modifying workout schedule

[bdasko]

Hello everyone I'm in the process of getting ready to start NROLFW, hopefully next week if the planets align right.

My question is this - my work schedule allows me for a fabulous workout time every morning except 1 week per month. During that week, it's going to be very difficult to get to the gym at all.

The other side of it is that I have a lot of fat to lose - I am overweight, have lost approx. 50lbs since September doing mostly weight lifting and a bit of running. I currently weigh 212 and hope to get down to 145, though it's pretty arbitrary since I don't even own a scale and will go more by how I look and fit in my clothes than anything else.

I know NROLWF is not intended to be a fat loss program and I know that most people really end up needing to eat a lot so I'm anticipating it to be fairly difficult to maintain a deficit. I do have a GoWear Fit so I know I'll at least be able to accurately count my cals.

I have a 2-part question, sort of. I'm considering doing some HIIT intervals at home on my off-days, now that I have a treadmill at home. Not sure if that will be "too much" but I will probably play that one by ear. My main concern is that while I know HIIT will help a ton with fat loss, it might make me lose some intensity in my workouts. Also, I'd end up doing stuff 5 days/week for 3 weeks at a time and then a full week off.

Is this a bad plan? I don't really know enough about recovery, etc. to know if this will even work or not. I know a lot of people who have lost weight on the program but a lot more who have not. Granted, I definitely want the lovely muscles... but I'd really rather not deal with the bulk (fat bulk, not muscle bulk) so my logic tells me that the HIIT will just help me get rid of the fat. The main thing is that I'm afraid it would be counterproductive. Keeping in mind, of course, I would keep a very rigid schedule - MWF would be lifting days and then TTh would be HIIT days with Sat and Sun off. And then of course, the full week's rest every 4 weeks (maybe some light stuff, but won't be able to go to the gym).

So... thoughts?

[missjane]

Getting your diet dialed in will help even more with fat loss than the extra HIIT (which may leave you so worn out that, in conjunction with the NROL4W workout and prescribed HITT in some stages, you are eating more than normal).

I'm not sure how to answer the question regarding a week off every 4 weeks....

[bdasko]

OK so as far as diet dialed in, are you talking about a deficit? I could probably do a small deficit, but I'd been running a 500-1000 cal deficit and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do that when doing this program. Of course, that's just from what I read.

As far as what I eat, I do eat pretty healthy. I eat lots of raw veggies and fruit, mostly whole grains, I don't like processed food. I do eat some not-as-healthy stuff on occasion but for the most part I'm pretty good. The main problem with my diet is that my hubby cooks dinner and then oftentimes it's not as healthy (mac & cheese or something like that). We're actually working on that because I want to increase my protein so I think we're going to try having separate foods for dinner so I just make my own, mainly because he doesn't like my lean protein sources and I don't like his

So I wonder if the HIIT on days off wears me out too much, maybe I could just do a higher deficit on those days. I guess that will be one I play by ear.

[hazeldazel]

don't do the HIIT intervals on your day off. I do some light cardio on my days off (walking on treadmill set to 1.5 incline, 2.5 mph) for about 30 minutes and I get wiped out so I've backed off to just a once or twice a week.

I would also recommend as someone who weighs 217 to just try the maintenance amount of calories per the book for a week or two. I'm betting that you'll find (like I did) that you'll still drop a few pounds. I'm at 2100 wo days/1800 non-wo days and I've lost 3 pounds since starting June 1st. On non-workout days where I do the cardio I've had to up my calories to almost 2000 or I start feeling really depleted. You can always drop the calories later if the weight plateaus.

Good luck with the new program, there are a bunch of us that just started so welcome! I'm really interested to see your before and after GoWear Fit daily calories, out of curiosity.

[bdasko]

hazel - I'm also very interested in the before/after calorie burn. Right now I run between 2200-2300 with a sedentary office job. On the weekends it's closer to 2500 with yardwork and kid chasing and whatnot. The other part is that I just did a "mostly" weaning for my 10 month old but we'll still be nursing in the mornings sometimes and on the weekends, and the GWF doesn't track those calories so that will also most likely create a small deficit.

So the general concensus so far (with 2 people hehe) is the HIIT would be too much. That's kinda what I thought. I was just hoping that with a rest week every couple weeks it might be a difference but who knows. Although, since I now have a treadmill, maybe instead of a rest week I could just to HIIT from home those days, which is doable, I just can't make it to the gym those days. That almost sounds like a better plan instead of skipping weeks.

[wonderwoman]

Hi Bdasko,

I must agree with the others. You will feel quite winded if you do cardio twice in between your workout days. No workout plan is cookie cutter so I'd try this out for a few weeks and then check your progress. I started Jillian Michaels program once and saw no weight loss and had swollen ankles (from all the jumping...yikes). I switched to a bodybuilder workout and the weight started coming off. The bodybuilding one had me lifting 4 days a week with 3 cardio days, but I was working smaller parts of my body, unlike this program where we work the WHOLE ENCHILADA!

Try it on for size and see how it works. No weight loss...adjust calorie intake (but not alot). Trouble with your work schedule....well, I know you mentioned you could do HIIT on those work weeks. I'd suggest in taking the time to do the workouts in the book at home (but you won't have weights) or go for some old-fashioned bodyweight exercises.

I like card PT. Grab a deck of cards...assign each symbol an exercise...shuffle deck...and whatever number comes up, you do that amount of each set. You could do that for 15 minutes and be done lickity split without taking the entire week off. I hope this helps. Please keep us posted. I just started NROLFW myself.

[Melly]

I like the idea of HIIT or other cardio on your week off of weight lifting. I've had to take time off now and then and I usually come back stronger. Give it a try and you can always alter it if it's not working!

[wonderwoman]

I just finished reading Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn and guess what....their calorie consumption is in a deficit all the time. Workouts look somewhat similar to ours. And they start HIIT on day one.

I will tell you, it is quite intense and you can see how people will have results on the program. The goal of this program is fat loss. You can build muscle but the name of the program is "Extreme Fat Loss Training". The schedule is exactly like ours too. I would totally recommend people buy the course. I am considering adjusting the nutrition portion to fit his. If someone has completed NROLFW already, this would be a great next phase. If you just started, it is quite similar that if you made the adjustments, it would not be too huge of a difference. But the differences are pretty hardcore. NROLFW is a perfect intro to this. But I've heard others mention they have lifted before so this may be a good start.

A great investment. His website is alwyncosgrove.com.