Getting fitter and stronger with Caroline Girvan- all welcome!

@BigButtons @FlowerArranger sorry about your aches and pains! My brother is a kettlebell lifter and came to stay with me last week - he made a point of telling me how important stretching is after lifting: Not so much the warm up, but the stretching after was important for recovery: He showed me some quick streches to do which was useful!
@FlowerArranger can I ask some advice, would you recommend Endgame after Heat? I'm not sure if Fuel would be too cardio (I run 30 miles a week so don't really need that) or would it be better to do Epic I, II or III?

So sorry to hear about your woes, @BigButtons! That sounds really tough. I'm afraid I've joined the Walking Wounded Club as well - intermittent pain on my side, just above my right hip, golfer's elbow and a painful left shoulder. Even though I do warm up religiously and do lots of stretching.

I think I've just been overdoing it, especially using heavier weights than I should. I think there is a risk one ends up doing this with Iron, so I'll go back to Heat or Endgame once I've recovered.

In the meantime I'll stick to stretching and my old favourites. Lots of planks as well. I hope you recover soon,@BigButtons🙏

I'm with you, @samthebordercollie . I think Epic Heat is my favourite, but I need the challenge of Iron every now and again.

@bluesuitcase - I do a fair bit of cardio too. Usually Growingannanas in conjunction or alternating with Caroline. When I can be arsed have the necessary stamina, I run for half an hour on the spot while listening to Radio 4.

I also do the Bowflex plank every day, as well as Lucy's Thighs & Glutes and Rebecca's Best Abs quite regularly - all of them with variations, to make them more challenging.

Iron isn’t the only thing I do; I do that in the mornings and then do additional (cardio) workouts in the evening.

I found it a good one to start with but I've nearly finished Heat now and much prefer the pace of that. I sometimes go back to the full body Iron workouts but only feel like I've done something if I lift a lot heavier than I do with Heat (which is probably the aim of the programme!)

I periodically have a go at Iron. I always enjoy quite a few sessions, but then I somehow get bored and end up back at Epic 3, Heat or Endgame.

I'm really struggling with Iron, I'm just not enjoying it in the same way as I did with Fuel. I've had a break since Day 14 as I hurt my back (unconnected) so I need to get a grip and finish it. I'll start again tomorrow.

I did iron #3 today, followed by a >10 km walk.

No I’m not this time around. I’d like to for the challenge and I have heavier weights but I can already feel my arms are slightly larger in clothes and I don’t really want to have to buy new clothes right now. I know everyone says it’s really hard for women to bulk up but I really do gain muscle easily - I always have. And I don’t eat that much either (no breakfast, just soup for lunch - no bread, then a normal dinner). Trousers are feeling looser but I think that’s because of my pear shape. It’s been great for my lower body and has made such a difference already. Maybe I’ll increase the weights in summer when I’m wearing short sleeved tops!

A lot of people do this! Are you going to go heavier on the weights for round 2?

Just popping in to say I finished Iron last week and enjoyed it so much that I started it again this week!

Well done on doubling up @mommybear1 ! I’m really enjoying Iron so far (but have only done week 1). Yesterday I did the arms and core session and the non-stop abs bit at the end was so mean! Also, putting triceps push-ups at the end of an arms workout just ain’t going to happen! (Unless you’re an exercise robot like CG 😀, no idea how she keeps smiling).

Does anybody else sometimes think they’ll never get up off the mat again after the cool-down?

I've done all 5 of the Epic beginner set now, mostly ok and quite enjoyed the HIIT though I wouldn't have wanted anyone to see my attempts at burpees. I think I'll take a look at the Iron ones next as various people have suggested.
Been doing a bit more walking too in the last week, DH went to a podiatrist about his painful foot and was given some exercises which seem to have helped remarkably quickly.

Morning everyone I just thought I'd check back in. I am loving the Iron series @chloechloe how are you getting on? I am still doing them back to back for the moment which is awesome and I can definitely feel my strength improving. I am going to complete the series but may redo it using heavier weights next time. So far so good 🤞🏻.

I’ve been tempted by a weighted vest for walking since I saw them on a programme a while back.

I got a yoga block set yesterday, so now I don’t have to use books for the raised lunges! And also a set of resistance bands. Both cheap in TK Maxx. I looked for weighted vests while I was there but couldn’t see any. Was tempted by weighted hoops and skipping ropes as they’ve been on my list for a while, but left those for another time.

After saying there wasn’t much ab work in iron there was finally more yesterday and I could feel them this morning - in a good way!

