You're welcome. And my knee surgery has turned out to be a minor disaster. I'm really allergic to nickel and the surgeon put nickel-containing screws in my shin. Argh!! It's been a couple of months of constant pain and I've lost an astonishing amount of muscle mass. There's practically a hole in my calf where my calf muscle used to be. Dreadful. I'm going in to have the screws removed in a couple of weeks and I cannot wait. I dream of being able to walk without being in serious pain...Hopefully then I'll be able to start working out again. I have a lot of lower body work to do!

This sounds like a bit of a worry. Where on your spine? Deadlifts are such a delicate exercise--it's so easy to hurt yourself with them. You might want to work on your form a bit. I find it helpful to focus my attention on my butt when I'm pulling. If I focus on my butt, then my lower back is less likely to get involved in the wrong way!

Oh wow, that sounds terrible! I hope you heel soon and feel better once you have them removed. I've had 3 surgeries on the same knee and none were very successful so I know the frustration. I hear weight lifting is good for strengthening muscles around the joint though so hopefully that will help us!

It's like the middle of my back, I think it's probably a muscle around my spine not my actually spine. I injured it in a fall in December so I think I just have to be more care full and lift a bit lighter while I work on my form.

Are you taking a break from the program for a while?

I'm curious, how do you start your own thread?

There is a button that says "new tread" in the top left hand corner above the sticky's in every forum.

Lisa TY

Another question about my weight loss stall. I checked my body fat % when I started and it was 42, then about a monbth ago and it was 40. Friday I checked it and it was 35%. Could my weight loss stall be due to building muscle/losing fat? If it is due to that fact, when will it pick back up and when will I start losing again?

It is likely that you're seeing some combination of water retention, fat loss, and muscle gain. Don't know how you're measuring bf%-- pretty much any method has some degree of unreliability-- but with a drop that large, I'd trust it.

Are you taking measurements also? (If not, I recommend that you start now!) Are any of your measurements getting smaller? Doing any comparison pics?

There's no way to know when you'll start losing again, but you're doing yourself a much bigger favor by waiting it out than by trying to lose scale weight "by any means necessary."

Sumire, I use the little BF% machine at the gym to measure BF and yes I do measure. I did measurements on Feb and March 8 but I forgot in April so I will again in May. Another problem in I had TOM twice this month for some odd reason.

hey ladies :) i did phase 1 workout 1 on sat and my legs are screaming at me today, id originally planned to do wo2 today but im worried i wont be able to push myself as far due to the soreness. Is it better to do it and go slower since there is already the damage to the muscles from wo1 or wait til im less sore so i can push harder? Ty!

It's ok to take an extra rest day, especially at the beginning. Treat your poor muscles today to some light cardio--a brisk walk or bike ride will help to lessen the soreness.

YEs- cardio is a great cure for the soreness!

Hi ladies just wanted to pop in for a quick hello! I just picked this book up last night and I'm SO EXCITED to get started.. I love lifting <3

I was super stoked to start Stage 5 today! Back to the dumbbell snatches. :) And 4 reps--yay, heavy weight time! And a new low time on the body weight matrix: 2:24. So fun.

Honestly, I find the B workout in stage 3/5 to be boring, so I'll have to suck it up and get through those. But the A workout is my favorite in the program so far.

Looking forward to stage 6, too. Once I got to my first chin-up, I kind of wandered away from training them, because I'm usually so beat from these workouts. I'd like to get back to having that as my focus.

blackbutterfly: Welcome! :)

OK, discovered by accident today: I can do a pistol squat!

I was talking with a fit friend of mine this evening & mentioned pistol squats. He said, "What's a pistol squat?" I said, "Well, I can't really do one, but it kind of goes like--" *to my amazement, I bust out a pistol squat* "Well, ok, like that." :)

I'm going to give NROL4W the credit for this one, because I tried back in January to do one & couldn't. I'm getting better leg strength than I expected on this program, and the balance moves (which I normally find a little annoying, honestly-- you can't pull as much weight when you're also trying to balance!) apparently have their place, too.

I think the 3B/5B workouts that I just complained about may be a little bit more fun now that I get to work on pistol squats as my single-leg squat move. :)

I'm on my 6th week. I love it for the most part, but the 15 rep weeks are just brutal.

