Lifting with Caroline Girvan 2024: What's not to love?!

[BigButtons]

New thread!

Today is an momentous day. I completed a whole session using the same weights as Caroline. It was a leg day tho - I am not near catching her on arms. Her arms terrify me.

@BigButtons did you look at calorie burn when you did a lot of cardio or have you always ignored it?
@DreadPirateRobots Great that you kept up with Caroline's lower body weights! 15kg is the highest I can go but only with wrist straps, my grip strength is nothing compared to hers. Same for me on upper body, I can generally only match her on the 4kg lateral and rear delt exercises.
I like checking VO2 max - not sure it's accurate - and my Garmin is actually pretty good on sleep and HRV measurement. I like it for heart rate, as once I knew I had a problem because my HR went up considerably more than usual, it turned out to be an overactive thyroid problem.

Today was Day 38 upper body and Day 39 lower body. Day 39 was really repetitive but I didn't mind, Intent just makes you feel like you've really had a tough workout. A lot of concentration needed!

Some of you last week mentioned the Day 7 leg day in Epic 3. I did it on Tues and this morning .... I can really feel it in my legs!!!

Also, I just wondered - do any of you try to focus on getting a certain amount of protein? My aim is to lose around 7 pounds (slowly and gradually, as not overweight, just feel better 7 pounds less), but keep finding contradictory information online about amount of protein that we should be aiming for each day.

I did Epic Heat Day 48, aka 30 solid minutes of pushup variations, 2 days ago and boy I am feeling it too right through delts, pecs, lats, triceps, and abs. I cannot do a full clapping pushup but I was pleased to find out that I can do a full pushup and then lift up off both hands. Not bad.

@Cherryblossom81 I make an active effort to eat more protein than I used to but I don't count or calculate macros or anything. I will (for instance) generally have eggs for breakfast after weight training, eat more nuts and fish, etc. I'm getting stronger and seeing clear muscle definition so it seems to be working.

@Cherryblossom81 I aim to eat my bodyweight in lbs in grammes of protein, so around 125g per day. I don't do other macros, but do try and keep to this. I usually supplement with a protein shake which takes care of 25g, the rest I get from whole foods: fish, meat, eggs and lots of Fage 5% Greek yogurt!
I'm trying to stay off nuts as they are my guilty pleasure, but they have a lot more fat than protein and I can easily eat 100g a day which is huge in terms of calories!
Eating lots of protein not only helps with muscle growth it also fills you up more than other macronutrients.
Wondering what the next program will be after Intent which finishes this week?

I just bought some metcon shoes and I'm silly happy about it!

It's daft but I do sort of "dress up" for my workouts - I like to have nice and matching workout sets because it makes me feel really good, plus I work out 5/6 days a week to some extent. I feel like I'm entitled to Take Myself Seriously as a person who lifts having stuck with it for this long and seen significant strength gains.

@DreadPirateRobots , thats nice. Having nice workout clothes and shoes make me feel good and motivated too.

I am still doing epic 2 on and off. Since I dont lift heavy, longer sessions work best for me.

I’ve got 4 days left of iron on YouTube, what do you recommend I try next? I started to google and it’s mind boggling. I’d prefer less cardio, only because I already get my cardio running, but I’m not averse to a bit of cardio in a workout!

@thenewaveragebear1983 I'll tag you in a thread where I shared a spreadsheet type thing detailing CG programmes.
(Can't figure out to link it quickly)

For anyone who is interested in Caroline Girvan programmes... www.mumsnet.com/Talk/exercise/5066626-for-anyone-who-is-interested-in-caroline-girvan-programmes

Thanks @florenceandthemac thats great

@thenewaveragebear1983 I finished Iron a couple of weeks ago and started Epic 3. If you scroll up this thread, you'll see what people recommended to me a couple of weeks ago.

How are you finding epic3 @Cherryblossom81 ? I think I looked at that one already, it looked good. 👍

@thenewaveragebear1983 I'm on Day 10 and enjoying it.

I'm not quite as keen on the HIIT days (once a week), but after asking on here about this last week, I felt more determined today to just do my best with today's HIIT and remember that I'm not Caroline (and that's ok!).

@Cherryblossom81 I've genuinely found the HIITs easier psychologically over time as I've stuck with them. Hoping the same happens for you 🙂

I’m still chipping away, it’s hard to fit in the workouts and runs, and I find if I do a leg day I can’t really run well the next day. Today I did day 28 of iron, which is glutes and it’s the first one that I’ve found really boring. Just loads of hip thrusts. I don’t have a chair that I can use like she does either so I don’t know if it was even that effective but hey, I did it.

I think I’m going to do epic 3 after this, I’ve checked out a few online. I am not averse to a bit of hiit, so all good. In the time I’ve been doing iron I have lost zero weight, despite tracking my good and macros etc, but I’ve definitely changed my muscle tone on my arms and shoulders. I am definitely going to do some measurements before I start the next programme.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I don't actually follow any of her programmes, instead I plan my own programmes to do a Push Day, a Pull Day and Leg days each week. Then I will look for one of her workouts that fits that format (and looks good/is a format I like) to make my own.
She has loads of chest, triceps and shoulders for Push, back and biceps for Pull and obvs legs and glutes. I'll either do additional core workouts, or find one of these that also include core too.
Just an idea if you dislike some of her workouts in a specific programme

@florenceandthemac I like the breaks between series so that I can do this. However, for me, I would just choose the moves that I found least onerous which isn’t always a good thing!

@florenceandthemac thank you, I need the programme I think to keep me motivated. I would never have done this many consistently if I hadn’t been following a programme.

I finished iron series today - 🙌
I’ve really enjoyed it, so glad I found the recommendation (think it was on this thread!)

epic 3 next!

I did Epic III Day 1 today. (Technically I still have day 50 of Epic Heat to do, but that's a HIIT and I prefer to do those at home, and this is an office day, so I'll do that tomorrow). The end of Epic Heat is full of so many 3-minute supersets that a straight up 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off with heavy stuff felt quite chill 😎

@DreadPirateRobots I hope,you enjoy Epic III. It was my favourite programme prior to Intent. But not really comparable as it is completely different in format, speed, rest and weights.
@BigButtons have you finished Intent now? What are you thinking for doing next? I'll finish it on Thursday, just the last 2 sessions to go. I found it so effective I'm thinking of doing Intent again, or trying Unleash as it's the only App program I haven't done (although really not keen as the one session I tried I found really dull!)

How is Intent different @samthebordercollie ?

@DreadPirateRobots The format is upper and lower body on alternate days, so no body specific part like shoulders and triceps, back and biceps etc. The weights used are often heavier so grips maybe needed for leg lifts, longer lifting periods, often 75 or even 90 seconds, longer rest periods - 30 seconds minimum. Very little cardio effort, not so much variety on lifts, they are the more traditional lifts so squats, lunges, RDLs, hip thrust, bridges, lateral delt lifts and overhead presses. The format is more repetitive and there are no complexes! Epic III has lots of complexes. There is a 4 minute finisher with Intent, 2 exercises repeated - sometimes Abs, sometimes not.

@samthebordercollie no. I fully intended too but when I went back to do the ones I had missed I realised I was over it. Bored of the same exercises and formats. I am following her schedule this week. Did the Bulgarian leg day yesterday and so enjoyed taking the chair and the shorter sets and length. Blooming hurt today though!
I will follow what she brings out probably🤷🏻‍♀️