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.

Glad to hear Epic 3 is short, she must have had people writing in to complain about the hour sessions being too long for those of us who don’t like getting up super early

@nbee84 and @OrangeSunsetwell done on starting Epic, you’re using ambitious weights, I’m impressed. I started with 3kg essentially (which is probably why I didn’t ache the next day) and gradually moved up to 6kg. Mind you I’d got pretty unfit in lockdown and didn’t want to pull anything.

Did Heat day 4 this morning, if my glutes ached after day 3 they’re going to be a lot more sore tomorrow from the never ending hip thrusts. Tomorrow is Burpee Bonanza, which I’m so not looking forward to!

…on fire, my buns are on fire….
Zeesh my but hurts today and that’s after Epic Heat day 1

I had to have a break day today as it’s the first back to school day here and it’s always manic on the first morning. Back to it tomorrow!

@Moonflower12345 Thanks for the heads up! I’ve gone and had a nosey. 30-40 mins is so much better.
I’m sticking to Epic Heat for now but isn’t it amazing we have this free library of work outs to choose from

I hope CG doesn’t burn herself out though by churning these programmes out non-stop. Speaking as someone who’s small business is currently on hold due to the burnout. And I absolutely loved my business and gave it to my all. But looking back I did way too much. I should have reigned it in a lot sooner before I got to this point. I hope CG has support and doesn’t try to do everything herself.

*rein it in

Great that epic three workouts are shorter.
I will stick with heat- can't see that there will be much difference. There's only so many exercise and combos that can be done. It's always interesting though and always brutal and of course fantastically free! I'm no a fan of really quick and complicated moves. i don't see the point in them. Would rather something simple that did the same job.
I can go heavier with arms on things like rows and chest presses- can get to 6kg but for any shoulder work 4 is mostly my limit. It feels a bit pathetic and I wish I could use heavier.
After the shoulder one the other day my right shoulder took ages to feel better. I don't want to risk tearing something and setting myself back.
Bum one today(3)- getting the fan out of the shed as it's decided to be a bit hot here.

Legs are burning. Out of breath. Good session but not overly awful considering the burn.
I feel like I need some upper body now.

Yes I got out of breath on the leg one. Also a bit on the full body today. So much so I am wondering if I really need a HIIT session (or how bad it must be if the weight sessions leave you out of breath). 🤔 would I be really bad if I did something else on Burpee day?

Good start to the day!

That Booty & Abs workout from Anna is a step up from Lucy’s. Love it - might become a regular go-to!

And I survived EPIC II Day 9 😀

@Melassa I always get out of breath 😮
It’s funny with Epic heat as it feels oddly short but I certainly feel far more achey afterwards than I did with Epic. I suppose it is far more efficient and tougher?
I even managed a 20 minute arms and shoulder afterwards.
I upped my weights just over 7kg for all the leg work which didn’t feel hard at all EXCEPT I really noticed it in my lower back on the squats. Need to watch that.
I will keep with the shoulder work at 4-5kg until it feels to easy in order to a valid injury.

My arms and chest now look a lot beefier but not defined yet. I remember my legs doing that when I started. I looked fatter for a while😮.

@FlowerArranger I still find Rebecca’s abs tough! Thanks for the link though.I’ll check that out 🙂

@Melassa

Yes I got out of breath on the leg one. Also a bit on the full body today. So much so I am wondering if I really need a HIIT session (or how bad it must be if the weight sessions leave you out of breath). 🤔 would I be really bad if I did something else on Burpee day?

Substitute a round of Makers?

@FlowerArranger I was going to do the 3 minute plank vid you linked but I can’t find it. Could you post it again? Sorry to be a pain x

Makers are possibly worse than burpees!

I am contemplating a Jake Dupree today instead. Or a growingannanas one. I have a bit more time today so will do it in my lunch break and have until then to mull it over…

Oddly I don’t have aching glutes despite the death by a 1000 hip thrusts yesterday. Maybe I killed them from the previous leg session.

@BigButtons I think the 3 minute plank one was this m.youtube.com/watch?v=ynUw0YsrmSg&feature=youtu.be I’ll probably do it today as well as I feel I need straightening out after yesterday.

