Hi, This is my first post here. I've been following this forum for a few weeks. I bought NROL through reccomendations made be members of the Mens Health forum. Here is my story and my thoughts of NROL so far.
I started running regularly after my son was born in May of 2008. At that time I weighed about 235lbs and my body fat was probably 30%. I lost most of my weight through running and diet revisions over the next year. Fast forward to August 4 of this year and I weighed 194lbs and moved into weight training, where I have now found myself a NROL addict. I enjoyed the book and I'm really engaged by the concept of full body, human motion workouts. I am enjoying it and seeing pretty good progress.
Break In
After the first time I did A as well as after B I was absolutely dead. I didn't puke or anything but I can't remember being that exhausted from such a short workout. The 60 second rest periods really surprised me in how difficult they make the workouts. I was thinking that i was taking that kind of rest before but I had usually done 10 reps.
Another memorable part of the break in was lunges. I have never done these in my life and man what an experience. These are the most difficult excercise that I do. I hate them while I am doing them but i think they are doing wonders for my legs and I love that something so basic is so tough.
I saw pretty good improvements from the start of the break in to the finish. I can now drop and do 15 perfect push ups without much trouble whereas the first time I attempted that part of A I really struggled. I'm still only squating 115lbs because I am really trying to get my forum to the point where I have no doubt that I am going to parallel every time and my forum is good. To finish the program I deadlifted 145lbs x 15. I moved up in weight nicely in each excercise, lost 1 inch off my waist and lost 4lbs.
Fat Loss I
After my week off I started FLI today. It went well. The largest hurdle was trying to remember everything and coordinating my way through the gym with the alternating sets. The rotational lunges were tough but I did all the reps holding a 10lb plate, which is a good start for me as I was having a quad issue on my back leg during break in. I actually added weight to the crunches and I like others, found that the supine hip extension seemed too easy.....any thoughts here?
Overall it has been a great experience and it makes me look forward to going to the gym and keeps things interesting. Most of all I look forward to getting results. My main goal now is to get my body fat down as far as possible, hopefully sub 15%. Later on I will focus on building muscle. I want to build a body to be proud of, show a 6pack, and run a 20 minute 5K.
I look forward to adding to any of the discussion that goes on here...
I like others, found that the supine hip extension seemed too easy.....any thoughts here?
are these the SHELC - supine hip ext leg curl using the ball?
If so:
Check your technique that you are doing
something more like this (with the big bridge motion)
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Welcome aboard! I paralleled your weight loss story a few years back. Running a dieting to start, followed by lifting and diet. 7 years later, I'm happily still going strong. Enjoy it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaS
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I think you can only delete a post, but not a thread. I deleted the duplicate.
It is not the leg curl type. It is just the supine hip extension. Page 115 in the NROL book. I thought my form was good and I made sure that I didn't let my hips touch the floor after each rep. It just seemed pretty simple and I didn't really feel any challenge on any muscles.
It is not the leg curl type. It is just the supine hip extension. Page 115 in the NROL book. I thought my form was good and I made sure that I didn't let my hips touch the floor after each rep. It just seemed pretty simple and I didn't really feel any challenge on any muscles.
I felt the same way about supine hip extensions. To make it more challenging, don't let your calves touch the ball. Just use the heels of your feet. Even then, I found it quite easy.
When you get to Fat-Loss 2, you'll do it with a leg curl, which makes it an amazing exercise. You could always do it with leg curl in FL1.
Welcome, redwine. I had similar experiences when starting NROL. I was a triathlete, mountain biker, and marathoner for years, but new to lifting with free weights. I also found the lunges pretty tough. I started just using the 45 lb bar and still had balance problems, and I could really feel my core muscles working to maintain my balance.
I also went from Break-in to FLI. Then I did FLII, then Strength I, which I should finish today. After a week or 2 break I plan to start FLIII.
