One more thing...(for now- LOL)

[Onedayatatime]

And can someone please tell me what "do each workout four times" on page 143 means??
because in my brain this means that I would be doing 8 sets of each exercise and that cannot be right.

[Aoife]

No, do each workout... Not each set. You would do "Workout A" or whatever, 4 times before moving on to the next group of workouts.

I don't have my copy yet, but for instance...
In New Rules there's break-in, A and B. If you do each workout 4 times, you would do something like...
Day 1 Workout A
Day 2 rest
Day 3 Workout B
Day 4 rest
Day 5 Workout A
Day 6 rest
Day 7 Workout B
Day 8 rest
Day 9 Workout A
Day 10 rest
Day 11 Workout B
Day 12 rest
Day 13 Workout A
Day 14 rest
Day 15 Workout B
Day 16 rest

4 workouts of each.
Then, you'd move onto Hypertrophy, or Fatloss, or some other section of the book, and a new sets of workouts.

[Cynic]

Keep in mind Oneday, a workout is a session per day. That means, "each workout four times" means four days of it. However, if Alwyn designed the NROL4W workouts in a similar vein as NROL, you're alternating ABABABA...

However, give yourself a day of rest between workouts, as always, unless stated otherwise.

Hope this helps.

[Victoria]

On a 3-workouts-per-week schedule, it might look something like this:

Mon-Wk A, Wed-Wk B, Fri-Wk A
Mon-Wk B, Wed-Wk A, Fri-Wk B
Mon-Wk A, Wed-Wk B

Therefore, Workout A and Workout B are each done a total of four times during the 3-week timeframe. Does that make sense?

Aoife, you beat me to it!!!

[Onedayatatime]

Ok so that's where my confusion was I thought that each stage was 4 weeks (a whole month) not 3.
Thank you! Sorry I am just a total retard

This part of the book for me is a real challenge I feel like it was an easy read up until now.

Thank you!!!

[LisaS]

I don't have NROL4W yet but do have NROL. If the workouts are designed in an A/B fashion and 4 sessions of each is prescribed - then you set up your workout pattern of days and alternate A and B until you have done each 4 times (8 sessions total).

While 3x per week might be optimal and an easy schedule, not everyone can do that all of the time and so the books tell you how many sessions in total to do and let you spread that out over how often you can workout.

If you weight train 4 days a week, this will take 2 weeks to do A four times and B four times; if you train 2 days a week this will take 4 weeks; if you train 3 times a week it will take 2 and 2/3 weeks. Take that last Friday off

It may be that for me, my goal is 3x a week but in reality it goes like:
MWF WSa TuTh Su before I get 4 sessions of each completed. The point is, you don't do the program for a set number of weeks, you do it until you complete the prescribed number of sessions. But don't over think it.

[Cynic]

Originally Posted by Onedayatatime

Thank you! Sorry I am just a total retard

Inexperience does not equal stupidity.

[Onedayatatime]

Originally Posted by Cynic

Inexperience does not equal stupidity.

Thank you

[Jo'mamma]

Oneday, I was so relieved to read your posts, I too am a beginner and find the schedules very confusing and thought I was the only one. I've got to sit down with the schedules and the answers to your posts and try to get it straight

[Aoife]

Everyone was a beginner at some point.

[Lisa~]

Lou clarifies these issues in Chapter 10. Now that you've gotten to the actual programs, a thorough reread of Chapter 10 should clear up any confusion that arises when you're looking at the workout charts. If anything is still unclear, ask away.

Stage 1 (the break-in program) takes six weeks to complete if you train three times per week (which he recommends).

Stages 2, 3, 4, and 5 take three weeks each (training three times per week).

When to rest, how to alternate the sets, and how to chose an appropriate load are also covered. It's a chapter with a lot of information, especially if you're new to training.