FAQs

[Lou Schuler]

This is a work in progress; feel free to email me with your own suggestions, or simply add to this thread via replies.

I'm confused about "superset with full rest." Do I do both exercises in the superset, then rest for the designated time (60 seconds, or whatever), or do I rest between exercises as well?

Rest between exercises. Do the first exercise in the superset, rest, do the second one, rest, and repeat the superset.

In some programs (such as Strength I) Alwyn prescribes supersets "with no rest between exercises," which means exactly what it says: do the first exercise, do the second exercise, then rest for however long the chart indicates.

The only time I can get to my gym is right after work, when everyone else has the exact same idea. Supersets are impossible -- once I start using a piece of equipment, I don't dare walk away from it. And tying up two pieces of equipment at the same time is sure to create ... unpleasantness. Can I still do Alwyn's workouts without supersetting? Will I get the same benefits?

Believe me, I sympathize. I work out when my gym's not at all crowded, and I've still gotten into a couple of arguments over my use of two startions. It starts off with the other person upset that I haven't stripped the weights off a bar after using it. Then, when he sees I'm still using it, he's upset because he has to wait a few seconds before he can use it.

Either way, it taps into a person's sense that there's deep injustice in the world.

The short answer is, sure, you can do straight sets instead of supersets.

The main thing you'll lose is recovery between sets.

Let's say you're doing Strength I, Workout D (page 244). You're supersetting chin-ups and barbell shoulder presses with full rest, 180 seconds between exercises. With the superset as written, after you finish the first set of chins, you rest 180 seconds, then do the first set of shoulder presses, then rest another 180 seconds. That's probably 6 1/2 minutes between the first and second set of chins.

Now, if you do that as straight sets, you'd probably still rest 180 seconds after the first set of chins, but instead of doing a set of shoulder presses, you're doing another set of chins.

Different people reach full recovery at different moments; three minutes may be too long for one guy, and not enough for another. But I think every lifter will see some difference in performance if he's doing five sets of chins in 12-15 minutes, vs. five sets of chins and five sets of shoulder presses in 25-30 minutes. It might be slight, and it could be positive or negative, but it'll be there.

In your case, the difference doesn't matter, because you don't have the option of supersetting. So do what you can and enjoy the results you get.

My boyfriend/husband/love slave/sexually ambiguous cousin bought the book, and I read it before he did. (Those new handcuffs are finally paying off.) Can I, a female, do the workouts in New Rules? Or are they just for guys?

I’ve been playing catch-up on the differences between men and women when it comes to training, and the good news is that there really aren’t any that matter, in terms of program design. The muscle fibers are exactly the same, and results are achieved in the exact same way.

The differences are mostly the obvious ones; men start with more size and strength and a hormonal environment that favors muscle growth, but proportionally, women make very similar strength gains to the same programs. Since size follows strength, there’s no reason why women shouldn’t make proportional gains in size, as well.

Why do you have squats and deadlifts on the same day in Hypertrophy I? Isn't that too much stress on the lower back?

At that point, the program is using an upper-body/lower-body split. That's why deads and squats are in the same workout.

Yes, it's tough to do them back to back. But the loads are moderate to low (10 or 15 reps per set) two-thirds of the time, so you're only working with really heavy loads (5 sets of 5 reps) once every two to three weeks (depending on your training schedule).

Workout B -- the lower-body workout -- is also lower in volume than Workout A, which has 7 exercises vs. 5 in A.

If you feel like it's too much after going through it once or twice, try taking an extra day of recovery between workouts. So if you're on a four-days-a-week training schedule, try three until your muscles adjust to the routine.

[Lost Dog]

Good FAQ, Lou.

I'd never want to mess up Alywin's program design, but sometimes supersets can be made easier by shuffling the exercises around a bit. Dragging your dumbbells over to the squat rack, so you do your supersets in one place takes the question out of the minds of those who are waiting.

Obviously, it's hard to do with some combinations, so you have to ask yourself if it's better to do a straight set or shuffle the exercises around to get a superset to work better?

[Mahler]

Good FAQ, Lou.
My sexually ambiguous cousin says thanks.

[RedWifey]

So, I think I am going to stop NROL and wait for your female/sexually ambiguous cousin book...because I REALLY don't want to bulk up!!
Just kiddin'...

I have to say I didn't even know there was a question to ask about the resting thing. But I NOW understand that I was doing it wrong.

Thanks Lou! As soon as I get my knee pain worked out, I am going to start Fat Loss I over. As it stands now, I am doing very little if any of the leg exercises b/c I just can't. Does that sound like a good plan?

[steelerfan]

Lou,

The YMCA where I lift doesn't have a regurlar squat rack or cage. It only has a Smith Machine !

Would hack squats be the best replacement for front squats? I have been doing regular sqauts in the SM, should I do something else for those also?