I haven't lost any weight, even though I have made some significant changes to my diet, but I have gained strength, so I'll take whatever positive I can get.
It is not the leg curl type. It is just the supine hip extension. Page 115 in the NROL book. I thought my form was good and I made sure that I didn't let my hips touch the floor after each rep. It just seemed pretty simple and I didn't really feel any challenge on any muscles.
Thanks for taking care of that double post...
I had a similar experience with these, but one thing I found that makes them more challenging is to just slow them way down. Be very deliberate about the upward motion and focus on sqeezing your glutes at the top. Doing that worked well for me.
Someone mentioned it above, but wait for these coupled with leg curls. They're probably one of my favorite exercises so far. I *really* felt it in my hamstrings when I did them.
Thanks for all the input on the SHE. I will certainly try some of these suggestions next time I do A. Specifically making sure my feet are directly on the top center of the ball and slowing down may add to the move for me.fficeffice" />
So, I am experiencing serious DOMS today from the waist down, must have been some combination of the lunges, squats, and the SHE. I am surprised how sore I am actually. You would think I would be used to these moves from the break-in. So much for doing anything two days in a row.
The one excercise that stands out is the Bulgarian Split Squats. I used zero weight for these, just hoping to complete them. First set = 15&15, second set = 15&10, and third set 10&10. I think I saw the devil towards the end of the second set.
Didn't know how far to space my hands apart for the lat pulldowns with the mixed grip. I just went with roughly shoulder width or a little wider since the book seemed to hint at that as the default width when not mentioned.
Overall I found B much tougher than A for some reason. The last alternating set I felt like I was running on fumes. Felt great to finish. I am confident that I'll be able to raise most of the weight next time and hopefully master the BSS at BW.
You can hear Alwyn's evil laugh more in the B workouts than the A workouts
Yeah, I found that to be the case with FL II and HYP I as well. I just did my first HYP I B yesterday and now this morning I'm cursing my decision to buy a 3 level townhouse. I think my legs were rubber when I left the gym yesterday.
I never got beyond bodyweight for BSS and still maxed out at around 12 reps, even after completing FLI, FLII, and StrengthI, so don't feel bad. In Strength 1 you do BSS as part of a superset with step-ups, and that's after 6 sets of squats, so that was pretty tough for me. In FLII the BSS w/overhead press & chin-up superset left me totally winded and drenched with sweat. I did the chin-ups assisted and the BSS with just bodyweight, but it still wiped me out. Good stuff!
I think following a program approach like this is good for mental toughness as well. I have a strong urge to complete every last rep and I rarely come up short as I did with the BSS. The structure provides motivation to meet the program directives. Especially when only BW is involved. Physical and mental tests....good for applying to other life situations...
I think following a program approach like this is good for mental toughness as well. I have a strong urge to complete every last rep and I rarely come up short as I did with the BSS. The structure provides motivation to meet the program directives. Especially when only BW is involved. Physical and mental tests....good for applying to other life situations...
Yep. I used to do a lot of triathlons, marathons, and mountain bike racing, so I already had pretty good mental toughness, but I never knew I could get my heart rate up that high doing weight training. I think that's why I prefer the shorter rest periods of the FL programs to the long rest periods in the Strength programs.
IMO its not even close in FLI, the B workout is an absolute killer.
While A is an excellent workout, once I get to about the 2nd set of BSS, the legs are feeling like absolute jelly. I'm generall so wiped out at the end that while I don't need a spotter during the excercises, I need some help re-racking the 135 lbs. from the Romanian deadlifts.
Ok, I'm going to use this thread as my little journal....
Update:
So on my second crack at workout B in FL I I actually completed all 45 reps on each leg of the Bulgarians! I also increased my weight on the deads (135 lbs), romanian deads (80 lbs) and lat pulldowns (90 lbs). I still used only 25lbs x 2 on the dumbell bench.
Hello & My Impression of NROL So Far
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