1b, so I think since this is the last week I'll be home til mid-April, that I'll do a combo and move to Stage 2 when I get home. Good luck with getting your DH on board. Mine is very active, and in fact, puts me to shame. Most of our married life he's weighed less than me, and now he's shorter too! And I'm only 5'4" :lol:

Exactly what I was thinking - I just thought it was interesting that there was not even a mention seeing how most women will have it as an issue at some point in time.

Okay, so I ate a couple of my own St. Patrick's Day cookies :o but I also did Stage 1B workout and loved it so not a horrible day.

I'm still trying to slowly get the hunger back in check that was out of control for a couple of weeks. I'm also trying to up the protein to see if it helps.

Yoga tomorrow! :carrot:

:D

elisa - I like 1B better because it doesn't have prone jackknife :) Actually, I think I like 1A better. Oh and as for the kettlebells, DH and I bought one for his father. We think he may like them. You can start out small if it is a scary idea. Our recent purchase of a 45 lb kettelbell is a bit scary but fun :)

LG - Well it is really meant as a 6 month program so maybe that is why? Who knows. I don't remember other books mentioning pregnancy/nursing although maybe those are sections that I ended up skipping or not noticing. Although obviously it being on your mind, it'd be nice to see.

Lately, I've actually been thinking of getting myself 'fixed' although I don't think I have the mental energy to tell my mother. Maybe I'll give myself a deadline of 35 or so to rethink. That is only nearly 2 years away. I know it is a fairly easy surgery. I think also once I get down to a 'normal' weight, I shouldn't have any use for the BCPs (I hope). So maybe view it as something to do when I get to goal? Who knows.

Nelie, I had the same thought at one point in my life, but never did it, thankfully. However, whatever you may decide, it is much simpler surgery for the dh, so I would subject him to it. Plus, if things change, he is easier to resurrect than you would be, and it has a higher success rate. And then there's what someone once mentioned to me - what if either one of you passes on and the other wants to remarry, and to the new spouse it is REALLY important to have children...... well, you get the drift. This is too heavy for this thread, but since you sound like I did at one point in my life, I thought I would share. I too decided to wait until I was 35 to have children, and it came at a good time when I got the other stuff like traveling and adv. degree stuff out of the way. I enjoy it more this way & don't feel the conflict of the "me" need as much I guess.

:wave:

Nelie- At one point I thought that too. I'm sure you are probably sick of hearing people say you'll change your mind, but I'd keep your options open for a while longer ;)

Mel

With all the talk about NROLW, I went back to the original New Rules of Lifting to check it out again. It seems to have a lot more exercises (sexist pigs :ink:) and some fun compound ones to try. I did a combination Romanian deadlift/back row yesterday and was shocked that I could only do 7 at the weight that I could usually do 12 rows or SLDLs. Today I want to try this crazy lunge/deadlift combo where you have the loaded BB between your legs in the lunge position. Heaven knows where it might end up! :lol: Does anyone else have the original NROL?

Hi Meg: I read the original NROL while on vacation last summer but I didn't own it. I think I got it from the library. So, I can't offer much advice/opinion between the two. :chin: You know, since we seem to have pulled this book apart perhaps we have the groundwork for a lifting book to call our own? ;)

Meg - I was just thinking about buying the original NROL for my husband but wondered if there was a huge difference. My library didn't seem to have it so I might buy it and then I can eventually use it for myself. Since you've read both, do you think that NROLW is particularly geared towards women...as far as the exercises go, not the food.

I'm actually a bit sore from workout 1B from yesterday but in a good way!

:D

Elisa, the NROL has a more extensive exercise section than NROLW. I like the attitude of NROLW but in some aspects, it's the "lite" version of the original NROL. NROL says that there are six basic exercise moves: squat, lunge, deadlift, push, pull, and twist, and has exercise for each of these movements, as well as compound exercises. It has workouts geared for fat loss, hypertrophy (size), and strength. The nutrition chapter is tucked way in the back of the book and there aren't recipes, which take up a lot of room in NROLW.

I think it would be an excellent book to buy for DH and you might get some ideas reading through it too. :)

I have NROL as well as NROLW. I read it last year and started one of the fat loss phases but got distracted or something. I plan to start using it after I've finished the NROLW program. In the interim, I gave it to bf, who started it at the same time I started NROLW. They have some crazy periodization schemes in that book and I think overall they put more effort into explaining why they want you to work out the way they do.

