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

[BigButtons]

New thread!

I enjoyed session 2 of REV - the variety meant it went fast and it was more wide-ranging than some previous programmes. However it was hard work and I know I’ll feel it tomorrow which I usually don’t! Also quite long; I foresee dropping to two circuits for some sessions. I do like how different it feels to the last few programmes I’ve done.

A lot of people on Facebook have noticed that doing just two circuits clocks in at about half an hour. I am going to start doing. It's not as breathless as Fuel so far, or her HIIT, and not as hard lifting-wise as Intent or whatever. I think it might be good for deload, maybe? Kind of an easier programme?. Maybe these will be famous last words lol

I started today and didn't find it too difficult, but knowing Caroline it will get a lot harder! She was very generous giving us a whole minute's rest between circuits, I've never seen that before 😂. I'm still not convinced circuits are as good for gains as the repeated lifting in Intent and PE but they are certainly more fun to do!I like the longer programmes but it's great to cut down the circuits from three to two if you're time restricted.

I have done the first three of REV. Liked the upper body days. I cut the leg day down to 2 circuits as I can at it too late in the day due to life.
I agree @samthebordercollie but I also think a change is good for the muscles too. Shakes things up a bit. Time will tell how l get on with it, but the option to lose a circuit to cut down on time is good.
I will see how my body feels.
i remember with fuel feeing really odd after three weeks. I never felt like I had a decent workout but also felt really tired and started to dread them.
i didn’t want to lift weights on minute and do 30 seconds of burpees .Rev feels more like epic heat on the way it induces cardio and I liked heat!
i had some Xmas money and have just bought myself a pair of 15kg dumbbells. I got them for £47 including postage which I am happy about! I am gradually looking to replace my adjustables .
I have really benefitted from having them over the years though- as they have allowed me to make smaller leaps up and down in weights. I will still keep them but use them less. Certainly I won’t bother buying 10 and 12 kg dumbbells for a while as the adjustables do just fine even if they are a tad bulky.

Keep an eye out at Lidl - that’s where I got my 10kgs and they were on offer so I saved money for a pair. Can’t remember the price but I’ve never seen the, cheaper anywhere.

Day 4 of Rev and some dreaded jumping moves sneaking in! Also sissy squats which was a hard nope and a bit of a shock to start with. I’m getting used to the circuits format and it seems to go quite quickly although they are long. Trying to stick to doing three for now but it’s early days!

@BigButtons I expect burpees on Fridays' full body days but hopefully the other days will stay free of them! Glad you are getting some cheaper weights, I've accumulated rather a lot now 😳 hate to think what the whole cost is overall!
@AtomicBlondeRose I really enjoy plyometrics so am looking forward to Day 4 if there are squat jumps. I think that's why I keep going back to redo workouts from Unleash which is now one of my favourite programme, often jumping on leg days (but no burpees)

Day 4 was great. I loved the switch lunges. Looking forward to full body day.
I am thinking I will subscribe to the app for a month or two every January just to enjoy these sorts of programmes. Unleash and Rev are great fun.

Hello everyone. I'm new to this thread. I started doing CG last year. I've done Iron, Fuel, Epic Heat and am currently doing Epic 3 (which I'm really enjoying so far).

I'm wondering what to do next, e.g. switch to her app or carry on with the YouTube programmes. I've had a look at Epic 3 but some workouts are approx 60 minutes. I work full-time, so would struggle with this. 45 minutes is the sweet spot for me. Are there many programmes on the app where the workouts are this length? Or maybe I should just repeat the programmes I've enjoyed on YouTube?

Yeah there’s loads that are 45-50 minutes - in fact that’s more the default length for all the new programmes. Certainly the REV is coming in around 45-49 minutes and from
memory, Unleash/Intent/PE are around that length too. And it’s quite easy to skip the finisher or something if you need to save a couple of minutes. I can’t remember the last time I did a full 60 minutes.