Does anyone have scales they would recommend? I haven’t weighed for years and have a very old set which aren’t accurate. My clothes are feeling looser - I normally go by my clothes - but I’m interested to see what I weigh now.

Definitely try iron! I’d rather do my own cardio (that I enjoy!) than HIIT or workouts with moves that I don’t like doing!

Hi @mommybear1 ! I’ve just started on Iron this week too - it’d be nice to have someone else doing it alongside me (but maybe not for long if you’re doubling up on sessions!)

I absolutely hate HIIT sessions, so Iron seemed like a good choice, although I’m not too excited at the prospect of two upper body days! Still, the lesser of two evils!

We all use strategies that work for us as individuals. It's always good to challenge ourselves, but some degree of enjoyment has to be there - otherwise we won't keep it up.

Some people who love Caroline and stick with her swear at her, curse her, hate her even - and then we carry on because it's an almost masochistic pleasure. She does what she does with a smile and a degree of enthusiasm which is very infectious and motivating.

We look at her and realize we'll never achieve her degree of fitness. But all the same it is so worth it. I hate her for the first few minutes, and then I turn into someone who does this for ME, and it feels great. I may be using half her weights, but I'm TWICE her age, and I'm doing it, and I know that my old age will be so much better than my mum's or my grandma's.

Looking in the mirror and liking what I see helps, mind. 😎

@Worldgonecrazy thank you for your post. I agree I do need to challenge myself, having been off exercise for a while 😳 I do really want to keep at it. I tried Iron this morning and loved it 😊 so I am aiming to get Iron done and then move on I have been a runner for years but my knees are not quite what they were so I think part of my issue is I don't feel flexible enough for the things like lunges/v sit ups which then leaves me discouraged. So for the moment I'm going to ride the wave of Iron and weights to get back on track (and throw in some yoga to help my flexibility) and then try Epic again. I just felt like skipping the exercises or adapting them meant that I wasn't getting the best out of the workout. Hope that makes sense!

@samthebordercollie thanks so much to your post I can relate on the slow point of Iron - I'll have a look at Beastmode and see if that would be a good second series for me before Epic. I will go back to HIIT but as mentioned above I do need to work on my flexibility as I don't feel I'm getting the most out of the program. The fact that you like burpees 🤯 even was I was younger and did BMF I was never a fan 😁.

@FlowerArranger 😂😂 thank you that did make me laugh. I'll definitely give them a go I just think I need a slower warm up 😆.

Thank you all so much for your posts it's great to see what others are doing and their experiences of CG. I really enjoyed Iron this morning - so much so I did 2 back to back! I'll be back on it tomorrow and @Worldgonecrazy I will let you know when I complete a CG HIIT 🤣 and possibly @FlowerArranger a burpee 😂.

@mommybear1 - I'll let you into a secret........ I've been known to chicken out of Caroline's HIIT sessions and do a Growingannanas instead 🙀

@mommybear1 I started with Iron as I was post foot surgery and so wanted to do mainly weights. It was a good introduction to CG because the pace is slower and as I was a beginner to weights in general I had time to learn the moves. I moved onto Beastmode and now Heat which are faster and I even do the HIIT days now, even though I dont really need to now sim back running. As @Worldgonecrazy says, pushing yourself to do exercises outside of your comfort zone can lead to finding things you like! I even enjoy burpees and Bulgarian lunges now 😂

@mommybear1

Its often said that finding an exercise you enjoy is important.

I disagree. I think it’s more important to find a motivation.

Reading through @FlowerArranger posts, I find my motivation re-igniting. I don’t exercise for pleasure or enjoyment (though I do love the results!) I exercise because staying fit, healthy and mobile for as long as possible is important to me. So when I am doing an exercise I dislike or find boring (jogging/makers/rear delt flys!) I focus on my motivation to get me through. I remember all the elderly people I’ve seen out jogging, swimming, walking, and I remind myself if I want to be doing that at 90, I have to do the foundations now, in my 50s.

And you never know, you might start loving an exercise you currently dislike - mine was push ups and lunges. 😎

Morning 👋🏻 I've been reading through this thread and felt inspired to try CG. I did the beginners part which felt relatively easy so I started doing two at a time which was great I really enjoyed it. I've started Epic and I'm on day 4 but I'm finding I'm not enjoying it as much. I love the weights exercises but the HIIT stuff not so much. I'm wondering whether to switch to Iron - is that more weights based? Would it be a good idea to switch or should I keep going? I have got my exercise mojo back and really want to continue with CG but as I say I find the non weights based sessions a bit dull (hard but dull) and it puts me off.