Anyone else doing Caroline Girvan's EPIC programme?

[BigButtons]

I thought I was pretty fit and toned. I have exercised consistently most of my life: weights, cardio, hit, running etc ( now 53). I have just finished day 8 of EPIC and feel like a complete wuss. It was the lunges one. I wanted to be sick even though I was standing infront of a large fan the entire time.
How do people actually manage to get through these? I have just looked ahead to the burpee day and feel like I am simply not up to this.

I think I’ll go for 8kg and maybe a 5kg to complete my set. Wow at the10kg @FlowerArranger!

One thing I did notice today is I put a dress on I’d not worn for months and it was tighter across my shoulders and back. I wonder if it means I’ve beefed up there?

Oh yes!!! I've had to get all new bras and loads of tops and dresses no longer fit

My jeans and other skinny trousers on the other hand are a lot less tight now all the fat has gone. I love my rock solid thighs!

I noticed that my vest tops and bras are all tighter too!

I have 8kg kettle bells. I will use them rather than upping the weight on my adjustable dumbbells.

I am in awe of you all on this thread! I wonder if I could ask for some advice on dumbbells. I have been working out for about a year now after doing nothing for 20 years. I'm 52 btw. I mostly do the 2 Team Body Project workouts below but after reading this thread I recently tried Caroline Girvan's epic beginner workout days 4 and 5. I found them both pretty challenging (though less so after doing them a few times) but I think I need to move on to heavier weights for some of the upper body exercises. I currently use 2kg. Should I go up to 4 or 5kg?

@Yourownpersonaljesus hi and welcome. Caroline’s workouts are very challenging. If you have been working with 2kgs I would not go higher than 4s for a while.
With the legwork you can go a lot higher BUT you can also get an amazing leg workout with her using no weights. There was a lunge day in the first week of Epic where I couldn’t cope with any weights at all after a while.

Thank you @BigButtons - I'll order some 4kg weights.

Right, I’ve done the Epic Heat day 1. Oh my word I found it incredibly tough, was trembling in the end. It also got my heart rate sky high. It’s going to be painful to come down the stairs tomorrow morning

I’ve grown to love lunges and squats though. Something I thought I’d never say!!! I used to avoid them, especially the lunges. My knees used to protest but slowly they’ve been getting stronger and stronger. I still avoid jumping lunges though, just too risky.

I’m also very curious to see what Epic3 entails. I wish we’d knew how long the sessions are beforehand. Was tempted to wait and then work out as and when each session is released but if they are longer ones, it’s not going to work.

@wetpants I like Epic heat. It’s tough but short. I should be doing day 3 today- another leg day. I’m tired though. Really bad period pains kept me awake half the night😡

@BigButtons oh no, don’t push it if you are not feeling 100%. Lack of sleep can really drag you down. I’m trying to listen to my body more these days, if I’ve had a bad night or I feel exhausted, I’ll opt for a yoga. Or I sleep for bit longer if it’s an option.
Let us know if you decided to push through anyway?

As PP said, the ticker on Heat goes quickly which is great All the lunges were killing me but the ticker was quickly at 50% mark which helps me to stay motivated and to give my all knowing I only have another 15mins to go rather than another 45 mins

I did day 3 of Heat yesterday and today I have aching glutes. I very rarely ached after Epic 1, so I wonder if this express version, being more brutal, brings faster results? We will see!

I will try to do day 4 later, but we are out for most of the day so I might not manage it. I’m now curious to see what will ache after day 4, it’s a new obsession to keep me going.

I think I will continue with Heat, then when done with that I will do the last 3 weeks of Epic 1 (time permitting) just for closure really.

@Melassa my shoulders are still feeling it from Friday!

Mine too, although they’ve faded into second place behind my glutes now!

I will report back after day 4 on what aches. It may well be a complete surprise!

Found a couple of great full body HIIT workouts with weights from Anna:

I think she's using 5 kg dumbbells.

I really like her style. Also, she looks great - I prefer her shape to Caroline's.

I'm plodding on with epic 1. Day 42 is a pretty gentle (hah!) shoulder workout so there in some abs at the end just because I have more time on Sundays. Aiming to finish by next weekend then will move on to Heat.

I don’t think I will be doing anything today. The worst period pain I have had for a long time. I feel wiped out. Might try some yoga- it sep day who is hogging the tv🧐🤨

Depends who is hogging the tv- still can’t type!

Hope you feel better soon @BigButtons, I had a period after 8 months, when I thought I was done and dusted and boy, was it draining. Hoping it was just an adjustment to HRT and not coming back any time soon!

Well, I missed today in the end too as we got back too late - it’s past 7pm here - so I am cooking and quaffing wine instead. I did stop off at Decathlon to get some weights, though. I ended up getting another adjustable set as there was almost nothing left of the single weights and they were all €25 each upwards. In the end I got the adjustables with 10kg of weights for the same price. I now have my set of 6kg set up and a new set of 8kg set up, plus my 3kg. The new weights have easier clips so if anything it should be simpler and faster to change up and down as necessary.

There were also kettlebells but, again, not very much choice of weights. I’m a bit unsure whether to invest in a kettlebell or 2, or if the dumbbells are enough. Those of you with both, what are the advantages of a kettlebell?

@Melassa. I love my bells. You can do completely different workouts with them. They can be used as dumbbells and kettlebells , whereas it's harder too use dumbells as kettlebells.
CG does a great mini kettlebell series. You can also lift much heavier with kettlebells because you swing them. They give rather sharp and brutal workout. But they are not cheap if you get the cast iron ones and are an investment. I have had mine at least 10 year. I have 2 8s, 1 12 and 1 16 ( which I hardly ever use)

Interesting. My next purchase the next time I go up in weight will probably be a kettlebell. I imagine you need a single one for, say 20kg instead of 2 x 10kg? You don’t have one per hand? I must watch a kettlebell workout to see how it functions.

@Melassa yea you can have one in each hand. I can hold 2 8kg much more easily than my one 16kg.

@wetpants epic 3 are all 30-40 minutes like heat. Hurrah! (I loved epic 1 and 2 but god some of the later workouts in epic 2 particularly felt like forever)

Just finished day 2 of EPIC I. Quite tough! Used 5kg and the occasional 7.5kg. Those press up variations every 3rd exercise are tough - press ups are my nemesis.

Trying to balance getting through the EPIC sessions with running and swimming so think I will be switching the HIIT for interval run (short plus a core session at the end) and maybe the full body dumbbell for a swim plus core session at the end.

This leaves me with 3 x Epic sessions a week. Quite ambitious to fit in all in but in need of a challenge/kick up the backside!

I finally got round to doing epic day 1. Not new to exercise - I spin, do bodypump,

do bootcamps, I exercise 6 days a week .
I used 6kg dumbbells, pretty much managed all the reps. Boy can I feel it this morning
I'm doing day 2 later, I'm not going to be able to brush my hair tomorrow am I???