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

@Cherryblossom81 I've genuinely found the HIITs easier psychologically over time as I've stuck with them. Hoping the same happens for you 🙂

@thenewaveragebear1983 I'm on Day 10 and enjoying it.

I'm not quite as keen on the HIIT days (once a week), but after asking on here about this last week, I felt more determined today to just do my best with today's HIIT and remember that I'm not Caroline (and that's ok!).

How are you finding epic3 @Cherryblossom81 ? I think I looked at that one already, it looked good. 👍

@thenewaveragebear1983 I finished Iron a couple of weeks ago and started Epic 3. If you scroll up this thread, you'll see what people recommended to me a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks @florenceandthemac thats great

For anyone who is interested in Caroline Girvan programmes... www.mumsnet.com/Talk/exercise/5066626-for-anyone-who-is-interested-in-caroline-girvan-programmes

@thenewaveragebear1983 I'll tag you in a thread where I shared a spreadsheet type thing detailing CG programmes.
(Can't figure out to link it quickly)

I’ve got 4 days left of iron on YouTube, what do you recommend I try next? I started to google and it’s mind boggling. I’d prefer less cardio, only because I already get my cardio running, but I’m not averse to a bit of cardio in a workout!

@DreadPirateRobots , thats nice. Having nice workout clothes and shoes make me feel good and motivated too.

I am still doing epic 2 on and off. Since I dont lift heavy, longer sessions work best for me.

I just bought some metcon shoes and I'm silly happy about it!

It's daft but I do sort of "dress up" for my workouts - I like to have nice and matching workout sets because it makes me feel really good, plus I work out 5/6 days a week to some extent. I feel like I'm entitled to Take Myself Seriously as a person who lifts having stuck with it for this long and seen significant strength gains.

@Cherryblossom81 I aim to eat my bodyweight in lbs in grammes of protein, so around 125g per day. I don't do other macros, but do try and keep to this. I usually supplement with a protein shake which takes care of 25g, the rest I get from whole foods: fish, meat, eggs and lots of Fage 5% Greek yogurt!
I'm trying to stay off nuts as they are my guilty pleasure, but they have a lot more fat than protein and I can easily eat 100g a day which is huge in terms of calories!
Eating lots of protein not only helps with muscle growth it also fills you up more than other macronutrients.
Wondering what the next program will be after Intent which finishes this week?

I did Epic Heat Day 48, aka 30 solid minutes of pushup variations, 2 days ago and boy I am feeling it too right through delts, pecs, lats, triceps, and abs. I cannot do a full clapping pushup but I was pleased to find out that I can do a full pushup and then lift up off both hands. Not bad.

@Cherryblossom81 I make an active effort to eat more protein than I used to but I don't count or calculate macros or anything. I will (for instance) generally have eggs for breakfast after weight training, eat more nuts and fish, etc. I'm getting stronger and seeing clear muscle definition so it seems to be working.

Some of you last week mentioned the Day 7 leg day in Epic 3. I did it on Tues and this morning .... I can really feel it in my legs!!!

Also, I just wondered - do any of you try to focus on getting a certain amount of protein? My aim is to lose around 7 pounds (slowly and gradually, as not overweight, just feel better 7 pounds less), but keep finding contradictory information online about amount of protein that we should be aiming for each day.

@BigButtons did you look at calorie burn when you did a lot of cardio or have you always ignored it?
@DreadPirateRobots Great that you kept up with Caroline's lower body weights! 15kg is the highest I can go but only with wrist straps, my grip strength is nothing compared to hers. Same for me on upper body, I can generally only match her on the 4kg lateral and rear delt exercises.
I like checking VO2 max - not sure it's accurate - and my Garmin is actually pretty good on sleep and HRV measurement. I like it for heart rate, as once I knew I had a problem because my HR went up considerably more than usual, it turned out to be an overactive thyroid problem.

Today was Day 38 upper body and Day 39 lower body. Day 39 was really repetitive but I didn't mind, Intent just makes you feel like you've really had a tough workout. A lot of concentration needed!

Today is an momentous day. I completed a whole session using the same weights as Caroline. It was a leg day tho - I am not near catching her on arms. Her arms terrify me.

I don't track calories (I strongly suspect the calorie estimate I get off my fitthing is highly inaccurate anyway) but I do track RHR and VO2max/cardio score.

It's the last week of Intent on the App 😢 and Caroline has written an excellent introduction to it focusing on the benefits of strength training as opposed to cardio and calorie burn.

I also very rarely sweat doing Caroline's Workouts

Bloody hell. I do. I mean, not so much on a purely arms session, but a heavy weight leg session, you betcha, and a HIIT, fuhgeddaboutit.

Right, I've decided: it's Epic III next for me and then Epic Endgame, I think. Now I just have to get through Epic Heat 48 (aka 30 solid minutes of pushup variations) so I can die with peace and dignity.

The trainer I used before I found Caroline, combined cardio with weights, and also did straight cardio/HIIT workouts.(Shelly Dose if any one knows of her?)
To then start training the way Caroline does(one or two muscle groups per day without cardio)was a change for me.
I do the HIIT workouts if they are within the programme but actually think I may need to add a day of just cardio if there isn't any, because I am finding them harder than I did.
I also very rarely sweat doing Caroline's Workouts, and I used to sweat heaps before using the other trainer(so much so it put me off doing a workout sometimes-especially if I had washed my hair the day before!)
However all that said, I have gained more tone in my arms and legs doing CG workouts and been able to go up in my weights for upper body.
Basically what I am saying is that I will try to do a cardio W/O a week even if it doesn't feature in the programme I have picked from now on.

It's really helpful to hear that other people find the HIIT workouts hard. It's made me feel a bit better and will persevere with them while doing Epic 3. (I think they are just once a week?)

I forced myself to do the HIITs because it's important for cardio training and I have actually started enjoying them. I do prefer doing them at home though, so I can sweat in peace and privacy; I switch the days around so that I do weights when I'm in the office and HIIT on WFH days.

@Cherryblossom81 I rarely do the HIT workouts because I run on alternate days, but they are good to do, even if you can't keep up with CG (it's like she has put her video on a faster speed, no idea how she is so fast[.
Regarding cortisol, it's normal for it to increase after exercise, but it comes down again. There is a lot of misinformation about cortisol, HIT and cardio, mainly from people who use it as an excuse not to do those types of exercise! For anyone interested here is a link to a very informative, if long, discussion on cortisol spikes, the myth of adrental fatigue etc. https://www.strongerbyscience.com/podcast-episode-123/