I have a question. Can the New Rules be used for bodybuilders?
The reason I ask is I am watching a handful of competing bodybuilders while they workout. Seems much different than what this books dictates. For example, they separate body groups (back/bis, legs, chest/tris), and they lift so heavy, to the point of failure and even poor form. One guy squats all the way to the floor, way past the 90 degree knee angle rule. Is this safe or even effective?
I must admit,they look great as far as their physique and bodyfat, but my gut tells me the New Rules is a way better program. But can it work for bodybuilding?
who's the prospective body builder, you? Are you thinking of competition?
I think you could put on quite a bit of mass with NROL and the emphasis on compound movements before you get to the point of spending 2+ hrs/day 5+ days/week doing body part splits getting ready for competition.
I know the book says to go to parallel on squats, but I think we discussed that earlier and decided it was mostly because most people wouldn't be flexible enough initially to go all the way. I can, though, so I always have.
As for bodybuilding, no, NROLFW isn't a bodybuilding-type program. Usually with those, they concentrate on a few muscles at a time (splits), as you noticed, and often spend a lot of time on smaller muscles to specifically build them up. They're trying to make certain muscles grow relative to each other so that they get the overall body shape that they want. And yeah, you'll see a lot with poor form, sometimes because they're trying to target a muscle in a different direction (and sometimes just because they don't know). Part of their "look", too, is low body fat, which makes the muscles stand out more.
NROLFW, on the other hand, is a full-body strength program. Now, after you do NROLFW, and all your major muscles are stronger, then you could consider doing a bodybuilding-type program.
As Lou points out in NROLW, form follows function. Unless you're putting in hours and hours of lifting each day, you're probably doing a watered-down version of body-building if you do lots of isolative single-muscle movements... NROLW is functional - it applies to real-life movements and strength... but as form will follow this function, you also can get great muscle and a ripped body from it (combined with proper diet, of course).
Thanks. No I dont want to bodybuild right now, who's got time for that with an 8 month old baby, plus I already teach Bodypump and spinning and soon yoga. But I do want to lose bodyfat and look lean and almost ripped....and I know diet is 90% of the results.
Thanks. No I dont want to bodybuild right now, who's got time for that with an 8 month old baby, plus I already teach Bodypump and spinning and soon yoga. But I do want to lose bodyfat and look lean and almost ripped....and I know diet is 90% of the results.
I'd say NROLW is probably going to be good for what you want... there's lots of good programs out there, especially if you know that diet is a large part of it
New Rules and bodybuilding
Linear Mode
