It has been eight weeks since I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women workout program. On Monday of last week, I finished the last workout for Stage 1 so it is time for a recap and to check in on my progress.

Breaking It In

Before I started the NROLFW program, I was honestly intimidated by the free weights section of the gym. A long time ago, a sports medicine doctor told me that I needed to be careful with my shoulders because of a swimmer’s shoulder diagnosis. I definitely took that diagnosis a little to the extreme and shied away from anything related to lifting heavy weights. I was also under the impression that if I lifted heavy weights I would become “bulky” and look sort-of like a man. After reading the book and doing tons of research, I realized that none of my fears were actually validated.

How It Works

Stage 1 consisted of two workouts (A and B) that were done a total of eight times each and followed by two special workouts. Each workout consisted of 5 exercises (10 different exercises total). The workout schedule prescribed the number of sets and how many reps per set that I was supposed to do as well as how much rest I was supposed to take between sets.

One of my favorite things about this program is that everything is laid out for me. Before I even set foot in the gym, I know what exercises I am supposed to do and how many reps and sets of each exercise. The difficult part for me was deciding what weights to use. In the end, I think I did a pretty good job of figuring out what was appropriate for me.

The Workouts

So did I improve over the course of eight weeks? Absolutely!! By the end of stage 1, I increased the weights I used for every singe exercise. In my opinion, that is a significant improvement. The tables below show the difference between the my starting points and ending points. Workout 9, the special workout, was intended to show a difference and it did. I used the same weights as I did for Workout 1.

Workout A:

Workout B:

• * These exercises were supposed to be done with barbells but my fitness center doesn’t have any so I used dumbbells instead.
• ** These exercises are all body weight exercises. I went from doing my push ups at a 30* angle to a full push up.
• *** My fitness center doesn’t have a cable machine so I had to do a modified version of this exercise.

The Results

These workouts were definitely about finding a good starting point and becoming comfortable with free weights. Along the way, I have learned to push myself and test my limits. I have also started to become more comfortable with my body which is huge! So are there measurable results? Absolutely!!

That is a whole of lot of numbers to process but essentially I lost a total of 4.25 inches, 5 pounds and 0.1% body fat during the first stage. I think I was hoping for a bigger loss in my body fat percentage but the again I wasn’t very strict with my diet.

Before and After Stage 1 Pictures

The visible changes that I can see are very subtle. As my sister so wonderfully pointed out to me while taking the “After” pictures, I have back fat. Now that I look at these pictures side by side, I can see that I have less back fat. I can also see that my arms have more definition (yay!) and my stomach is slightly flatter (double yay!). The results that I want won’t happen over night so I am thrilled to see even the slightest changes.