And there’s a good bank of 20-30 minute workouts too with the CGXmas and the Sunrise collection. Certainly I can always find something to suit between programmes.

@AtomicBlondeRose great, thank you.

I had one of those days in the gym this morning where I was like "... being strong is so awesome". Even though Caro was chest pressing 17.5s to my 12.5s. I'm not the only one who gets that, right? Seeing the muscle mass I've acquired is just still such a trip. I never get tired of it.

@DreadPirateRobots yes! It's great to feel strong. My grip strength is now excellent for my age (59). It's nice to see the body composition change, I don't believe the body fat percentage on my Tanita scales but the trend is pretty accurate and although I've put on a few pounds they seem to be mostly muscle. I was in the UK at Christmas and saw my nephews (who work out) and niece in London and they all said 'aunty Sam is really hench'. I had to look it up 😂
All thanks to Caroline!

New ambition: have one of the niblings refer to auntie Pirate as hench. 😍

Morning all. I know there are a few of us on here who, like me, are small framed. I just wondered if you have any tips...

I managed to increase my weights for legs to 2x10kg this morning (the heaviest weight I've used since I started this!). But the problem was my wrist strength to hold them. My wrists/hands felt too weak to hold them down but I also felt like I couldn't safely get them up in the position on my shoulders. Not sure if I've explained that very well. Can anyone relate? I feel I could go up to 2x10kg for my legs but being held back by my wrists.

@Cherryblossom81 your wrists will also strengthen in time. You can actually buy wrist straps for weightlifting to enable you to lift heavier; the disadvantage of this is that if you use them all the time they will delay and hinder that natural strengthening of your wrists. It's a tradeoff.

I have been limited by my wrist strength, I took quick wrist breaks and kept trying and my grip gradually strengthened.

...and now I'm at semantic satiation on "wrist". That 'wr' in particular is so weird.

@Cherryblossom81 Exactly what @DreadPirateRobots sais, wrist straps are great but try not to use them all the time. If I have 3 sets of an exercise I won't use them for the first and maybe second set but will for the third. If you use them all the time you won't improve your grip or wrist strength as quickly.
How's everyone getting on with Rev? I really like it, even the full body cardio days - previously I used to avoid them because I run and cycle for cardio. I actually enjoyed doing burpees on this week's session!

Hello, new to the Caroline Girvan club despite thinking about it for aaaages 🤣.

For those that do running & Caroline's workouts, do you do one one day and the other the next? I sense the workouts are more effective if you do them every day but I just don't have the time to do both and don't want to give up the jogging.

@sloooooopjonb I only run once a week these days - running isn't my core focus and I do get cardio through CG sessions and also because I cycle to work. So I think you do have to pick a focus if you're not lucky enough to be CG and have fitness as your job. If you want running to be your focus I would definitely supplement with strength sessions but I wouldn't be doing 5x CG a week. Alternating days sounds reasonably sensible.

I like Rev but the suggestion here or elsewhere of increasing the playback speed has transformed my workouts. I do the three sets, but at a slightly quicker speed. I keep going at normal rate, so it looks as if she's lifting faster on screen than I am, but I am used to this now.

This means I can reduce the workout to around 35 minutes. 48 minutes is just too long for me, I start to lose concentration.

@Abra1t interesting. How do you actually change the speed of her videos? I've had a look on the app but can't do it!

I can do it in the web version.

@sloooooopjonb When I was a more serious runner I used to do alternate days with CG workouts, I did full body 3 days a week. Now I do CG upper lower 6 days a week and just do a short 5km or 8km run after the upper body workout, and maybe a long run when I don't lift.

What a great tip @Abra1t thank you! I've just started iron this month and with the warm up too they are slightly too long for my lunch break so I've been having to cut them short.

In the app you click the settings cog at top right and then adjust playback speed. I do this for mandatory training videos at work - didn't think it it for this. Won't do 1.8X like I do for those though!