LindsB: Aha! That'll do it. Isn't it terrible how we get old so fast? You'll be back to normal soon, I'm sure. YAY for vacay! That's something nice to look forward to.

I'm doing great! My last workout I did during the evening when the weight room was crowded with the boys, who were hoarding a lot of the dumbbells for their bicep curls, haha. So this forced me to go heavier than usual on some of the exercises, since those were the ones available, and I was amazed to find that I could! I have 5 workouts left in Stage 5, and then I have to take a week off while my gym closes for maintenance. I'm sure the recovery will do me good, but I'll miss the lifting!

sumire- Thanks I'll take a chill pill and just lift saturday.

I'm only in the third week and I am feeling so much better already! I know how incredibly hard it is to build muscle and I know I haven't made significant gains so early in the game, but I just 'feel' so much more toned and strong. I think its more the excitement of knowing that I'm doing something so 'right' for my body. It's like my body is saying "thank you" by making me feel better about myself already .

I tend to get carried away by momentum and I feel so sad that I dont get to lift today! I sometimes wish the program broke up the muscle groups in a way I could lift consecutive days sometimes. But honestly its really better this way, I mean I didn't even get to the gym till thursday this week, so a program that allows for two or three lifting days a week is really a long term every week doable kinda thing.

But I do wish I could lift today!

P.S. Its awesome to feel I am finally getting the prone jack knifes done right!

One more S5 workout!

My experience with this program has been great. I've been maintaining for awhile, and I was bored. So I started NROL4W in mid December. In January, I joined a 3 month online fat loss/strength building challenge at JPFitness, the authors of the book are a part of this forum.

I only lost 3 pounds, didn't win any prizes, but, I lost 4.5 inches! And my body looks so much better!

Plus, I got to meet a whole new group of people with lots of tips and support!

Thanks Smad! I think I misunderstood the workouts then. So, you workout three times a week, one week you do two workout A's and 1 workout B. The next week vice versa?

I just decided to start over.

Just alternate A, B, A, B, etc, until you are finished with the stage.

Ugh Stage 4 is a repeat of my least favorite Stage so far. I hate it. Can't wait to get through it already and I'm only on B1.

I'm a bit late in replying, but thank you so much, smadd11 and sumire! Your suggestions were a great help and I really appreciate it.

I did my first workout on Sunday and it was great! I did a Bodyflow class and Zumba on Monday and had every intention of doing my second workout Tuesday but I was so exhausted and so sore I decided my body probably wasn't ready yet. Yesterday was Zumba and Bodyflow again and today I finally get to do B. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Today was my last 5A workout, and it was smashingly good! I sat down with my 3A workout log just now to see my progress since then, and I felt pretty great about it.

1st 3A workout (6 reps per set) vs last 5A workout (4 reps per set)
One-arm dumbbell snatch 22.5lb --> 35lb
Single-leg Romanian dumbbell deadlift 20lb(each hand) --> 40lb(e)
Barbell bent-over row 60lb --> 90lb
Dumbbell single-arm overhead squat 20lb & 10lb --> 40lb & 20lb
Dumbbell incline bench press 22.5lb(e) --> 32.5(e)
Body weight matrix: 3:41 and 3:45 --> 1:58 and 1:55!

Woo!! Btw, if it gives any like-minded folks a boost, I hated the single-leg Romanian deadlift with a fiery passion during stage 3, but I've gotten the hang of it by now and I love it!

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if any of you can give me some advice on the front squat push press, I started stage 2 yesterday, and decided to start this exercise off with just the bar (45 lbs), and I had a really hard time with the overhead press... my arms I guess aren't that strong yet! haha, I can do about six of them before my arms are so shaky and can't make it back up!

I'm just wondering, since it's supposed to be a leg exercise? if I should maybe split the two exercises up? Do a squat and then do an overhead press separately? The 45 pound bar is barely anything for a squat, but probably a bit too much for me at this point for the press. And it's not like anytime soon I'll be doing 100 pounds etc. as a press.

Anyway, just wondering if any of you guys ever ran into a similar problem?

Thanks

Yeah, that's normal: you can't push-press as much as you can squat. It's not a leg exercise so much as a whole body exercise with a metabolic component. Don't break it up, just keep doing it as written, with as much weight as you can handle.

Ok, so I just started stage 2. Am I reading this right? Stage 2 only 2 1/2 weeks long for a total of 8 workouts??

Stage 2-5 are really short and they repeat: 2 and 4 are the same, as are 3 and 5.

I have been a lurker, and just found this forum. Been lifting a bit lately, since I've also been doing PT for a broken ankle. I'm actually stronger now than I was before I broke the ankle. I picked up NROL4W about 1 month ago and now, feeling ready to start the program. Anyone else just starting out?

sue

Ugh, that week break was the worst. I was dying to lift the whole time, but I managed to limit myself to a ton of walking and one too-long run.

First workout of stage 6 this morning! And it was a killer. Chin-up negatives always leave me shaky, and by the 5th set of lat pulls, I had to lower the weight by 10 pounds. I'd never done a barbell split squat before, and I felt like a newborn colt, wobbling around. But I managed to get the hang of it enough to crank out 2 good sets. Phew!

suelegal: Good luck getting started, & welcome!

Hey guys... steadily working on stage 2 here..

I just have a few questions about the lateral flexion exercises I'm hoping you guys can answer... I'm assuming that one set includes all three types of exercises? So knee, head and then knee and head together...

Can anyone clarify what the point of them is? I don't really feel anything, and actually I've noticed that my hip's seem to be very tight... I have trouble lifting my knee all the way up to complete the rotation... anyway... I seem to just get frustrated and am tempted to cut it out completely.