Hi, Welcome! I am not the best person to give advice because I did the program for 1 week then got really sick so am just now starting again... but I do know for the pushups the book specifically says don't do the ones on the knees (if that's what you mean by girl pushups). I have mostly only ever done them that way and have never improved. With NROLFW, they have you do the pushups at different angles if you can't do the real plank-style ones. I started at the 60° (or 45°?) angle ones, which is basically counter height. The book says to use the variation that's most appropriate for the required repetitions. I suppose you would do the 30° angle ones until you could complete an entire set in the "real" position?

Just thinking out loud here but ... are we really not supposed to do any pushups in the real position until we can complete an entire set? And if so, how do you know until you try? I guess what I am getting at is you could do 30 pushups at 30° just fine, but maybe jumping to the next step, which is a set of 15 in the real position is too much? In that case, does one start in the real position, squeeze out 3, 4, 10, whatever, pushups and then finish the set at 30°? Or call it a set even only 3 or 4 pushups were done?

Hopefully some veterans will chime in about how they moved forward in this arena. Obviously not my problem for a long time but maybe someday...

That's exciting news! My butt is one of my main focuses in this program :P

Hi Everyone! I "attempted" my first workout on Wednesday but it didn't go great. I just wasn't able to do that Prone Jackknife thing and there were so many people around, I think it was mind over matter - I'll try again next time. I also did the "girlie" push-ups and it sounds like that probably wasn't the best idea either. I'm going to see if my gym has a Smith machine, but they didn't even have a T-bar for my Seated Row!

Other than that it went well and I can barely walk, even today - two days later. My quads are in some crazy pain as well as my chest and arms. I literally went from zero exercise to this, so my body is wondering what the heck is happening.

I'm still going to give Workout B a try later this afternoon even though I can barely sit on the toilet, nevermind more working out! LOL.

The other funny thing is that I've been soooo cold since my workout, I mean all day yesterday at work I was shivery. Has this happened to anyone else?

Laura- you may want to try some moderate cardio. It will force nutrient rich blood to your sore muscles and help them feel better!

Speaking of soreness, Fitmom, do you remember being sore throughout Stage 1? I was as sore as Laura notes after the first few workouts, but now I barely feel any soreness and I have been pushing myself on increasing my weight...is this what you experienced?

I'd try to eke out as many pushups as you can from the floor, and finish out at 30°, as you say. They don't suggest this in the book, but I think it's the most logical thing to do.

At my gym, the lat pull machine jumps up by 15 pound increments (i.e. 45, 60, 75, 90 lbs, etc). So, similarly, I've been progressing by doing as many reps as I can at the higher weight I'm aiming for, then finishing out the set at the next lower weight. It has worked well.

Edit to add: It works less well if you push to failure in the harder variation. :) So you have to know when to call it quits on the harder variations/weights/etc and trade down.

Sumire - I just saw your pictures (from your link) and I want to have your body when I grown up!! Amazing! My butt will never look like that....

Should I just do cardio today or are you saying to do cardio and "attempt" more weights? I say "attempt" because I can barely move!

It's up to you, but if you are still really sore today, you might want to give yourself another day of recovery. Go and do 30 minutes on the elliptical or some brisk walking and do the weights again tomorrow.

Light cardio helps to recover from DOMS. (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness--what you have!)

:o Thanks! :) You may end up surprising yourself! I think that the strength training I did during my weight loss had a big impact on the way I look.

On the soreness front, for what it's worth, don't be alarmed if the soreness continues for quite a while, even if you take extra recovery days. The first time I did a leg workout with squats and lunges, my quads were screamingly sore for 8 days! When I started NROL4W in January, I had been away from any serious lifting for a few months prior; after the first workout, my quads were screamingly sore for 5 days. (I went ahead and did workout B as planned, without additional recovery days.)

The only time I ever get that sore is if I've been away from strength training for a long time (like a month or more, or, in the case of my first workout, uh, 28 years :p).

You get sore then as your body adapts the soreness goes away. You're still making progress, soreness is not an indication either way of whether you had a good workout. I was achy usually for the first two or three workouts of each stage because of the different exercises that I wasn't used to. Totally normal. My foam roller is now my new BFF. ;)

I've pretty much been sore throughout stage 6 (have only 3 more workouts to go) so I figure it's two things: A) I need to take a week off before I start stage 7 as I haven't had a break in almost 9 weeks and B) I've been pushing myself for the last couple of months and hitting a bunch of PR's and giving it my all every single workout.

I'm still a newbie but a veteran of the program, lol. Anyway, I started out doing push-ups against my kitchen counter and then gradually worked my way down to the floor. It took me a good 4-5 months before I was able to do a full pushup on my toes. My upper-body was pretty weak so it was awhile before I could attempt even one on the floor. Now I can execute 15-20 pushups in a row. :carrot:

Sumire: I second that. I re-looked at your photos and what an amazing transformation! Just awesome. It's funny though how we weigh about the same and are the same height yet the way we both carry the weight is totally different. You're so much more muscular than I. I'm much more linear in shape than you. I'm sorta, kinda jealous, lol. ;) Regardless, great job. :carrot:

I went and bought a ball so now I can practice falling on my face doing the prone jacknife all by myself (well, with the kids and hubby laughing at me maybe).

Workabout B went much better despite the soreness, but I don't think I had my weights nearly high enough.

Will you pl summarise NROWL pl.