I'm a 38yr old guy, married with 3 kids that sits behind a desk all day. Back in Nov 2008 I was 235lbs with a 38" waist and at only 5'9" I was obviously pretty overweight, in fact that's the heaviest I've ever been in my life. I decided enough was enough.
I started cutting carbs and watching what I ate a little closer. By Feb I had lost 20lbs of fat by diet alone and gone down to a 34" waist. I also realized at that time that I needed to get exercising again, so I put the smith machine back up (it had been in storage for the past 2 years) and started doing a few exercises. I quickly realized that I had no idea what I was doing, so I asked one of my colleagues at work for some advice. He just told me to buy New Rules.
I found these forums after searching for a new rules forum and wanting more info about how other people were using it and progressing. After seeing some of the positive reviews and results others were having I decided to give it a go.
So far I have one more workout to go and I will have completed my break-in series.
My logs are as follows:
Week1: A
Squat: 2x15:130lbs
Static Lunge: 2x15:90lbs
2point Dumbbell Row: 2x15:70lbs (I did a cable row because I didn't have any dumbbells yet)
Pushups: 2x20
Swiss Ball Crunch: 2x20 (situps because I don't have a swiss ball)
Week1: B
Deadlift: 2x15:160lbs
Stepups: 2x15:45lbs
1arm shoulder press: 2x15:20lbs (used the smith machine)
Close grip pull down: 2x15:70lbs
Reverse crunch: 2x20
--
Week2: A
Squat: 2x15:140lbs
Static Lunge: 2x15:90lbs
2point Dumbbell Row: 2x15:70lbs (cable rows again, still no dumbbells)
Pushups: 2x25
Swiss Ball Crunch: 1x20, 1x30 (situps because I don't have a swiss ball)
Week2: B
Deadlift: 2x15:170lbs
Stepups: 1x15:40lbs, 1x15:50lbs
1arm shoulder press: 1x15:20lbs, 1x15:25lbs (used the smith machine)
Close grip pull down: 2x15:80lbs
Reverse crunch: 2x20
--
Bowflex 90lb dumbbells arrived - yay!
Week3: A
Squat: 2x15:160lbs
Static Lunge: 2x15:110lbs
2point Dumbbell Row: 2x15:40lbs
Pushups: 1x30, 1x20
Swiss Ball Crunch: 1x40, 1x30 (situps because I don't have a swiss ball)
Week3: B
Deadlift: 2x15:180lbs
Stepups: 1x15:40lbs, 1x15:40lbs
1arm shoulder press: 1x15:25lbs, 1x15:30lbs (used the smith machine)
Close grip pull down: 1x15:90lbs, 1x15:110lbs
Reverse crunch: 1x21, 1x24
--
Week4: A
Squat: 2x15:180lbs
Static Lunge: 2x15:110lbs
2point Dumbbell Row: 1x15:30lbs, 1x15:40lbs
Pushups: 1x27, 1x25
Swiss Ball Crunch: 1x60, 1x40 (situps because I don't have a swiss ball)
Tomorrow I will do the B workout and I'll be done for a week, this is what I plan on doing:
Week4: B
Deadlift: 2x15:180lbs
Stepups: 1x15:45lbs, 1x15:45lbs
1arm shoulder press: 1x15:25lbs, 1x15:30lbs
Close grip pull down: 2x15:110lbs
Reverse crunch: 2x?
On the reverse crunches, I'll just do two sets until failure.
As per the book, I've been biasing my diet towards more protein and have started taking multi vit, flax seed oil pills and doing the whey shakes with 2% milk. After the first couple of workouts I lost another 5 lbs, but then I started gaining weight, and am back up to 220lbs (36" waist). I'm not particularly worried about it right now because during my week off, I plan on looking at my diet a little closer. I also realized that I must not use the bathroom scales as a primary measure of how I'm doing, I need to monitor body fat %, which I think is a better progress indicator. I got a tape and some electronic pinchers which work out the % for me - before I started working out I was at 19% BF. After my week off I'm going to pinch myself again and see what I am before I start Fat Loss 1.
Thanks for reading and thanks to all that are sharing your training logs, they're quite motivating.
I'm finding that I need to improve my grip as I'm struggling holding 2 45lb dumbbells and also on the close grip lat pull downs. I guess my forearms will develop over time.
I feel really good about having completed the break-in.
I did 5 mins on the elliptical then started NROL Fat Loss 1 tonight. Since I took a week off, I didn't know what kinda shape my body would be in, so I started my weights at approx week 3 of the break-in, especially since this also calls for 3 sets instead of 2 previously. Here's are stats for tonight:
Squat: 3x15@160lbs
Cable Seated Row: 1x15@70lbs, 1x15@90lbs, 1x15@100lbs
Supine Hip Extension: 3x20
Dumbbell Push Press: 3x15@30lbs
Rotational Lunge: 3x15@60lbs (30lbs in each hand)
Swiss Ball Crunch: 3x15
I found the supine hip extensions and the swiss ball crunches kinda easy. Next time should I just increase the reps per set? What about doing the crunches holding a plate on my chest?
