Lifting with Caroline Girvan 2024: What's not to love?!

Not really loads of experience with lifting. I’ve done some tutorials in the gym with instructors and used to do body pump classes so I know good form.

Hi! Can I join in? I’ve been reading lots of CG threads here and it seems promising? I just started at the gym myself and am an overweight weakling. I probably have 2-3 stone to lose, and very weak leg muscles. Any recommendations where to start? I’d be happy to do the workouts at the gym to use their equipment, I don’t really have any at home and have always found I lack motivation and give up with at home workouts

@BigButtons I used 12,5kg and 10kg for the PE quads workout. More than enough! I can't hold 15kg weights to do squats. Its better to have a full range of motion with lighter weights than go heavier and not do the lift very well. Most studies I see referenced recommend medium weights with 8 - 15 reps for hypertrophy, heavier weights with fewer reps (1 - 5[ for strength.

@Bigbuttons I remember you hated Unleash! I didn't like it at first but really enjoyed it in the end. Liked unleash all the way through even though it was a bit repetitive and I got fed up with getting so many weights out for each session, particularly the barbell! I'm finding PE the toughest so far, I actually feel a bit nauseous for the first time ever. I love supersets and that's another reason I'm enjoying PE.

PE probably isn't the most 'fun' programme to do, but I lift weights for hypertrophy and to get stronger and this format with the 3 set pre exhaust format looks very promising even if it is dull! The unilateral work is quite long with 3 sets so the lunges seem interminable, but I listen to my podcasts and the time goes by quickly.
If you liked Beastmode on YouTube why don't you try Beastmode on the App @Gobacktotheworld ?

Oh good, it’s not just me who’s struggling with them! I’ve done loads of CG so it’s just this format I’m not getting on with. Today’s workout had a 48 minute run time and it’s really hard to fit that in - I can get up earlier still but I always wake my DP when I get up, even though I creep out of bed, and although he’s OK about it I feel bad when it’s every day he’s getting woken sooner than he needs to, so I don’t like pushing my get up time earlier and earlier! Plus then I work all day so there’s a tiredness factor. 35 minutes is perfect for me tbh. And I’ve done hour long workouts in Epic and they were fine, because there’s a lot of variety in those.

I don’t know, I want to like PE but I don’t right now. I’ve never done Intent or Beastmode so I do have other programmes to try.

I'm not loving the sound of PE! I think my workout time is too precious to spend it doing body weight exercises like those in PE and I'd rather spend the full 30-50 mins doing weights. That's just my thoughts though. I'm sure CG knows what she's doing!
I've just started Beastmode on the app and really liking it. The rest times are short though so I get really out of breath and sweaty which I'm liking after just finishing Iron which is a lot slower.

I can lose about five minutes or so by fast-forwarding through some of the rest periods but I find them too long, too. And I lose interest after about 35 minutes. I may carry on but perhaps just do two of each superset and see how that goes.

I agree - 45 minutes is just too long. How many people really have 45 mins plus shower time every day to exercise? I really wanted to do it in real time but couldn’t fit it in yesterday. I probably would have done it if it was 25-30 mins

@AtomicBlondeRose I agree! This morning I was thinking I can't do 50 of these workouts 😫.

I usually find the beginning of a series hard so will persevere a few more days but struggling this time. I've been working out with CG for 18mths so hoping I'm not just burned out now

Just done day 3 of PE and I’ll be the lone voice saying I don’t like it! No fault of Caroline - I just find the pre-exhaust format extremely mentally challenging. It was fine for upper body where I like all the moves but for lunges, which I already strongly dislike, doing bodyweight and then going to weighted is very hard for me. It’s like my body is saying “mate, you hate this, I won’t make you do it” and I almost freeze when I come to pick up the weights then have to force myself to do any reps at all. I barely completed a weighted set in the whole work out. They’re also quite long and I already get up really early to do them so I have time anxiety whenever it goes over 45 minutes and inevitably end up skipping parts. And I have a boredom issue with 3 lots of supersets.

I’ll stick it out for a bit, but I’m looking forward to changing to post-exhaust because that’s really my preferred style.

@pharmachameleon so sorry about your injury, I've had that too (after heavy RDLs) but it didn't last quite as long, hope it gets better soon.

I'm doing PE too, itts the first programme I've followed in real time. I'm enjoying the format, matched Caroline's weights Day 1 (I enjoy Bulgarian lunges) but Day 2 no way could I do,that except 5e 4kg shoulder exercises, she has so much upper body strength. Although even she seemed to struggle with the shoulder exercises today!
@Gobacktotheworld the YouTube programmes are definitely more 'bouncy', - faster paced with more cardio. I prefer the App because it is more like traditional weight lifting with longer lifting and rest periods generally. I prefer doing cardio separately to lifting!

Aahh! All the chat about lower body weight training is making me jealous. I was doing hip thrusts with a barbell about 5 weeks ago and felt an intense pain in my left butt muscle. I thought I was just working super hard so kept going. Not clever! I think I now have piriformis syndrome which is causing horrible sciatic pain right down my left leg.
I've not been able to do Bulgarian lunges (never thought I'd miss those!) or any lower leg workout since. I'm sad as I've been doing CG workouts for almost 2 years and have never injured myself.
Hoping it resolves with time. So just enjoy all your lower body workouts while you can!

Hip thrusts have got a lot better for me since I switched to using a barbell and got a decent pad for it - I have quite prominent hipbones and the dumbbells always dug in even with a towel in the way.

Bloody Bulgarians-Dread seeing the chair in the corner!
I can't do them off a chair anyway so use a step but they still really hurt me.
Recently in the Epic 3 series I did some bulgarian's that focused more on the quads and omg the doms after those....