Laurie4b Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I very much appreciate all the help I get here with my new strength-training goals! I had NROL4W and read that, but when I found out there was one for middle-aged people and that it had choices of exercises, I thought that was the one for me! So I bought New Rules of Lifting for Life. I am in the "planning to do this" stage of NROL4L. I have mapped out Workout A and Workout B and gone to the gym to figure out starting weights and how to use the cable machine. Here are my 3 questions: 1. Some of you answered my question about the best way to meet my goal of doing a full push-up by late Sept. That is an important goal to me. I set it and I want to meet it. I don't know whether to wait until after I have met that to start NROL or not. I don't know if NROL will help me meet that goal or delay it because now I do some kind of push-ups 3 times per week; on NROL, it would be 1-2 times per week, with alternate exercises on the other days. Would that help or hinder my goal? 2. NROL4L really emphasizes recovery. I've always left 48 hours between lifting, but didn't pay much attention to that for other exercise other than taking Sundays as a rest day and taking a day off and not exercising if I felt really draggy and tired every once in a while. I take Zumba and LOVE it. My instructor structures our workouts so that they are HIIT. They truly are, so they don't fit the "lower key endurance" exercise recommended in NROL for days when you are not lifting. Zumba is offered M, W, TH. For me, Zumba is not only a HIIT workout, but a social connection, and the memorization of the dance steps is good for building the hippocamus. I am trying to think through issues of recovery. If I did Zumba on my current schedule and NROL 3 days a week, they would need to overlap either one day or two days. I would use Zumba in place of the metabolic piece if I was doing it the same day. What do you think is the better schedule? Mon: NROL (no metabolic)/Zumba Tues: low key day Wed: NROL (no metabolic) /Zumba Thur: Zumba Fri: NROL Sat: low-key day Sun: rest day Mon: Zumba Tues: NROL (metabolic piece or no?) Wed. Zumba Thur NROL /Zumba Fri: low key day Sat NROL Sun rest day Or do I have to do either Zumba or NROL 2x per week? 3. The warm-up phase doesn't look like warm-up to me. It looks like it has a lot of stretching and "moves" that I would need to warm up for. What do you think? My warm-up has typically been to make sure my body temp is somewhat up (like moderate walking or something for 10 min) and then if it's a move that might challenge my joints, I do the move in an easier way first (like a set of push-ups on a higher incline than I actually need) to get the muscles waked up and ready for the movement pattern. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Would you be doing Zumba before or after lifting on those days? If you are lifting heavy enough, you probably won't want to do Zumba after. How tiring is Zumba for you? If it is still fairly challenging, I wouldn't call it a low-key workout, but as you get more fit, your low-key workouts can also get harder. I think a lot will depend on how sore lifting makes you. At first you may be to sore to do all this, but in time that will be less of a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I'd like to add that it's okay to lift just twice a week if 3x leaves you sore too much of the time. It's better to pick a less strenuous schedule and stick to it for months than to constantly start and stop. Ask me how I know! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 You might want to also read "Strong Women Stay Young". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Would you be doing Zumba before or after lifting on those days? If you are lifting heavy enough, you probably won't want to do Zumba after. How tiring is Zumba for you? If it is still fairly challenging, I wouldn't call it a low-key workout, but as you get more fit, your low-key workouts can also get harder. I think a lot will depend on how sore lifting makes you. At first you may be to sore to do all this, but in time that will be less of a problem. Zumba would be after. Zumba would definitely not be "low key". On "Low key" days, I would likely be just doing gardening, walking, etc. Maybe I will start lifting on a Saturday, and see how worn out I am. Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 You might want to also read "Strong Women Stay Young". Our library has zippo in terms of newer books on exercise, so I have to buy everything. What do you like about this book? What are its strengths? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Our library has zippo in terms of newer books on exercise, so I have to buy everything. What do you like about this book? What are its strengths? It describes, better than any other book I personally have seen, the details of the exact form controls to use in each kind of weight lifting, rather like a coach or personal trainer would do. It also walks you through how to start with low weights to learn the form exactly right, and when and how to increase weight, in detail. It also represents a system and method that has been used by very old women, women in their 80s and 90s even, who were starting from being inexperienced at this, and showed benefits from it. I find that both convincing and encouraging. Lastly, it's one of only two exercise programs that honestly has not hurt me at the start. That is quite unusual. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 PS It's oldish so you could probably find it used. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I've only done Zumba twice as it just isn't my thing but to me it just seemed like a cardio workout, I wouldn't see it recovery from a strength workout, assuming you fuel adequately and they aren't done too close together. If you wanted to do opposite days though I think I would do: Mon: Zumba Tues: NROL Wed: Zumba Thurs Zumba Friday NROL Sat Rest Sun NROL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 My only concern with the schedule above would be doing two days in a row of HIIT, which I've read isn't recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 I've only done Zumba twice as it just isn't my thing but to me it just seemed like a cardio workout, I wouldn't see it recovery from a strength workout, assuming you fuel adequately and they aren't done too close together. If you wanted to do opposite days though I think I would do: Mon: Zumba Tues: NROL Wed: Zumba Thurs Zumba Friday NROL Sat Rest Sun NROL Yeah, I've taken from instructors who lead it like a regular cardio workout, but my instructor does it as a HIIT. And it is. On a perceived exertion chart, my range during Zumba swings from "very, very hard or very hard'" to "moderate", not counting the light to moderate warm up and cool down periods. I didn't mean to imply in my post that the Zumba was a recovery workout. I was wondering if a HIIT workout like Zumba was counterproductive to recovery, and if so, if it was less counterproductive to do it the same day or on an alternate day. Make better sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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