@Melassa thanks😃
My legs and left knee are very achey after yesterday. A whole body one today. Is that the hip thrust one😮?

Also I can feel it in my lower back having upped the weights when I did the squats🤨.
Let us know which hiit you decide to do.
Oddly I don’t mind burpees all that much. Mind you I haven’t done them CG stylie.

[quote BigButtons]@Melassa thanks😃
My legs and left knee are very achey after yesterday. A whole body one today. Is that the hip thrust one😮?[/quote]
Yep, 3 or 4 series (can’t remember, it all became a blur) of hip thrusts with weight and band. My glutes were burning!

I also need to be careful of my back with the squats, but as I also have rickety knees I stick my bum behind me as far as it will go in order to take the pressure off my knees, and somehow that helps me remember to keep a straight back and brace my core. I also don’t go quite as low as she does, I don’t know if that makes a difference?

Epic Heat day 13 today, liked this one - quite different, isometric and plyometric so not much dumbbell use. Not really my thing but something different which is always good. I was put off by the mention of wallsits and a lateral pojo jump but actually it was fine. I really love the shorter workouts.

Managed to get out for my first run today since before the kids broke up and 3 weeks isolation before that after our schools bubbles collapsed spectacularly. I thought it would be awful after not doing it for so long but it felt really good. I'm sure the workouts have helped a lot with my endurance, I'm noticing that with my skating too.

Epic 1 day 44 here today. 1 HR dumbell and it was really really hard work 🥵. Have psyched myself up to finish the programme though. I do find I am not as achy after anymore.

I like the fact that Anna is starting to use dumbbells:

Obviously not as tough as Mrs Girvan, but still a good workout. I like hers because she tends to focus more on squats rather than lunges. Lunges are the work of the devil - though I'm working on getting better at them.

@BigButtons - I see @Melassa has already posted the link to the Bowflex plank - thanks ....... As for Makers vs Burpees.... - my tongue was firmly in cheek there LOL

As you all may have gathered, I like a bit of variety in my workouts. Much as I love Caroline, she can be a bit relentless. I'm looking after my granddaughter today, so I may just do a session with Jake plus Rebecca's abs. The latter is always good, definitely worth persevering with. I now find myself introducing variations such as crunch holds to make it more challenging.

I've come a long. As have we all!!

A long WAY !!!!

I must start doing warm ups and cool downs. I do neither as I can’t be bothered.
What ends up happening is 5 mins into a work out I am exhausted and have to stop for a couple of minutes. After that I can carry on without too much of an issue .

Well that was tough lol!!!!
Quite a bit of modification after a certain amount of time- I was too tired.push ups being one of them
Those hip thrusters OMG!

Who's Rebecca @FlowerArranger . I find your links really helpful thanks!

I've started Epic 3. I did day 1 today and will do 2 days another day so I catch up with everyone else (and maybe try to join the FB group). It was a legs one so I have to avoid some of the lunges.

@FlowerArranger I prefer squats to lunges too. My knees hate them though they are less crunchy than they used to be.

I do like the bow flex plank workout. Been doing it for the last 10 days or so now and can see a definite improvement in my core strength. Side planks are relatively easy now!

Right so my, ahem, ambitious plan is under a bit of strain already this week. I’m combining CG with running - running is my first love but I accept the need for strength training as I get older in general and hopefully so I can carry on running for longer.

I’ve done a CG EPIc upper body this week, and ran intervals this morning. Only 30mins.

I’m doing Pilates class tmrw and planning a swim on Thursday (rest Fri). Then a run and an EPIC lower body at the weekend.

So, should I treat my Pilates class as an active rest? Or double up that day and do an EPIC lower body? Could I double up on the intervals run day? I plan to run these intervals every week so perhaps could double up and do EPIC upper body that day?

Writing it all out has made me wonder if I’m being too ambitious. But I also know lots of people double up days so maybe I just need to do that and get used to it! Would be good to hear from anyone who regularly doubles up on days.

I might switch to HEAT if those workouts are shorter.