I found my grip was the weak link in the rotational lunges. Since the muscles in my forearms are much smaller than in my legs, I'm assuming that my grip will never catch up to my legs. i.e. I won't be able to max out my legs with this exercise as my grip will always give way before my legs. I guess I could do the rotational lunges with a barbell?
Workout 2 (Tuesday night) was terrible, as I got a bad headache part way through the deadlifts. I got through the dumbbell incline bench presses but had to stop. I didn't want to break myself or pass out or something. I did manage 3x15@220lbs deadlifts and 2x15@45lbs, 1x15@40lbs dumbbell incline benchpress.
So after that failed workout and reading here a little about bonking, I decided to switch to a morning workout. Thursday I got up at 6am, had 2 poached eggs, 2 slices of toast and a shake, checked email, weather etc for 40 mins, then worked out. I felt much better and only felt a small headache after squats, but then went away. I think next morning workout I'm going to drink a pint of water as well as the shake and see if that helps.
Squat: 2x15@200lbs, 1x15@180lbs
Cable seated row: 1x15@70lbs, 2x15@90lbs
Supine hip extension: 3x20 (I need to figure out a way to make these harder)
Dumbbell push press: 1x15@30lbs, 2x15@35lbs
Rotational lunge: 3x15@30lbs in each hand
Swiss ball crunch: 1x30, 2x20 holding a 25lb plate over my head
Squat: 3x12@200lbs
Cable seated row: 3x15@110lbs
Supine hip extension: 3x30 (held final position for 2 seconds at the end of each rep)
Dumbbell push press: 1x12@35lbs, 2x12@40lbs
Rotational lunge: 3x12@35lbs in each hand
Swiss ball crunch: 3x20 holding a 25lb plate over my head
Tried to work out this morning and sprung an injury in my back doing squats. My 11yr old daughter came downstairs to talk to me as I was on rep 8. I ignored her until I had completed the set, then as I was standing there with the weight still on, I said "hey" and then I felt it happen. I put the weight back on the rack and finished the conversation. Gosh, I was doing so well until then. I was comfortably squatting my highest weight so far. I should have put the weight back on the rack first before talking.
So this was all I did before I pulled the muscle.
Squat: 2x12@220lbs
Two handed seated cable row: 1x12@120lbs
Take it easy for a while! I sprung a muscle in my back doing deadlifts last week. I'm lifting light and tennis ball rolling the sore spots until I feel up to speed again.
My boyfriend just started NROL too. The break-in fase is teaching him not to overestimate himself. He found out that what he can lift for 15 reps is nothing like what he can lift for 8. It's a good start, I think!
I'd never heard of tennis ball rolling before until I started to read the injury forum, I guess I'll stop by Dicks tomorrow and pick up a tube.
I started light during the breakin and slowly made my way up to make sure that I didn't injure myself. Of course that backfired with a silly mistake.
On the mornings when I work out I eat 2 poached eggs, 2 slices of wholewheat toast, 1 pint of water, a mug of coffee and 1/2 protein shake 40 mins before I work out. Then I have a full protein shake after, get a shower and head to work.
My diet is kinda adhoc, but I did use fitday.com for a couple of days to get an idea of the macronutrients of foods I usually eat. I found that I was eating way too many carbs and not enough protein. I'm a lot more conscious of that now and try to be a lot more careful, although I'm not at the stage where I'm measuring everything out.
The calculations according to the NROL diet guide says I need ~3k calories/day for maintenance and 220g protein/day. Some days I'm a bit under, sometimes a bit over. I'm not that worried about it. I want the diet change and workouts to be part of my new lifestyle. I'm in no hurry to change my body, it will just change and adapt to the shape it wants to be to fit my new lifestyle, as it did previously.
I do want to loose body fat and increase muscle mass, but I'm not watching the scale every day and have no pant size goals.
I don't know how to quantify "how many", but this week two of dinners have been chicken wraps with a mix of light and dark lettuce. I usually try to incorporate some veggies into my lunch and dinner, but I don't usually have any for breakfast.
Well I stopped posting for a bit and training got a bit erratic, what with work and family matters, but I got back on track again and tonight I started the hypertrophy 1 workout. I really enjoyed it as it made a nice change, to start lifting some heavy weights with short sets. I'm probably going to have muscle pain for the next 3 days
Just one question though. I noticed that on workout B there are stepups. My right ankle is still weak from a nasty roll last year and I remember it twinging a little during the breakin. Is there something else I can substitute for the step ups? Lunges (which don't hurt my ankle) perhaps?
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