NRoL4W Stage 4

[daedala]

After several false starts, a depressive episode, quitting my job, and finding a new one (in that order), I've finished New Rules of Lifting for Women's Stage 4. I finished Stage 3 in May, and this stage was just eight workouts.... It's been a while. I had some abortive starts -- one workout in June, three in July -- but just couldn't keep going. In September, I started at the beginning, and did all eight workouts, two or three per week. I reduced the weight I started with so I could manage it, and I didn't increase them very much, which was frustrating, but I finished. Also, looking back at Stage 2 (which has the same exercises), I hadn't increased weights much over the course of the stage there, either. So at least it's consistent!

Stage 4 doesn't have the bodyweight matrix that made Stage 3 so special. So I added a half-matrix (same stuff, same order, just half the number of reps for each) after each A workout. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Once I decided to quit my job, I started exercising a lot: biking to work (because if I was quitting anyway, I still meant to do good work but damned if I'd wear full business for it), starting up Stage 4 again, and now trying to do an hour of yoga every day. The new job pays enough more that I'm going to try personal training once I'm settled in, and maybe that will help.

Because I had such a long hiatus before Stage 4, I'm planning to start Stage 5 this weekend.

( Final Weights )