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

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Ah yes, that was a mistake! It's rare, but they happen in the description sometimes. I've never done the ultimate beginner program but I know on Intent most days I was getting out a significant amount of equipment each time.
Sometimes on the videos there are timer issues where the timer doesn't match what Caroline is doing, but on the whole it's rare that there are mistakes - impressive considering the number of workouts she has done in total!

Yeah, I think that is probably a one-off slip. I've never had a workout which needs a piece of equipment not mentioned in the description. She does occasionally demo other pieces of kit (e.g. dip bars) that you can use if you happen to have access to them but that you can also replicate with a plain old chair.

You could also use your other dumbells to stand against for heel elevated squats.
Though that wouldn't help with elevated lunges.
I get most of my equipment from amazon and have quite the selection...including a bloody mini trampoline that the other trainer I follow used in a workout ONCE and never since! Grr..kids like it though 😀

I'd also been meaning to ask if any of you recommended a particular gluten band? I have a set of 3 but even the strong one doesn't feel very strong (it seems to stretch too easily and not really create much resistance).

@Cherryblossom81 the Teknifit band is really strong. I tried lots before, even the extra strong from Decathlon aren't as good

Thank you @samthebordercollie

I have the extra-strong glute band from Decathlon in a small and it feels pretty fierce to me 😁

I have both and it isn't as strong as the Teknifit.

Not been on here for a while but I’ve just been plugging away with app Iron and I finished today! Some before and after pics. In the left ones I’d just finished Epic 3 - I actually put on weight during Iron due to being very hungry and relaxing my diet a bit (more junk 🤦🏼‍♀️) and you can see that in the photos, but I have definitely built muscle over Iron. The back photos aren’t great but my shoulders have really improved! I put on a blazer last week and felt it pulling over my shoulders/chest for the first time. I’ve also noticed my quads are bigger.

Both good programmes and I feel I now have a go to for fat burning in Epic 3. Not sure what to do now - I go on holiday in two weeks without a gym so I’ll be on some short body weight hotel room workouts probably that week.

Well done finishing Iron @AtomicBlondeRose ! Looking forward myself to amazing results like yours.

Is it normal to feel so tired after starting to work out regularly? I’m finding myself constantly exhausted lately-like I could sleep all day, every day. I don’t know whether it’s the workouts, or my constant work travel, or maybe I’m even coming down with something, or bits of all of it.

I found I was actually less tired when I started working out more. Make sure you’re eating enough - even if your aim is weight loss, you still need to fuel your body enough.

I did Unleash day 1 today. Hmm, I kind of hated it, but then I really hate lunges and lunge variations and there was a shitload of them. Then I made the mistake of looking it up on the CG Facebook page and it’s full of “legs like jelly” and people using fucking ridiculous weights. Please. I actually often find myself dropping to body weight on lunges which I know is a psychological issue because I can do them weighted, but I just find them so tedious and energy-sapping. Anyway I’ll give upper body a go and see how I like that. I’m not mad committed to Unleash and might switch to Intent or something else if I don’t get on with it.

@Mommybunny how is your sleep? It's so important in terms of recovery. How is your diet, are you eating enough - and enough protein?
@AtomicBlondeRose Great progress pics! I'm now half way through Unleash, and actually really enjoying it. Day 16 and 17 today and except for some single leg RDLs the leg day was all lunges, static, Bulgarian, rear step...they are really effective so I like doing them. Day one was hard. I just ignore all the comments; the regular commentators always make the workouts out to be really tough. No idea why! I think I still prefer Intent but I'm enjoying Unleash more and more, except for the glute days which can be a bit boring.

I didn’t like unleash. I get you on the fb groups and their crazy competitive weight choices and also the ridiculous write ups and emojis. I too find normal static lunges tedious and often drop to body weight just because I can’t be bothered to suffer . 😂
heavy weights bulk up mu
y thighs so I don’t like that either!

