Getting fitter and stronger with Caroline Girvan- all welcome!

[BigButtons]

New thread!🤩

Dear god. The obsessive fan base is one of the things which puts me off CG at times, I only tend to use her workouts as supplements to my own gym work for areas that I'm weaker in nowadays though. They're very good workouts but CG isn't the actual god of fitness, constructive criticism is fair and should be allowed at times as well.

I remember where her fans, and CG herself, piled on a smaller youtube channel which I follow () because she had the audacity to include some critcism in her review of one of CGs workouts. She still gave her a very high overall score and I thought what Justina was saying was fair, as she reviews all workouts from a functional strength perspective. I left CG entirely for a while after that, I wasn't impressed by that behaviour!

Yes- you can’t even mention other trainers on her fb page.
I have just some fuel leg day one and I seriously thought I was going to throw up at points as well as simply faint. Had to take a couple of tests.
probably my weights were too high. I have always used the 3/4 ratio. Today she used 15kg and 12.5kg so I used 12.5 and 10. My muscles could just about cope but I was gasping for air.
if this is day one I seriously don’t think I am anywhere near fit enough for this series.

I don't think you can really blame CG for the fans (unless she's actively inciting them) - since she makes all her content free, she depends on volume of views to make it viable, and it's some of the best free content out there. I'd just stay away from her social, probably!

Hello! I dropped off the last thread, but wanted to join in again as I'm planning to do Fuel live. @BigButtons also just done Day 1, I was completely unprepared for so much cardio, but given how out of breath I was I clearly need to do more of it!

Oh I agree, I wouldn't have blamed her for that at all and just rolled my eyes at the fans but I think by commenting on that video she further encouraged the pile on which was already occuring, by drawing further attention to it. She doesn't tend to pop up commenting on other review videos, that would have been an opportunity to calm things down but I found her comment rather passive agressive. I just wasn't impressed.

Sydney Cummings also has a rather sycophantic fan base but I've seen her respond to reviews where legitimate constructive critism has been given and she's acknowledged the points respectfully and in good humour. Or, at the very least, at least attempt to spell the person's name correctly!

I genuinely enjoy a lot of CGs workouts and I think what she's built over the last couple of years is great but people should be free to criticse if they have a legitimate point. They might be free workouts but this is a busines for her and she's done really well from it, garnering a lot of influence. That does come with some responsibility.

@MarisPiper92 I agree. I need more but I’m not sure I need it at that intensity 5 days a week for 6 weeks!😳

Epic 1 Day 19 today, full body with dumbbells. I am getting some use out of my 10kg dumbbells, if not as much as CG is. I cannot for the life of me overhead-press a 10kg dumbbell, not unless I can use my legs anyway.

I can after doing iron but I can only do it seated.

I hear you, @BigButtons 😂

Which is why I alternate Caroline with other stuff such as Growingannanas.

And I NEVER do any of her HIIT 😧

Endless contorted variations of burpees and the effing maker can just go and naff off...

That's interesting - I never thought of doing them seated!
Maybe this is the answer to my dilemma, when 10kg feel like too much, but 8kg seem a bit of a cop-out...

you don't like it then?😂😂

Where's a good place to start with growingannanas? I want to start doing a HIIT in the park* during the 40mins a week DC1 is in dance class 😁and I don't fancy more makers either. I just want a challenging varied zero kit HIIT to do and preferably a series where each week I just do the next one so I never have to think about it.

*This is dependent on lack of rain

I feel much more stable seated. CG sits when she presses over 9kg. Some people think it is harder I guess because they can't inadvertently 'cheat' and use their lower body to help. I prefer it because I find I twist and lose form quite quickly standing whereas seated I don't.
Try them seated next time and let me know what you think!

Where's a good place to start with growingannanas?

That's tricky, because she has literally hundreds of workouts and most of them aren't part of an ongoing programme - though she now has a Grow HIIT Challenge and a Levelup Challenge programme, as well as month by month programmes.

https://youtube.com/c/growingannanas

I usually just search what I'm looking for and select something that fills the need and the time I have available. Her categories include:

Sweaty, supersweaty, killer, warrior etc
Jumping, no jumping, cardio, toning, stretching
Weights, no equipment
Targeting legs, glutes, booty, arms, abs, booty, back, core, full body etc
Tabata, yoga

All her workouts are based on HIIT and last from 20 minutesto an hour. This is her talking about how she approaches fitness training - she is much more focused on variety than CG:

I like her because for me she complements CG - and because I'm not strong enough for full-time, full-on Caroline...😂

I never thought of doing shoulder presses seated either. I can only lift 6kg, a latent shoulder injury starts smarting after a few reps. Maybe I’ll try the 8s sitting down and just stick to very few reps and see if that works better.

Thanks - I'll have this a try!

Thanks @BigButtons although I am no longer keen on Fuel after reading the comments on D1, cardio is not my thing! I am going to continue with iron for now and see what Fuel involves, maybe try a bit later.

Iron D7 done today, my arms are so weak! I couldn't go beyond 6kg for any exercise, mostly hovered around 2-4kg

Thinking growingannanas HIIT tomorrow with some core work. I need to discipline myself and do the daily plank too

I'll try the sitting down too and see if I can get the 10kgs up that way! It's a sitvolution. I am ambitious to build my arms up - Gina Carano's biceps are the shit IMO.

Thanks for the advice @FlowerArranger - I just need to give it a try and see I think - see if it can become a sustainable part of my exercise week!

Seated shoulder presses are great always used to do them on a bench at the gym as your back is totally supported.

Day 2 fuel. Odd one. Not horrific like yesterday but i can't work out what it is. Not muscle building as moves too quickly, not much cardio apart from the short burpee bursts at the end. I am grateful that I wasn't trounced but do feel like I need something else today.

@BigButtons I felt exactly the same, a bit 'meh' once I'd finished and my Apple Watch said I'd only used 119calories so think I need to do a run this evening. I also cannot put my finger on exactly what was meh about it, just didn't feel like I am about to keel over like usual after her workouts!

Thank you for growingannanas recommendation @FlowerArranger, I really enjoyed the workout and made a good change from the heavy weights in iron. I think my quads will burn tomorrow from all the squat exercises!

I agree, she compliments CG very well

Fuel Day 2 done - agree it was an odd one. Does anyone use a FitBit? As I'm never sure whether to set these as "weights" or "workout". I can definitely see/feel changes after starting CG about a year ago, but my Fitbit nearly always records c.100 calories and 0 active minutes (though 12 yesterday), which feels very unfair!

@MarisPiper92 I ponder this question all the time! Sometimes I select " weights" and sometimes "workout". I seem to get a higher calorie burn when I choose weights, on average - although to be fair it does vary, I've done CG sessions where my HR didn't really get out of fat burn zone and others where I was verging on peak.

Glad you enjoyed it!
I agree, Anna loves working those quads...