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.

@Taytotots - if you have dodgy knees, try Lucy's Thigh & Glutes workout:

I used to do this almost every single day for about 6 months, and I still do it several times a week. The key is to do each movement very slowly, deliberately, controlled.

My thighs are rock solid muscle! I thought that, given my age, I couldn't improve as a skiier, but thanks to the lovely Lucy, I can

@flowerarranger thanks will check that out too. I don't have dodgy knees usually but just upper my weights and think I didn't watch my technique carefully enough one CG session! Still I think mixing it up a little could be good.

Yes you are right FlowerArranger: sabri definitely pushes merchandise a lot and her new app. Sometimes she is a bit too hectic and loud for me so it depends on my mood. I do think her workouts are more organised now though - a proper timer for starters!

I also don't like sabri's claims of "abs in 14 days" etc etc. It simply isn't true. Girvan is much more down to earth and realistic. Now I tend to do abs as an add-on to my main workout session so choose girvan or sabri depending on how I feel.

I must check out anna for cardio. Forgot yesterday.

@Moonflower12345 I will try that! I need to buy a decent resistance band, I found one in my office that was a sample for a free gift, but there is very little resistance in it (it was cheap I suppose).

I’m new to resistance bands, is there an ideal level of resistance I should be looking for?

@BigButtons I hope we are getting fitter! There were times in the first sessions I felt sick, but it happens rarely now and only on the complex HIIT moves. I haven’t noticed any physical difference yet, but my DP tells me he’s noticed I’ve firmed up. So all promising!

Beast mode full body done today. Great workout and I liked the add on too. Felt they complemented each other well.

I finished epic one last month 💪🏼 brilliant programme. Haven't did much since 😳
Going to start epic 2 on Monday. I cannot motivate myself to exercise at home unless I'm doing her full programme.

Did the hour full body with Dumbbells today- christ- I was swearing at her quite few times. Even she couldn't do a lot of the sets without stopping. My poor legs.

Was thinking also that I would like to get better shoulder definition. I always shied away from working my shoulders as I had issues with them. But maybe ironically it was because they were weak that I had issues?
They have been sore doing epic for sure but no pain as such 😃

@Melassa mine is just a cheap latex one from ebay! They seem to come in 5 shades of pink and the one I use is medium. I am a weakling though so you may want heavier.

@BigButtons I only use 3kg weights and have seen real definition in my shoulders!

Thanks everyone. Im fairly but need to add some weights as I'm 53 and not very strong.
This thread is really useful and inspiring. I'm going to try some of the 'easier' workouts before trying Caroline Girvan.
I need a programme to work through to keep me motivated, so if anyone has any suggestions that would be great.

@Upupandiwent - see my earlier posts about workouts that are easier than Caroline's, particularly Lucy Wyndham Read and Rebecca Louise. The latter has loads of 10-minute arms workouts using weights.

My favourite leg workout:

And this for abs:

And arms:

Jake du Pree on Popsugar Fitness and the Tabata workouts with Ranier Pollard are good full-body workouts that are less challenging than Caroline Girvan:

youtu.be/XIeCMhNWFQQ

If you are fairly new to exercise, you may want to check out Redefining Strength to make sure you are doing more complex moves correctly, e.g. planks, push-ups and working with weights:

If you want to focus on using weights, I'd start off with Rebecca Louise's short workouts, increasing the weight gradually and once you feel strong enough, do two a day, before 'graduating' to Caroline. But don't forget to include rest days!

With Caroline, I'd start off with her shorter lower body workouts as they are less challenging than upper body press-ups. Then start dipping your toes into Beastmode and EPIC. Challenge yourself, but always remember to focus on form rather than trying to lift weights that are too heavy for you.

Thank you, @FlowerArranger! I'm feeling very motivated at the moment. I want to do this for my future health. I want to get older feeling strong and fit, rather than weak and prone to illnesses.

You go @Upupandiwent!! I'm 67 and I am so, so glad I discovered all these online exercise programmes. I was always quite fit, but never got used to going to the gym. I only started exercising post-menopause and I'd hate to think what I'd be like if I hadn't. Looking at other women my age can be frightening...