[Lou Schuler]

As soon as I get my knee pain worked out, I am going to start Fat Loss I over. As it stands now, I am doing very little if any of the leg exercises b/c I just can't. Does that sound like a good plan?

Sure. The lower-body exercises are the real difference-makers in the fat-loss programs. And there's no disputing this: Alwyn knows how to torture fat cells until they surrender ... no "extraordinary rendition" required.

[Lou Schuler]

Originally Posted by steelerfan

The YMCA where I lift doesn't have a regurlar squat rack or cage. It only has a Smith Machine !

Would hack squats be the best replacement for front squats? I have been doing regular sqauts in the SM, should I do something else for those also?

Smith machines are the devil's work.

SM squats are probably better than any back-squat alternatives I can think of.

For front squats, though, here's a better choice than hack squats:

Grab a pair of DBs and clean them to your shoulders so they're perpendicular to the floor, with one end of each resting flat on each of your deltoids. Your upper arms are parallel to the floor, so the posture is much more like it would be for front barbell squat.

This gives you the same challenge to your core muscles and posture you get from the barbell version. If you can't clean weights to your shoulders that are challenging enough, you could ask a trainer or training partner or whoever's available to give you a hand.

[ninja]

Wow. So by doing my squats, and then going to my rows, and then resting 60 seconds, I was doing it wrong? No wonder I flew through the workouts. I wish I knew that today during my last workout B. I about keeled over.

[RedWifey]

Originally Posted by Lou Schuler

Sure. The lower-body exercises are the real difference-makers in the fat-loss programs. And there's no disputing this: Alwyn knows how to torture fat cells until they surrender ... no "extraordinary rendition" required.

Well. I have a whole new category to women's new rules of lifting: pregnant or nursing women. I am learning that relaxin can do CRAZY things to women's ligaments and it's the source of my knee pain, at least according to my PT (I am dialoging with Bill H. to get his perspective).

So, I think for now, I have to chill out on the squats, dl, lunges, etc until I am working on a stable platform. Unless Alywn has some cool way to work around this???

Dying to get back into the book...

Jamie

[baboyako]

another thing: normal tempo is 311, appears late in the book

[Juls]

I can't wait to get this book... I think it is going to be great!!!

[Newbie]

Originally Posted by baboyako

another thing: normal tempo is 311, appears late in the book

Not necessarily. See Lou's quote from another thread on Tempo below:

Originally Posted by Lou Schuler

What I meant with "normal" is that you should lift at what seems like a normal speed for you. I know it came off as if I was saying that 3-1-1 is "normal" for everything, but that's not really what I meant.

Before the book even came out, I got a blistering email from an editor who'd gotten an advance copy and was furious that I'd told him to do sets of 15 lunges at 3-1-1. I agree that would be torture. Hell, I don't think they'd even do that at Guantanamo.

But, for what it's worth, it's not what I meant.
__________________
Lou Schuler, C.S.C.S.

http://www.louschuler.com/

[Juls]

I got the book today... I am loving it... I so need a chnage in my workouts...

[Iceztiq]

Originally Posted by Lou Schuler
What I meant with "normal" is that you should lift at what seems like a normal speed for you. I know it came off as if I was saying that 3-1-1 is "normal" for everything, but that's not really what I meant.

Before the book even came out, I got a blistering email from an editor who'd gotten an advance copy and was furious that I'd told him to do sets of 15 lunges at 3-1-1. I agree that would be torture. Hell, I don't think they'd even do that at Guantanamo.

But, for what it's worth, it's not what I meant.

Thank youu....

YES, it was a killing doing 2x15 with 3-1-1 tempo. I thought the normal tempo was also 311, as stated on page 228 (if i'm not mistaken).. i hurt my shoulders every time i do pushup, & all the lower body exercises were killing me with that 311.

[Lou Schuler]

i hurt my shoulders every time i do pushup

Slower tempos are brutal with pushing exercises. I like to go slower with pulling exercises -- it just feels like it's working the muscles harder -- but I don't think human shoulder joints are designed to push things at a deliberately slow pace.

You might push a max or near-max weight slowly, but that's different; you're trying to push it as fast as you can.

I don't know if it's universal or just me, but my shoulders seem to handle those max-effort lifts better than they do slow presses with less weight.

[Iceztiq]

but, the tempos in the hypertrophy programs are recommended to be followed, right?

[SpacecityPaula]

Originally Posted by Lou Schuler

Alwyn knows how to torture fat cells until they surrender ... no "extraordinary rendition" required.

This has to be the best thing I've read all day

[missjane]

I know this has been asked before, but I just want further clarification on how many times through each workout in FLI and FLII.

On page 193, it states to do 3 workouts a week for 6 weeks, which would be doing 18 workouts -- or 9 times each.

On pages 215 and 218, it states to do each workout 6 times each -- however you want, two, three, or four times a week.

So, which do you really want us to do? Nine times for each workout, or six?