Getting fitter and stronger with Caroline Girvan- all welcome!

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New thread!🤩

Day 7 fuel completed this morning and like day 19 it was 2 minute complexes. Quite brutal and my 5kg weights have never felt heavier!

Back in with a legs on Thursday ,(hamstrings are killing!) little arms and shoulders today.

I’ve been ill for a week so haven’t made it to day 3 of beginners yet. Posting here so I’m forced to do it today!

@Lovetok go for it- you can do it!!

On the final week of iron. Have loved it as a series but struggling to fit in the five workouts a week. Planning on trying doing three days a week but doing two of the days with two sessions (so day 1 leg/arms day2 glutes/arm and day 3 full body)

Not sure if it'll be too much? If it works I think I will repeat iron again!! Have two weeks holiday at end of July. Camping so won't be doing weights (although I may take resistance bands 🧐) which will be a break

Not sold on fuel with some of the comments on here. Are there more series planned or should I try epic 2 or 3 after that?

@milkfromthesleepycow just having one more coffee 😬😬😬

Epic 1 Day 28 smashed, everything along the back! I used my 10kgs for a good 60% of it and am feeling well pleased with myself.

Well done @AquaticSewingMachine 🙂
I have thrown in the towel on Fuel. Where I am in my life- peri meno- tiredness- stuff going on in my life- I dunno- the way the series is designed just raised my cortisol too high and I felt crap and dreaded the workouts.
have gone back to Epic 3. Great 40 min shoulder session today. Then a bicep add on. Felt good to rest my legs.
leg day tomorrow though.

Took a fee days out of Iron for a horrible exam and went back feeling mentally destroyed to the 15 min kettlebell and 15 min biceps. Feel better for it definitely!

I’m really unfit and want to start this. There’s so many posts already, I’ve skim read a bit but don’t really know where to start. Does she have a beginners series of videos?

I can see she has fuel and iron, then a few playlists with random videos, I can’t see a clear way to start.

Yes @DatingIsDifficult , there's an Epic Beginners on YouTube.

@DatingIsDifficult definitely start with beginners. It is not technically beginners though and you may find it tough. Don’t be discourage, just keep doing it until you feel stronger.

@DatingIsDifficult I’m doing Beginners even though I’m not an absolute beginner - I just haven’t done any home workouts for about a year. Days 1 & 2 were fine doing the workout but I couldn’t walk properly or use my arms for 2 days afterwards!

^what they said. I'm all smug about getting up to 10kg on a session except when I had to drop back to 7.5 but Caroline was using heavier weights than me. You just do what you can and keep plugging away and you build fitness and strength.

EPIC 3 was the series that worked best for me and I keep going back to it. I never use anything approaching her weights though. Mostly 5kg plus occasionally 10kg for squats and the like. I also do Growingannanas HIIT sessions on alternate days as full on Caroline is too much for me. Oh, and the Bowflex 3 minute plank. Every day!!

@FlowerArranger just googled the Bowflex 3 min plank. Top comment on YouTube “want to time travel? Prepare for the longest 3 minutes of your life” hahahaha!!!
You must be incredibly fit!

Day 4 beginners done! Absolutely loved it! I love dumbbells. Totally got my mojo back. Feeling energised and positive!

@FlowerArranger does growingananas have any low intensity cardio?

Epic 3 day 17. That's my legs trashed, but in a good way.
I have found some trainers doing liss workouts. I am going to try one out and see where my heart rate settles.

I think most of Anna's workouts are labelled HIIT, but she has both high and low impact sessions, with and without weights. I often do them at my own pace, depending on how energetic I feel. Her back catalogue is huge, so I always manage to find something.

As for the Bowflex 3-minute plank, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I'm really not superfit, especially after not having been able to work out regularly for the past 6-8 months, but my core is still solid. Do it every day for a month and you won't believe the difference!

Especially if you combine it with Rebecca Louise's Best Abs. (But do remember to turn the sound right down after you've done it once...)

Day 8 fuel completed tonight, it felt much slower than recent days and very doable with my 5kg weights but then CG was using 15kg so another workout telling me to buy new weights. I did find out I’m getting promoted this week so maybe now’s the time to ‘treat’ myself!

Well done all with your workouts. Finally started Iron properly yesterday. I've already done a few random workouts from that series, but am going to work through it properly now. Will do day 2 today.

Didn't Caroline today because my PT merrily kicked the shit out of me instead. And it was glorious. Except for the part where the barbell almost slid off my shoulders because they were so sweaty.

Epic 1 Day 29 tomorrow.

@Forgotmypasswordsgain well done on your promotion! Yes deffo time for you to get heavier weights!
I have been upping my protein intake. Trouble is that it fills me up so much I can’t eat anything else. I will turn into a 🐓🍗🐟

Day 9 fuel this morning and it was a deceptively sweaty full body workout. I thought it was going to be easy going with only 40sec exercises but the shorter 20sec rests seemed to be over far too quick. A full 60mins netball last night as well so feeling good to do 3 days exercise in a row as I’ve been making a lot of excuses to skip it of late💪