But Meg, the Romanian/bb rows are in the woman's book too. I've been doing them as a part of stage 3B. This is one of the things I'm still a bit confused about with the the NROLW. Why would I do a combo Romanian/bb row when obviously I can dl alot more than I can row. What's the advantage of rolling the 2 exercises into one? When it's a balancey exercise like the 1 point row or 1 point Romanian it kinda makes sense because I can feel all those stabilizing muscles hard at work to keep me from falling over, but I don't get it with the romanian/row combo and one or two others.

I'm pondering going to the gym after work rather than before work today. It's a chin scratcher.

ETA: Nelie, I'm with you on the not wanting kids bit. Someone told me once (when I opined that I wanted to be fixed also) that getting a hysterectomy leads to premature aging because your body stops producing some of the good girly hormones. I've no idea whether that is actually true or whether it is something they tell young women to stop them, but there it is. Or maybe hysterectomies aren't the only option? (I have no clue at all). I think it's just easier if you have dh do it. :)

Opps on missing the bent over row/SLDL combo in NROLW. I have a prepublication copy that's missing some photos (and useful things like page numbers :lol:) so when I skimmed the book, I didn't see them.

I can row and Romanian DL the same weight, so the exercise makes sense for me. I'm not sure whether I'm more typical being able to use the same weight for both exercises or you're more typical being stronger on the DLs. It's an interesting question. :)

Nope, it's a combo move. The first exercise in each of the stage 3 workouts is performed singly rather than as a part of an alternating set. In my book the dl/row combo is to be found on pg 182. (3A alternates 1 leg sldls with bb rows--perhaps that is what you're seeing.)

You can really row what you can deadlift? Perhaps I'm going too light. I did 80lb the other day and I've made a note to go heavier so perhaps I'll just leap up to 100 right away.

Today is One Arm DB Snatch day. Those are so fun!

Baff, I think that most women go for a tubal ligation rather than the extreme of a hysterectomy. The former does not affect your hormones - and thus premature aging - at all (you even still have periods). It's usually performed as a laproscopic surgery, often day surgery.

I hope no one is doing hysts for sterilization.

WaterRat is right; bilateral tubal ligations are usually done via laparotomy. There is a new method called Essure where coils are placed in the fallopian tubes and scar over, blocking the tubes. They are placed through the cervix, up through the uterus and into the tubes and it is an out patient procedure. Pretty cool.

Just goes to show what I know. :)

Actually, I've seen stranger things in women's health....

re having kids - Yeah I know I may change my mind but also adopting seems like a more likely option if anything. I always seem to celebrate TOM because another month it is there. Tubal ligation is actually what I was thinking about. My goal was actually to just be a good aunt and somehow I'm even failing that :) (I don't see my 2 nephews enough)

About NROL - I told DH about NROL and that it may be something he might like although he is too in love with kettlebells at the moment. I'm wondering though would it be worth it for me after I'm done with the NRLW program?

I was especially good this morning. I set my alarm early, woke up and started talking myself out of exercising. I figured I could do it after work. I told myself nope, get your butt out of bed and just do it. So I did 1b. I do say I like 1A better. Also, it took me about an hour to do it (I'm at 3 sets now) partially because I had to feed the kitties, feed the dog, deal with the dog chewing the remote and me running up to see what was going 'crunch crunch crunch', let the kitties out after their feeding, put the clean clothes into the dryer, let the dog outside, etc. Now I know at least partially what mothers deal with when trying to exercise at home with their kids, my 'kids' keep me running around.

I feel good today. I actually slept through the night (no nausea overnight). I think I may have mastered the lighter eating I need to do to keep the nausea at bay. I've also noticed dairy is not my friend for this reason.

I'm looking forward to going to the gym with dh tonight when he gets home.

I am new to new rules
 

Hi everyone I am new to NRLW but Really like it already.

I will take into consideration what everyone was saying about calories and work toward my calorie goal not the books.

And the prone Jackknife definaltely kick my booty...I can't do it but will let everyone know when I can.

I have only done one work out on the program and tommorow is the second, I am sore and can't wait to so this again tomorow.:carrot: