Beginning NROL->Transition from SS

[Horacio9]

Howdy, first post, nice forum, etc.

I've spent the last week reading NROL cover to cover and am set to begin with Break In on Monday. I have spent the last 6 weeks doing Rippetoe's Starting Strength which I liked but I wanted some variety and in my fitness condition, NROL seemed more closely attuned to the work I need.

Essentially, I'm fat. I am somewhat like the 4th example lifter in the book so the programs labeled 'Fat Loss I,II,III' have a certain appeal. I have gain a significant amount of strength from SS but everything there is heavy weight/low rep work. To be more precise, I'm 6' tall and 309 lbs.(down from 336 2 months ago) I am currently experiencing some nasty tendonitis in both knees and a sore butt from where my doctor chewed on it Monday. So...squats are a little tough right now but lunges scare the hell out of me. I'll make it work as best I can.

I tend to think the knee issues originate (aside from the obvious 'you're fat') from the running I was attempting to do so that's been pushed off to the side. I'm cutting my squats a little short with less weight at the moment and I expect I will have to continue that way for a while.

I expect to, for the most part, follow the template of program stacking in the book for the forth lifter but after Break In, I'll probably go with FL I and go from there.

The only really specific question I have is concerning push ups. I'm 309 and my bench max 3x5x185 at the moment so....pushups are not going to be feasible for me just yet. Should I stick to bench until I lose more weight/get stronger?

Anyhow, wish me luck. You'll get sick of me soon enough as I am an insufferable forum troll.

[RacerBill]

Congrats on the weight reduction. Looks like you're on your way.

Can you try the pushups supported on your knees rather than the feet? You can put a yoga pad or rolled towel under your knees for padding to make it more comfortable.

[big mario]

Horatio,
Welcome to NROL. For pushups, start on a diagonal. If you have access to a power cage, or a smith machine for that matter, set a bar a few feet off of the deck and start your pushups there. As you get stronger, you can lower the bar until you can do them off of the floor. Doing your pushups this way activates and strengthens your entire core.
Good luck,
mario

[NACHO]

Yikes! Hopefully your Dr. knows what he is talking about and explained it was the RUNNING and not the squats that is causing your knee problems. Squats done correctly shouldn't be causing knee problems unless you're really overdoing it. Running on the other hand ...

Also, I hate to be the one to tell you, but the programs called Fat Loss do not mean you will lose fat. They are great workout programs but the only thing that will cause fat loss is ingesting less calories than you're utilizing. So the line ... "...say goodbye to your fat" in the book is only accurate if your diet is in line.

Another thing you may have read in the book is the whole "flux capacitor" garbage. The idea that you're going to fire up your metabolism and exercise all those pounds off continuing eating whatever you want is pure crap. (The book doesn't say this but it does suggest you can increase your metabolism .... which is false). EPOC burning up all that fat while you sit around and watch TV after a hard workout is also not going to happen.

I'm not down on the book, I learned a lot from it and many people here have had great results from doing the workouts. I feel compelled to explain a few .... misrepresentations ... the book makes regarding fat loss. (One fat guy to another) Also, I don't know how heavily muscled you are but there is a possibility you will actually lose muscle doing the Fat Loss routines if you do them while eating at a deficit. Doesn't sound like this would be an issue for you.

If you're looking to lose that fat ASAP there are better ways to go about it. If you're not in a hurry then eating at a reasonable deficit and going through NROL is a great plan. I was in a hurry so I went with Lyle Mcdonald's "Rapid Fat Loss". Now I'm doing SS, and perhaps I will go back to NROL in a couple months.

Finally, don't worry about lunges. You'll be able to walk eventually after doing them.

[Horacio9]

Absolutely. I count calories and track my intake religiously and eat at a consistant deficit with fairly well balanced macros. I know that's where weight loss comes from, for the most part. My reasoning behind switching from SS to NROL is I want to give myself all the help I can get. SS is raw, hardcore strength building and really geared for people lighter than I am to build muscle and strength.

Well, I've got a fair bit of muscle and 6 weeks of SS helped with that but I had the feeling that I was going to hit a point where I was riding a thin line behind getting enough fuel to progress and eat at a big enough deficit to continue losing. I sort of felt like I was working at cross purposes a bit.

Essentially, I'm looking for a program more suited to my diet and think I found it in NROL. I don't want to be in the bottom of squats knowing that I'm not getting stronger faster because I'm not eating for gain. I honestly hadn't gotten to that point yet, I was progressing on track according to SS but I was aware of the possibility.

I will do SS again at some point, but when I do, I want to be in a position to fuel it properly, not trying to plsit the difference and lose weight while trying to get stronger all at once.

And there's something to be said for simple conditioning. I have a lot of mucsle. Lou mentions it in NROL, when you gain weight, a certain portion of it is muscle regardless of what you're doing. I may not have gained any lean muscle mass, just adapted to lifting more with what I had. /shrug. Irrelevant, mostly, I suppose.

I'm pretty certain the running is what messed with my knees so that's been thrown out for now but stopping doesdn't make the condition cease immediately and it is effecting squats. But, its getting better with rest. Overweight + Running + Heavy squats with perhaps some form issues = a mess. Did the soreness from running cause some favoring and then form issues? Maybe. I know having an epic beer gut physically pushes the knees out at the bottom of a deep squat so that played a role.

In any case, I can still do them and do them right. I may not be on track to get 300 down for work sets but that's not a primary concern for now.

So, in the end, I read ya. I'm on board with the concept of diet being the prime factor in fat loss. My reasons for going to NROL from SS are for a program that better supports my diet.

I did check out McDonald's RFL a few weeks ago. I'm just...I dunno, I'm tempted to do something like that but I'm happy with the slow and steady nature of what I've done so far and am thinking with the switch, I'll be giving myself a little more boost to peel the weight off. Still, its worth thinking about.