Has anyone followed the NROLW program?

[NinjaMom]

I'm reading The New Rules of Lifting for Women and was considering doing the program but I can't wrap my brain around the idea of not working smaller muscle groups like biceps & triceps in isolation. The author states:

"There is no advantage to developing individual muscles selectively since strengthening one muscle in isolation creates a proportional weakness in another"

"Coordinated pushing motion (ie. chest press working the chest, shoulders & triceps) and pulling motion (ie. chin up working the upper back, shoulders & biceps) will develop your muscles simultaneously and proportionally so there is no need to isolate those muscles with specific movements"

While I understand these smaller muscles are being worked during these types of lifts, I don't think it is enough involvement to build strength. Personally, I have had great success with working these muscles individually.

Has anyone read this book and/or followed the program successfully? What do you think about his comments on not working the smaller muscles?

 

[Westcoaster]

NROLW

I have read the book and have to agree with you. In the past, when I worked out at the gym, I did try to work only large muscle groups ( especially when I was short of time) and decided Not to keep it up. I do feel that if certain muscles are ignored over a period of time, and not stressed - primarily, but secondarily, that we might be subject to injury too.

When the author said to "ignore" kickbacks, because basically he feels they're useless, I just couldn't see the point. I want to do them- even if it's for "shaping purposes"..

So although, like so many books I've read, I tend to incorporate bits of what I read, for me, I made the decision, to keep up with most of the exercises which include the smaller muscle groups, work them hard- new or old rule that it might be!

 

[jennifermaria]

My two cents come from experience... I used to follow the "no need to do isolation work" philosophy for my lower body--mainly out of laziness--and when I injured my hip flexor, I was told by my physical therapist that the reason for my injury was because my glutes were too weak and my hip flexor got strained from compensating.

"But I do squats and lunges all the time!" I protested. Well yes, these do work the glutes, according to my PT, but I wasn't isolating my glutes and they weren't getting strong enough in proportion to the rest of my lower body and, well I got out of whack in terms of strength balance and the rest is history.

So while the theory above sounds reasonable, in the real world, sometimes it's not as simple as it would make things out to be .

 

[Vee]

I bought the book and tried a few of the workouts but I havent yet committed to the entire rotation. I found the workouts very efficient and they seemed effective and fun to do. I did not miss the isolations while I tried the workouts.

As a plan it has its merits. Combining isolation exercises in your plan is one way to train and this is an alternative that has its rationale. Having tried both, I dont believe it needs to be one or the other for the rest of your life. NROLFW is certainly worth a try for a rotation.

If you are in a phase of your life where you have limited workout time (though limited is a relative term - some of the workouts in NROLW can take over an hour) - say you can only workout two to three times per week, NROLFW can help optimise the effectiveness of your limited time. If you do have time to fit in more workouts, it is a flexible plan which tells you how you can mix in other stuff (but the book has you stick to NROLW for your weight training).

 

[NinjaMom]

Thanks for your responses. I don't plan on following the program verbatim but will use some of the information to enrich my current program. I am not convinced that we DO NOT need to work our smaller muscles in isolation.

Jennifer- Funny that you brought up the physical therapy aspect. I have had my share of PT and found the same things as you: weaknesses in muscles that I thought were being worked out including glutes, hamstrings and adductors.

 

[jennifermaria]

Yeesh, all my problem areas!! And it's no coincidence that I get injured in those areas, because those are the ones I'm too lazy to work and I always try to get by with the very minimum (squats, lunges, leg presses). My lower body tends to respond fairly quick to training and even when I don't train them hard, they're still in pretty decent shape (unlike my upper body where all my body fat tends to want to hang out and the muscles like to stay weak *sigh*), so I get a bit complacent when it comes to my lower body.

But since I run long distances in my training, I can't afford to get lazy, so I've made a big effort in trying to get to those smaller muscles.

 

[alyzu]

I have the book, and I disagree with a lot of it! I supposed I'm biased, because I teach Pilates and yoga and do a lot of individual strenghtening exercises. But speaking from my own experience, training only multiple muslce groups left me weak in certain areas, while training individual muscles has made me stronger than I've ever been. But I also believe that there is no one way for everyone. Our bodies are all different, and different methods will work for us.

 

[jfrancis21]

my experience with NROLW

I have the book and have been working through it, I am currently on Stage 3 so I have not completely finished the program. However, I am very pleased with my results. His emphasis is on doing exercises that most reflect movements in everyday life and strengthening multiple muscles at one time. However, the program Alwyn Cosgrove designed does have exercises that strengthen some muscles, such as hip flexors and shoulders, in isolation. They also talk about how women can easily over-develop front muscles, such as quads, and how that can lead to injury. There are several exercises that work to correct that imbalance as well. I have been following this program and doing Cathe step workouts and I like the results at this point.
Jenni

 

[Alana_as]

I've never read it or even heard of it, but it sounds SILLY! I see NO problem with working muscles individually...as long as you work them all! hehe