I also do lunges with body weight and don’t care, they hard enough as it is! Just pleased to get through them 😂

So glad it’s not just me! It’s crazy that I’ll be doing body weight lunges then switch to my heaviest weights for RDLs and love it. They’re 30lb (got them cheap from Amazon Warehouse because they’re imperial I guess) which is about 13.5kg and I’d actually love to use them for high squats and chest presses except I can’t lift them high enough to get started… yeah I can’t lift the weights I’m about to lift!

I do not get the FB thing of experienced long-term CGers going about their legs being wrecked, can’t walk/sit down the next day, all of that. After months or years of doing the workouts? I can usually feel that I worked out but in a fairly pleasant way at most. I did come close to switching the TV off three times today which is a record though.

I don’t really want wrecked anything! I also love an RDL and go heavy. Just the lunges get the body weight 😂 and the triceps get the little 2x3kgs 😂

I can lift 13.5 for high squats- as in get them up but my lower back can’t cope. Same with RDLs. I did manage her balancing Bulgarian lunge short session with 17.5kg. I always use a chair for them now- it’s great!

Caroline was using 15kg dumbells held high for the elevated static lunges. No way could I lift that, but with 12.5kg it was fine. And when she dropped to 2 x 10kg for the Bukgarian lunges I was OK matching that. However the upper body session I did after she was using a 30kg dumbell for landmine rows, I decided to use my 20kg rather than my 27kg dumbell, I would have had a bad back otherwise! And hammer press 2 x 6kg standing - she was using 2 x 10kg sitting.
There's no real advantage to going very heavy, there's an increased risk of injury and it's harder to get a full ROM. 8 - 15 reps is best for hypertrophy. 3 - 5 for strength/power lifting.

I find her videos very leg focused.
Since doing her workouts I have come to rather like(or at least tolerate lunges, still cannot do Bulgarians from a chair, I use a small step)I use 7.5kg but usually have to drop down as the workout goes on.
It is squats I struggle with,If I lift heavier than 6kg in each hand it feels uncomfortable in both my shoulders,wrists and lower back..Did a squat and press workout last week and it made me sore for sure-not a fan!
I am in awe at some of you using 12.5 and 10's.

@ellebelli i do a lot of the full body ones, I really like the triple set one at the moment as it’s arms and legs. I also have a dodgy back so no way am I going too heavy. Staggered RDL’s seem to be the one I can do the heaviest as I have made sure for so long that I am hip hinging I practiced for months. I hate some of the bent over rows and rear delt flys as bending over that long hurts my back but I just use a lower weight. For me I couldn’t touch the floor on the knee in a lunge for months then suddenly I could!

It’s funny the way we suddenly progress. I seem to be plagued with various injuries arm. Just as one heals another takes its place. My tennis elbow is nearly better but now my left shoulder is complaining so I had to lower the weights for my chest pressing today.
i like staggered RDL but hate the 2 weight version.
I frequently, intentionally lower the weights now. I find I get better strength gains that way and it keeps the sessions less onerous. I can actually see separate muscle heads on my shoulders. Hey it’s only taken me 3.5 years 😆😆

Does anyone choose to actually skip a workout?
I can't do push ups! So an entire workout with variations seems pointless to me..so I've been skipping them, likewise some of the enom.(hate those)
I know I should do what I find difficult...but then I dread a workout and it feels like a bit of a waste if I'm struggling through it and not getting the reps etc.

Of course you can! But it's worth persevering with push ups. I could only do a few in succession at the start but with practice I can do at least 30 now - normal ones at least, not tripceps pushups! And I've always skipped a lot of the HIT workouts because I run for my cardio. I've only ever done one EMOM 😳

Yes I skip bits like curtesy lunge as I do NOT have the coordination for this but I will just replace it with something else like a goblet squat or normal lunge and do that at the same time as her

In the preamble to today's full body Unleash workout, Caroline mentioned that her favourite lower body exercise was ......lunges. Who would have guessed??