I'm not kidding myself: I'm less flexible now and my cardio capacity is not what it used to be, but I am way stronger than in my 40s. I'm never ill. I have tons of energy. I've been told I ski like a young woman!

I'm aware I sound a bit evangelical, but catching the exercise bug is truly life-changing

Oh goodness, I already ski like an old woman, I stick to the more pedestrian pistes and slow down if I find myself going too fast. I thought it was a heightened sense of self preservation as opposed to my no fear hurtling down a mountain in my 20s. But no, it’s me being old in my head. It started quite a while ago too, my DD skied faster than me at age 7.

Just hopping on this thread as it's very inspiring!
I run four times a week but at 50 I'm seeing what reduced bone density is doing to my mother so I want to head that off starting now.
I like to think I'm fairly fit but will ease myself in gently I think.

@AgnesWaterhouse1566

Just hopping on this thread as it's very inspiring! I run four times a week but at 50 I'm seeing what reduced bone density is doing to my mother so I want to head that off starting now. I like to think I'm fairly fit but will ease myself in gently I think.

Same here- my mum is in a mess bone- wise. She is 81 and has had a couple of falls. She has a fracture in her femoral neck that won’t heal and is in a lot of pain. I have just bought some adjustable dumbells -as I am ready to up the weights for some moves- and am determined to try and keep my bows as strong as possible.

We stayed in a hotel this week gone and I did something that I’ve never done before - I used the hotel gym! Twice!

Now back home and have 3 weeks until we go away for another week. So my plan is to start the 1 week complex series tomorrow and then follow up with the Beast Mode. After the holiday I want to knuckle down with the Heat series.

Re: bone density, I’m going to have a dexa body scan in September. Very curious to know the results!

Did the day 15 HIIT session yesterday, I think I pulled something as my whole left side (shoulder, left lumbar region, knee) is very sore.

I think I’ll stick to yoga and stretching (and the knee pain exercises!) for a couple of days then get back on the wagon. I too have bought adjustable dumbbells so I can slowly increase, plan is to get to 10kg for some of the squats by the end.

@Melassa oh no🙁. I am going to do that one later today . I’ll make sure to be careful then. Hope you recover quickly 🙂

Don’t worry @BigButtons, it was probably my bad form. It was unbearably hot yesterday and I probably rushed through a couple of moves instead of doing things properly. There were also a couple of moves I struggled to do and probably tried to hard (and still did them incorrectly). I have to resign myself to the fact that some things I am no longer agile enough to do and stop at a reasonable modification instead of pushing myself to try and master them.

Sorry to hear you hurt yourself, @Melassa. Maybe try some easier weight-based exercise for a while and slowly increase the weights? Rebecca Louise has lots of arm workouts, generally just 10 minutes. That's what I did before I discovered Ms Girvan...

Which adjustable dumbbells did you get? I need some as I'm accumulating so many normal dumbbells, I'll run out of space pretty soon!

I got them from Decathlon, these with these.

I only got 2kg and several 1kg so I can go up gradually. The bar alone weighs something like 2kg, so that plus 2x2kg weights come to 6kg.

Tabbata hiit just done. That was rough in parts I was mindful of what you said @Melassa and was careful. I avoided the lunge jumps as I know they bugger my knees and subbed for lunges and squats.
I am drenched in sweat thought which I guess means I did enough work🙂.

Did you manage the glute bridge to backwards legs one? Thanks to the sweat running into my eyes I couldn’t quite see if her bum touched the ground before curling my legs back, tried it from a bridge position and reckon I pulled my left bum muscle then. You were right to skip the lunge 180s, my knee woes stem from those, I am certain of it.

@Melassa yes I did manage that one ok. It was tiring but i didn't find the move itself too hard.
Instead of the roll to standing and then push up I just did a roll to standing without using my hands. I hate push ups with a vengeance and can't do them.
I modified some other stuff, doing a cobra instead of the tricep push ups.
It would not surprise me if the jumping lunges hurt you. I think they are really dodgy anyway as you can't check your form what with them being so quick and I know that my knees always shoot forward. I swapped them for normal lunges.
My back is going to feel this tomorrow with all the throwing my legs in the air