Getting fitter and stronger with Caroline Girvan- all welcome!

[BigButtons]

New thread!🤩

@samthebordercollie muscle burns more calories over all- so although the actual exercise session might not burn as much the muscles themselves are energy hungry day and night. High protein foods also use more energy for the body to process. It’s a leap of faith- I know.🙂

@FlowerArranger you are so right I'm doing two Iron workouts a day today I saw the first one was just different position lunges - have to say though still loving the Iron series 😁. What is everyone doing about increasing weights from what I've read it's suggesting to increase by 0.5 or 1 kilo only? Thank you 😊

Increasing by only .5 to 1 kilo isn't possible for most people doing videos at home who don't have a full set of weights though.
I've done some sets where I've gone up a weight and used that for as many reps as I can then switched to the lower one ... does that sound ok as a compromise?

@ErrolTheDragon thank you. Yes I agree that's why I asked as I'm doing the videos from home. My DH has some Weights but they jump up by 5kg each (eg 10kg/15kg/20kg) so it's too much for me hence why I asked about increasing. I don't really want to buy a 6kg and 8kg as my next weights if I keep going up. I am using a 5kg at the moment and a 7kg - next size weight we have at home is a 10kg and I just feel that's too much of a jump. I may try as you suggested using the 10kg for one set (or even half a set I suppose as no one is watching 😂) and see if that works. Great suggestion thank you.

@mommybear1 Regarding weights I tend to improvise a bit. Like @ErrolTheDragon I will sometimes use a heavier weight for one set and then switch to a smaller one for the second, or just take a break (CG often does this too). I make sure I stop though as soon as the weight starts to affect my form - eg if I start swinging to lift a weight or using my legs to help with bicep curls.

For some exercises you can also use one heavier weight instead of two. So say you have 10kg and 15kg and you’re doing squats or lunges, you could use 1 x 15kg held at chest level instead of 2 x 10kg held by your sides. In Iron, CG often varies between holding her weights high and low when doing lunges etc and also says you can use a barbell, so I don’t see this as problematic.

With smaller weights I have been known to hold two at once, but you obviously need to ensure you can hold them safely.

I had a day off yesterday as I was so tired. Life is on the verge of getting hectic as work is busy and we have a house move coming up. I may just preempt the stress by doing one week’s workouts over 10-14 days, we’ll see. If I try to stick religiously to the plan it usually all goes wrong and I end up doing nothing. Argh!

@mommybear1 I already had 6kg- 2kg when I started but I bought a set of adjustable dumbbells and then quickly bought another. This allows me to really tweak the weights I use. I an ideal world I would have the room and the money for a full set of normal dumbbells. Hey ho.

@BigButtons thank you. I'll have a look at adjustable dumbbells my DH has a set and I've had trouble getting used to them - they have understandably a long bar which when the plates are not on I find a hinderance but I'll see what others are out there thank you. Yes I'm with you I covet love GC's personal monogram set 🤣---- but goodness knows where you'd store them 😬.

I spoke too soon - I came across the one arm push up jumpy move in epic heat today. Those are the kind of moves I didn’t enjoy in the JM workouts, and that I didn’t feel got any better results than other moves. And it seemed to repeat over and over! I persevered but didn’t enjoy it, though it did warm me up on this cold day!

I do have sets of various weights that I’ve added to over the years. I tend to stick to the lighter ones though. They’re all shoved under the sofa. Along with my new yoga blocks and resistance bands!

Oh man, Iron day 12 - chest and triceps. I had to make dinner after and was struggling to chop veg and get the plates out the cupboard!

The finisher (after hammering your arms for 30min) was 3 x 1 minute of wide push-ups, push-ups and tricep push-ups. Never in a million years. CG is a machine, I have no idea how she does it!

The finisher (after hammering your arms for 30min) was 3 x 1 minute of wide push-ups, push-ups and tricep push-ups. Never in a million years.

I've never in my life managed to do even one full push-up

Try this:

@ErrolTheDragon when I started CG I couldn't do a push up but now I can do them for a minute no problem, practice really does make them achievable!
@FlowerArranger that's a very useful video. I follow Redefining Strength, she has some very good tips!

Quick question about protein, do you mange to get 1g per lb daily? I struggle, even with a whey protein shake every morning. Is it important to spread the protein equally between meals?
Can anyone give me an example of a typical daily meal plan they use?I'm putting on weight, hopefully it's muscle (or it might be the créatine kicking in as it holds more water in the muscle)

Day 6 of Endgale today and arms aching a little after the finisher of 100 tricep presses. Really enjoying Endgame,

I probably need to work on correct form with an incline first - maybe even wall initially.

Day 18, upper body - I used every size of weight we have during that, though only one of the 10kgs.

@samthebordercollie I try most days to get the correct amount.of protein for my body weight. from studies I have listened to on Peter Attia's podcast it is better to get 30 grms in in each hit rather than piddly amounts as the body needs that much at once to use it specifically for muscle growth. If smaller amount the liver with use it differently

Still going with Iron round 2 and Epic heat. Almost gave up on Epic heat the other day after the ‘burpee bonanza’, until I realised that was the title and it wasn’t going to be a regular thing! Really enjoyed the ‘flaming legs’ a few days later.

@BigButtons that's interesting, so consuming a protein bar with 20grammes of protein is a waste of time and calories as a snack! I don't eat breakfast so I'll increase the volume of my protein shake to get 30 instead of 20g.
It's hard to get enough protein in if you don't eat 3 meals.
This morning did a 20 min full body workout and an 8 mile run. Still had some energy this evening so did Day 51 of Heat which I'd strangely missed (cough) when doing the programme.
30 minutes of a hundred different versions of push ups 😱

@samthebordercollie for the body to use as muscle building- yes. It needs to be 30g to switch that on. Making new muscle is a heavy expenditure for the body- it needs to know it has enough to work with before it will do that. The liver will use protein for other things given half the chance- those it sees as more important for the body.
I highly recommend you listen to this podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-peter-attia-drive/id1400828889?i=1000580634753

I have listened to it at least 4 times. It is an amazing source of info.
i don’t always want protein for breakfast so will have leucine and dextrose as a drink to help get things going. I also have amino acids with it.🙂

Do the studies take size and sex into account at all?

@BigButtons Many thanks for this recommendation to listen to Peter Attia, especially that discussion with Don Layman. I had no idea that age (in my case late 60s) had such an influence on protein synthesis, nor that the quantity at any one meal could be optimised for protein synthesis/ muscle growth.
Peter Attia also seems to appreciate that many of us want to continue to increase lean muscle without overdoing calories.

@ropework glad you liked it. It is an absolutely eye opening discussion. The science is so well explained and I know Don Layman really knows his stuff.
love that he describes protein requirement as an absolute number- so as you get older and you calorie’s requirements might go down, your protein should make up a greater and greater percentage of your daily energy intake.

@samthebordercollie It’s your weight and age that matter. The younger you are the better your body is at using protein sources. As we age we get more and more inefficient therefore need more of it to maximise benefits.

I really enjoyed listening to Dr Layman too. I've listened to Layne Norton and Dr Andy Galpin who are also interesting in the subject of protein and muscle synthesis but Dr Layman is the easiest to understand on putting eating habits into practice.
My jeans are getting tighter. I was a skinny fat runner before so I hope that it's due to a little muscle gain and not over eating Barebell protein bars 😂

Is Caroline coming back with anything new?

I've got a bit behind, up to day 25 of iron last week.
I'm generally enjoying the upper body and whole body ones more than the legs, and I'm happy enough with the strength of those so I think after I've done the last 5 I may start again but not do the legs ones.