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

Oh lord the “hunny bunny” guy makes me sick. The whole group is a bit of a horror show to me tbh. But you do get some updates in it which are useful.

17.5kg for pullovers is hench as hell @BigButtons ! I can use my 30lb/13ish kg ones for the odd pullover but not for long. A new thread would be great too!

If you look in the Form Library section of the App you will find Caroline gives demonstrations and practice exercises for all lifts, including sissy and pistol squats.

I just sub things for another lift if I can't do them, during Rev there were Sissy squats so I did some but got more benefit from subbing them for heel elevated squats which I can do properly! Likewise for pistol squats, I'd do side box step ups instead.

I’m very pleased the new ones are 30 minutes, I do them before work too and it’s just so much easier when they’re under 45 mins. I’m actually a bit annoyed at bloody pistol squats and sissy squats being in the calisthenics - yes they’re good body weight moves but they’re actually fucking impossible unless you’ve really trained to do them, and none of the other programmes are the right sort of training to do those, so after nearly 2 years of quite dedicated workouts I just felt flat and a bit ashamed to not even be able to do one of either move. I started on Epic 1 where there’s about a million moves I couldn’t do and it just took me right back to feeling inadequate. I can’t even do them with support! I just felt like these are SO hard and if I knew they were coming up I could at least maybe try to prepare for them.

Anyway I just skipped them so that took a good few minutes off. I just don’t like doing workouts where I’m at 75% or even 100% of Caroline’s weights sometimes and then being hit with a move that surely the majority of people can’t do!

I've tried 2 calasnetics, I had to stop at about 70% because I do them before work and ran out of time.

Looking forward to the new program because they're only 30min workouts, perfect time for me. I'm just treating this week as a bit of a rest from the weights and will just do what I can

I’ve done the first two calisthenics and although I do like the bodyweight stuff, they’re soooo long. I have to get up at 6 to do them and they do start to drag. However as they are long, I feel no guilt in skipping bits that I hate! I feel it’s more something I’d do on holiday but it’s a good thing to try.

@BigButtons Oh no, four weeks is a long illness indeed! Hope you are fully recovered now.
I was surprised at the length of the new callisthenics programme session, I suppose she has made them longer to increase the volume because of the lack of intensity in weight. I haven't tried them yet, I've stuck with redoing PE as I found it was the best programme for strength gains I've done so far and it's easy to follow rather than choosing different workouts all the time.
I caved and bought some push up bars as I managed to do at least 4 in Decathlon when I tried them. They will also be useful for practicing pull ups, I'd like to be able to do at least 7 in a row properly by the end of the year. My lower body strength is much better than upper due to many years of running and cycling so a lot of catching up to do!

I've been doing Caroline (YT only) for nearly 5 months and all I have to say is: 😱!! I've never looked or felt better. I love this woman. I've always carried weight on my tummy, nothing would shift it and I was always discouraged. Whilst it's still not "perfect" I don't fear my t shirt riding up anymore.

Most of all, I genuinely enjoy, and look forward to, the workouts with her. Someone explain this sorcery.

I think the majority of people don’t follow the programmes live anyway so I really see the extra ones between programmes as a real bonus. Most users will have some sort of backlog of workouts they never did or favourites they revisit, so if you want new stuff all the time it’s probably not the best app for that. I like the rhythm of it personally - sometimes it’s nice to just pick and choose especially after a fairly intense programme like Rev.

I didn't know there would be that long a gap-however it wont bother me, by the time i do sign up i will always be so far behind, i will never be stuck for a series to follow.
I currently subscribe to a trainer on Patreon and it's £15 a month for 3/4 workouts in that month.
I feel Caroline's is great value and I can't wait to join.
Cancelling my Patreon membership at the end of this month,

I've never expected back to back programmes! The planning that goes into them must be huge and the fact that even in 'off' period Caroline is able to deliver 3 new workouts a week or a new mini series is surprising to me. She also gives weekly briefings and recommendations of what workouts to do for the following week. I don't think her App is expensive compared to other Apps, plus she's doing it all on her own it isn't like Bodi or other Apps where there are several content creators.

There’s usually a gap, yes but there’s loads of content on there and she’s still putting out the odd standalone workout too. It’s a good time to pick up a series you haven’t done yet - I’ve been doing bits of Intent and Beastmode in between new series.

@Cherryblossom81 Beastmode is a great programme and only 2 weeks, good traditional lifting! And Epic 1 is, well, Epic. Some really good workouts, some completely bonkers and some never to be repeated in subsequent programmes (the 20 minute complex day sticks in my mind, as well as the handstands!). If you like lots of cardio and burpees you'll enjoy Fuel.

Its what i am doing @Cherryblossom81
I only have Endgame left to complete-BUT i am going one further by doing all of her workouts that I can find on Youtube, there are so many stand alone ones ranging from 10mins to 1hr..I am having fun putting these together to create my own series if you will.
Once im done with these I plan to get the app then, Probably in a few months.

Good afternoon all. I've ended up just doing a couple of random workouts over the last couple of days as I didn't get time to subscribe to the app and get it all set up etc.

However, I'm now trying to decide if I should just continue until I've done all the series on YouTube? Any thoughts?

I've not done Fuel, Epic 1 or Beastmode yet (but think I've done all the others on YouTube). Should I do these before moving over to the app?

Thank you for all the encouragement last week after my comment about dips!

I finished Epic Heat earlier this morning, and after all the comments a few weeks ago about the app, I think I'm going to take the leap over to the app. I'm hoping to get some time this evening to get the app and choose where to start to be ready for my workout tomorrow morning.

Has anyone got any recommendations on which series should be my first one on the app?

Ha, yes good idea, I think I'll try them in Decathlon before buying! If I can't manage more than 3 - like pull ups - it's a waste of money!