Getting fitter and stronger with Caroline Girvan- all welcome!

[BigButtons]

New thread!🤩

If I'm sore I'll target non-sore areas the next day, or sometimes I substitute a Growingannanas low impact workout.

The soreness will reduce as your fitness improves. I am rarely significantly sore now unless I've had a long break between sessions because of illness.

I wouldn't work the same muscle groups hard the next day but I might do a different one. At the very least I'd recommend doing some walking, stretching or yoga - the more you sit still the worse it is with DOMS. And you only need to take 1 or max 2 days off from working those muscles, you don't need to wait for the soreness to go away entirely. (Again, it'll go away quicker as you build fitness.)

Yes- walking and stretching do help reduce doms. I am still sore in my hamstrings from Monday's beating and my arms and chest are sore from yesterday's beating. In a minute I will be doing legs and tomorrow I will be sore all over! Just as well it's a rest day.
Was well chuffed to find a pair of 6kg dumbbells on facebook market place. I picked them up today, cost £5! I am at the point where I need to go up for my tricep and bicep work.
I suggest you really up your protein. I am seeing huge difference since I have been doing this.

First workout since having covid a few weeks ago!! Just the 15 min kettlebell so only quick with a mix of 10 and 20kg. Feels good to start again. My 20kg kettlebell is huge though, can't get my hands around the handles. Could this be because it's a cheap one? CG is using a 16kg and it looks much much smaller.

Hello all. Hope you are well!
today was EMOM day for me. Hard as hell. Heart rate sky high at times. Perversely I like EMOMS I think because I can earn extra rest if I go faster. Time flies too.
one more week of Epic three for me. I will feel sad when it’s over.
I suppose I could just start it again😂

hello dear Girvanators! I am back from holiday. Did only one workout while I was away, but that's ok. Spent a lot of time in the pool with my toddler, and it was so hot I think I sweated out any weight gain!

Interestingly, despite eating breakfast every day (I normally only eat lunch and dinner as I follow IF), and necking a lot of fizz at the club each evening before dinner, I feel slimmer than when I went away. I think it's because I was eating less bread - only one slice every other day or so. The only other carbs were a few slices of pizza, rice noodles and rice itself, and the portions were small. Too hot to really eat much, tbh.

So I've got two more workouts to complete FUEL. Going to recover from my jetlag today, do the final ones tomorrow/weds and then restart a program on Monday. Not sure whether to redo FUEL, or go back to HEAT while we await the new program from our fearless leader.

How is everyone else doing?

Epic 1 Day 31 for me, abs and glutes. I do not know how CG was doing 1:45 of hip bridges with a 20kg dumbbell on her hips. I was barely managing that long with a 7.5kg.

Hello all, I’ve been off the Girvan wagon off late, I finished Iron then was undecided whether to do Heat again or attempt Fuel. In the end it was so bloody hot here plus 12+hours of work and commuting meant I lost all impetus. I’ve been doing the 3 minute plank most days, plus a couple of sets of push ups and the odd squat. I think I’ve lost most of my muscle already though! My bum has reverted to its normal size and my back and shoulder definition is less visible now and I seem to have debulked a bit in general. I guess at my age if you don’t use it you lose it.

I’ve decided to wait until it’s cooler before relaunching a series. I get sweaty enough without lifting a weight so purposely sweating doesn’t appeal right now. Does anyone know if something new is coming out in the autumn?

Morning all! I'm on Day 12 of Heat, and am trying to slightly increase my weights (with varying success). I know I said I enjoyed Fuel a bit more than some of you, but Heat is putting it to shame. Fab series.

I’m halfway through Epic 3 and plan to go on to Heat next - doing both for the second time!

I think I have covid again!
partner is just recovering from it and back at work today. I feel like I did when I had it in March but LFT was negative this morning. I am expecting it to show positive at some point.
can’t bloody believe it. 2 jabs, one booster, one bout of covid and now this!
I was just a week off of finishing Epic 3. Oh well- it will have to wait.
@Melassa hello again! Good to see you back. Bet it is stinky hot for you. Really hard to exercises in the heat and with your work schedule.
I think she will come out with something in September. I hope it is better than fuel. That was rubbish.

@MarisPiper92 fuel was so weird. I never came away from a session feeling properly worked out yet my body was increasingly tired.
heat is great. There’s so much to choose from!

I reckon I'm closing in on the end of Epic 1! Prob planning just to go straight to Epic 2. I've really enjoyed Epic 1.

I definitely don't need any heavier dumbbells than 10kg yet but I'm wondering about getting a 16kg Kettlebell...

@BigButtons feel better soon. I've been having one low grade bug after another lately and it sucks.

Salut Girvanators. Still on the bandwagon over here. Epic 1 Day 36 today, back and shoulders. Reckon I'm going to scoot back a bit and do a HIIT tomorrow experimentally.

I'm so glad it's cooled down a bit. I was literally drenched after every workout of late.

Hello all
covid passed quickly this time🙂
I finished Epic three on Sunday.
today I started pyramid week. I actually thought I was going to pass out at times during today’s leg day.😵‍💫🤢
one of my hip muscles is slightly pulled.
Really brutal 😮.

Hi@BigButtons- I'm also nearing the end of EPIC 3 and was wondering where to go next... Heat, Iron or Pyramid? Or something else... Do you have a handle on the relative (dis-)advantages? Thanks!! 😀

Hi @FlowerArranger !
I like the pyramid format. I have done heat and iron and liked them both, but am delving into stuff I haven’t done yet.
i can’t move this morning- my legs are so stiff😵‍💫. So I will keep the weight lower today and try and feed myself properly.
I am anticipating a new series soon so don’t want to start another 10 weeker. It was a toss up between pyramid and beastmode. The leg session was 50 minutes long though- think upper body is only 30 today, but I will need pain killers first 😂😂

@FlowerArranger I did tempo week last year and loved that one.
I know I said I felt like I was going to pass out yesterday . Well dp has come down with a bug that made him faint this morning and one dd also says she feels faint and sick.
bugs galore at the moment🧐

Holy mother I just did an EMOM HIIT and I think I hated it.

I empathize, @AquaticSewingMachine... I don't get on with EMOM. I think I may just be too old to keep up 😂

Sorry to hear about all the bugs, @BigButtons !!
I think I may give Tempo a go. One week somehow sounds more manageable than 10. What weights are you using?

@AquaticSewingMachine I actually really quite like EMOMS😮.
@FlowerArranger between 12.5-14kg for legs. Back work 11.5-12.5kg. I will try 15kg soon ish depending on the difficulty of the session.
chest only 10kg - it’s my weakest area. and shoulders/arms a percentage of whatever Cg is using.

Oh wow, that's impressive!!
Pretty much double of what I'm using...😿
Ah well - onwards and upwards!!

@FlowerArranger it doesn’t matter what we are using as long as we feel challenged but still ‘safe’. My shoulders are quite weak but I can do more push ups now. It’s taken a long time. I found my grip strength let me down for your a while but that has got much better with time.
🙂

Any of you come across Harry of TeamForNeverLean? I find him both knowledgeable and entertaining:

At some point he did a review of many of the most popular online trainers......... and guess who was top with a near perfect score! 😎

He even finds room for reciting Dylan Thomas...