"The New Rules of Lifting for Women" - Q about Workout Program

[LDiS]

Hey all - new here.

I am not a fitness newbie but I wanted a more structured weight training plan to gain muscle and strength. Have done weight training on and off for a few years but never stuck with it very long to see major results. A former "cardio queen".. ugh.

I just bought the book the "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" and I started doing the program - from the beginning just slightly modified since I'm not a complete beginner.

Right now I am currently on the 3 set/10 rep Workout in the first stage. This alternates between two workouts - A and B. I warm up with 10 min. on the elliptical and cool down with 10 usually.

So the plan is essentially - 3 days weight training - two with workout A and one with B a week.

Mon - Workout A
Tues - Off
Wed - Workout B
Thurs. - Off
Fri - Workout A
Sat/Sun - Off

I vary activities on the "off" days - I do HIT cardio on the days two days in between with some abs, hiking on the weekend. Usually just taking Sunday as a complete rest day.

My question is are the workouts hard enough (not in how much weight I'm doing)? I feel like I should be doing more exercises in the workouts.

Workout A:
Squats

Alternating Sets: Push-up + Seated Row

Alternating Sets: Step-up + Prone jackknife

Workout B:
Deadlift

Alternating Sets: Dumbbell Shoulder Press + Wide Grip Lat Pulldown

Alternating Sets: Lunge + Swiss ball crunch

For workout A I did incline bench press instead of push-ups and barbell rows instead of lat pulldown and added abs reps. and added dumbbell curls and skull crushers.

I'm just not sure... any feedback/comments would be appreciated.

Lauren

[sexyargentina]

I am doing the same program. And I feel the same. According to the book, they are compose exercises and you don't need to do biceps curl to work arms. I read about the program, people that finished and they said the it works really good. I see results all ready: more muscle, better legs and derri?re. But also, I am working on my metabolism. I can't say I am leaner, but that is because of the diet (I am trying to fix my metabolism: too many years on low diets).

I hope that somebody else can comment about the program...

[LDiS]

I'm glad you responded. I know it says that no bicep curls are needed but when I look at the programs where people are doing body part training rather than full body/half body workouts doing 3-4 workouts for each specific body part and comparing that type of workout to this one - it makes me wonder..

Anybody...?

[Lckymii]

I did the entire program in this book and saw great results with it.
To answer your question about all of the training methods you see that aren't present in this book:
Everyone is doing something different on here. Some people are prepping for comps, others are working on symmetery or size. So you can't compare this program to what others are doing. This program is more of a base line. It is getting your muscles ready for any future adventures you may have in store for them.
So if you complete this program and notice that hey you want larger arms, well then your next program will probably reflect that. And you probably won't get the same large arm results from the programs in this book as what you will from a more arm concentrated program elsewhere.
From the sounds of it though, this is a great place for you to start from. You are still a bit of a newb and I am sure you will see awesome gains from this book

[LDiS]

Thanks - I'm definitely going to stick with it.. You look like you made great progress.

Your right - people are training for different things, different goals, etc..

Would it be so bad if I threw some biceps and tricep isolation exercises in there?

[Lckymii]

Thank you.
I don't think you should. Alwyn has a certain purpose in mind with the programs he has designed. They are already very well balanced and you won't need any extras to see good results.
Good luck!!

[kimm4]

Hi there!!

It's a good start, but it seems too basic for what you're looking to do. If you've been lifting on and off for a number of years...you'd could def kick it up a notch. If you're looking to add some muscle you should add more than 1 exercise per bodypart. Meaning pick couple exercises when you train chest, back, etc...3 sets of 10 is arlight to start, but don't be afraid to play around with weights, sets and reps.

There are some great journals on this board. Go in and check out some of the girls workouts. You'll see that we all have different training styles/routines...you might be able to find something that would work for you!!

Good luck

[LDiS]

kimm... see that's what I thought - I think the key phrase is "for what I'm looking to do".

Thank you for the tips! I'm going to check out some people's journals as well. Much appreciated.

[Dogmama]

I did the New Rules...years ago when it was first out. The women's version wasn't published yet. It is an awesome routine -and- I did tweak it a little. One size does not fit all.

For example, I could not do the heavy bent over barbell rows due to lower back disk problems. I substituted T-Bar rows - basically the same movement but my back is supported. I also added in bicep & triceps - but only one exercise of each. I did not want to take the focus away from the basic program.