I was browsing through a copy of NROL yesterday at the bookstore; it looked really good and backed up a lot of other knowledge about lifting that I've accumulated here and there over the years.
One question I had was I didn't see any calf exercises such as calf raises, etc. Did I miss this or are the calves sufficiently exercised through other exercises that are already in the workout plan?
FYI I've been lifting on and off again for several years but haven't been able to make progress past a certain point so I'm interested in picking up a copy of the book and seeing if the program works for me. Are there any others out there who've found good success by trying any or all of these programs?
There's plenty of people who've run through the program. Check in the logs section. Stingo has. I think Mahler has. And many, many others.
Since NR isn't really about bodypart splits, you're not usually gonna see isolation work like calf raises in there, for the most part. I think most of that kind of stuff that's in there is to keep people who really really think they need it happy. Read the book. And yes, your calves will be sufficiently worked out.
FYI I've been lifting on and off again for several years but haven't been able to make progress past a certain point so I'm interested in picking up a copy of the book and seeing if the program works for me. Are there any others out there who've found good success by trying any or all of these programs?
If your progress has been stuck, NROL is the prescription you need. You'll see progress in the Break-in, and in all of the specific programs. Just pick those that fit your goal.
Do it - you won't regret it - no better value for $12 (or whatever price)!
And yes, the programs work. Take it from someone who has done the whole book!
First of all, thanks hunter and aiofe for the advice, much appreciated. And thank you for recommending the book.
I tried workout A of the break-in program yesterday. I have never felt a greater disparity between how easy a program looked on paper and how ridiculously hard it was to actually do it. That workout totally kicked my ass - especially the lunges. I don't think I've ever done lunges before and I was having serious problems completing them even with just the bar.
That said, I'm really excited to continue the program and see how it goes. If you time to help me out with three more questions, that would be much appreciated.
1. NROL makes clear how long I should wait in between sets, and in between supersets, but how long should I wait in between different exericises (say between squats and lunges in break-in workout A)?
2. Although Lou suggested in his FAQ that we shouldn't use the 3-1-1 tempo for 15 reps of lunges, I was using a 3-1-1 tempo for the 2X15 set of squats. Perhaps this contributed to how difficult I found the workout. Is using a 3-1-1 tempo just too much when I'm doing an exercise that requires so many reps? Or should I just see how things feel and do what feels appropriate?
3. I think the workout was so intense that by the end I was feeling somewhat nautious. Is this normal? Did I eat too much or not enough perhaps before working out?
1. your rest time is for after the exercise. So, if you have x seconds between squats, it'd be the same x seconds before lunches after squats, ifn ya take my meanin.
2. i doubt it'd hurt ya, but usually for lunges it's easier with a more natural movement time.
3. nausea is sometimes a problem for people. Haven't heard of it for breakin, but *shrug* Try modifying what/when you eat before hand. It's prolly not a matter of too little but perhaps too much or too soon. A meal an hour before or a snack 30 min before might work. You may have to play with that. I donno, I don't have the problem personally, so I've never had to see what might work.
I think most of us looked at the break in workout and thought it would be a piece of cake and then felt like heaving at the end. I think Aoife answered your questions quite nicely.
Definitely Pman, I'm still in a half-shock from what I expected and what I actually wound up doing
Thanks Aoife for your responses. So just to be absolutely positive on the time issue (although I think I understood you clearly), you're saying that if there's a 60 second rest time between the two sets of squats, this is also the amount of rest (60 seconds) that I should take between the second set of squats and first set of lunges? And correspondingly, if there's a sixty second rest time between the two exercises in the first superset (lunges and two pt dumbbell press), I should also take the same rest time (60 seconds) between completing this superset and beginning the first exercise in the following superset (pushups)?
^^ yes, unless explicitly told something different (e.g. some routines you have supersets with no rest, but you would take a rest before starting the next set of exercises not do the whole routine withoutrest)
Yes. You should be reading it as this exercise, followed by this rest. So, squat then 60 seconds rest. Regardless of whether you do more squats next or move onto lunges or something else.
So if you're doing something with no rests, it'd be exercise, no rest, other exercise, rest, exercise, no rest, other exercise, rest, and then whatever happens next.
so here: (fatloss 3A)
on your last turn at the giant set would be:
would be deadlift, no rest, push up, no rest, bss, no rest, row, rest, then on to deadlift off box, no rest, bench, no rest…
Thanks guys, that cleared things up immensely, much appreciated.
I did break-in workout B on Saturday. Still extremely challenging but definitely more manageable than workout A (I think I just prefer deadlifts to squats and lunges). Nonetheless, doing 15 reps of deadlifts at 3-1-1 followed by step-ups, and 15 reps of squats at 3-1-1 followed by lunges, is brutal .
Calves/testimonials?
Linear Mode