I'm finally finishing stage one! Just have the amrap sets to do Wed and Fri and I'm supposed to take a week off before stage 2. I think I'll still hit the gym and do cardio though. Dont want to get out of my routine! I can definitely tell that im a lot stronger than I was at the beginning... Or maybe ever! I'm able to do a set of 8 regular pushups which I have never been able to do! Havent noticed any changes on the scale at all yet... Probably because I haven't cleaned up my eating habits properly.... So hard for me... Ahh well just have to keep trying.

Hey Ladies! I started this and did stage 1 workout A and then was unable to get to workout B the next week and now I am all off track. So, my question is, I feel like I should just start over with workout A.

Any thoughts on this? I love all the workouts, I just need to make more time for my workouts even though the first workouts took me probably 20 minutes. Thanks!

Hello ladies!

I started this program back in February and loved it, but I'm doing it at home and was concerned about my form. I couldn't do a proper squat and since that's such a basic and important move I stopped and focused on working on that. Now I'm good to go and ready to jump in with both feet. Thing is, step-ups and I simply do not get along. They make my right knee make terrible crunchy noises and I'm just not keen to take them on again knowing that. Add to it, I don't have a proper surface to step up on. Any suggestions for step-up substitutes? They're really the only thing holding me back.

Hey Thistleberry,

Maybe a one-legged squat, or one-legged deadlift? The step is similar to a lunge in the muscle group that it works... so maybe a static lunge might work, if you're doing more of a walking lunch in workout A?

Good Luck!

Hey Lackie,

I'm not sure if I understood you right... you should be switching from workout A to workout B as you go along... so Monday workout A, Wednesday workout B etc. If you missed and entire week it really is up to you whether you want to start again, or just keep going from where you left off. If you've only done one workout so far, you could keep going and it probably won't matter...

Good luck!

Yes, I'd start over. It's just one workout to repeat.

Maybe this will help? : http://www.jpfitness.com/showthread....+up+substitute

High five! :)

I am so frustrated this morning! The past 3 lifting workouts every dumbbell I pick up feels so heavy! I feel like I've lost some of my strength or something! What is going on? For the past 2 weeks i've only been lifting 2x's per week because I was in the middle of a big house project...is this why? I hope I get back to feeling normal because it sucks to feel like you are back sliding!!!! :devil:

Sometimes it just happens, though 3 times in a row does seem a bit much. I usually find when I'm lifting only 2x/wk I'm usually stronger and fresher at each workout, because I've had more recovery time.

Are you getting enough sleep? Are you stressed? How's the eating? At a large deficit, of course, you could find it difficult to keep the weights up. Does your house project involve you actually doing work on your house? You could be using up some of your energy / food fuel for that.

Hope it gets sorted soon. I know those workouts are a bummer. :p

So I did workout 7 today which was stage 1 workout A4, this means I have completed half of the A workouts in stage 1! I am definitely already seeing strength gains. I know that since you go down in reps it makes sense you can lift more weight, but I think it is more that that. I really love this program and look forward to sticking through it this time (I did the first stage last spring then got a second job and dropped the ball completely).

I was supposed to lift today's lifts on monday, and didn't make it to the gym till thursday! I would like to catch up and wonder what people think of lifting everyother day until I am back on schedule? So I'd lift sat, Then mon-wed-fri-sun, then tues-thurs-sat. Or would that perhaps be overdoing it? Otherwise I'll just lift saturday and call it a 2 lift week and resume m/w/f next week and those after.

Woohoo! :strong:

There's no rush to finish the program, right? :) I find that the occasional 2-lift week does me good, actually.

sumire- Definitely feeling stressed and not getting enough sleep. I had a bachelorette part last weekend and I think it really took a toll on me all week. It is so hard to recovery from a night of next to no sleep and drinking! Glad I don't do it very often any more. I'm hoping I'll feel better tomorrow morning. It's my last workout of Stage 3. I REALLY want to finish Stage 4 before I leave for vacation. I only have 3 weeks though. It will definitely be pushing it, but I think I can make it happen.

I also don't think I've been getting a proper amount of protein. Too much carbs lately. Trying to get all of that back on track too!

I'm definitely not giving up!!! How are you doing???

LindsB: Aha! That'll do it. Isn't it terrible how we get old so fast? :lol: 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!:carrot:

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!:carrot::D And my body looks so much better!:D

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! :D 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!! :carrot: 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! :D

front squat push press - help
 

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! :)

lateral flexion?
 

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.