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

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New thread!

I like Caroline's look too, she's lean and sculpted rather than bulky so she looks good in normal clothes as well as excercise gear. She never bulks and cuts like a lot of professionals/influencers/content creators, she is 'natty' and not out to impress anyone, she clearly loves what she does and isn't out to exploit people like a lot of on line trainers and influencers seem to be doing on social media these days. She could be making A LOT more money than she does, as well as having an easier time, by employing other trainers, for example, and exploiting the brand like BODI or Les Mills.
I have a lot of respect for her not selling out in this way.

I think she looks great in the calisthenics videos. She is quite short I think so naturally a smallish build, and she is lean but I don’t think too lean personally. It’s a physique I think would be somewhat achievable myself which is of course part of the attraction of the workouts! I’d say if I paid proper attention to my diet I could look similar (and had nicer hair and bothered with fake tan!). But the trouble is I mostly eat well but then ruin it all with hot cross buns and chocolate and wine. Oh well, one must live. And I’d never dare wear all white like that because a) I am pale and b) I’d INSTANTLY sit on a red felt tip or pour a discarded cup of tea over myself.

The stills are odd- she looks all kind of different sizes depending on how the photo has been taken, where her legs are cut off etc.
I love that she hasn’t sold out- especially with the clothing. I am sure the fact that she is wearing whatever means hoards of people search it out and buy it anyway?
me? I keep going with my old Primark vest and shorts 😂

Ella I know what you mean though, Caroline did have a very natural vivacious healthy glowy look on the youtube videos, but virtually all people are going to look better at 36ish than 40ish, right? You have more natural collagen in your skin, and it's less likely all those annoying perimenopausal symptoms have started, and you probably haven't woken up covered in cellulite from arse to calf yet, as happened to me when I turned 40. (She does wear shorts of a length I probably last wore when I was about five years old, though, so I don't think she has that problem lol)

So after day 4 of Calisthenics, I have a new understanding of body weight exercises and the range and variation that there can be. And I’ll certainly bear these workouts in mind next time I find myself in prison/kidnapped/in nuclear bunker post-apocalypse or similar. But otherwise I think I won’t be running back to them because to me they’re the deadly trio of long, hard and boring. No shade on CG who has put as much variety in as I think is possible, but they’ve made me very appreciative of the efficiency of weights workouts. After another 75 second set of some push up variation I was looking at the dumbbells longingly thinking I would have knocked this session out in half the time with a few weights. I’m glad I’ve tried them and it’s good to know about but short and sweet is more my style!

She seems to be a genuinely nice person. I have huge respect for her.

I just did day 1 of Max so here’s my report! It’s a real crowd-pleaser IMO and seems to have two aims - the first is clearly to provide an answer to the million-times-asked question of “what do I do after Iron?” 😂 It’s a similar length and pace so is definitely a good follow-on, but every day is a full body split so different in that respect (and no days full of nothing but Bulgarians hopefully.) The second, I would say (as part of this demographic) is to provide a workable, flexible programme for the “busy mum”-type woman who is probably the larger part of her audience. Caroline uses heavy weights for it so for a more experienced user it still provides the aspirational challenge but for someone who’s only done Iron it’d be really accessible. Also I LOVE that in her articles she’s emphasised that it’s fine to do it as and when, to be realistic and to work to what suits you - some sensible counterpoints against the fucking maniacs in the FB group and comments section I felt. Already people are freaking out about the rest day changing ffs.

I love the length of it and I matched weights for about 50% of the workout which left me quite chuffed - first ever chest press with my 15kgs (only for one set though). Same for squats as I couldn’t lift them to my shoulders for the other sets! Felt like a good workout after although once again made the mistake of looking at the comments to find shaking limbs, people dripping with sweat, fire emoji etc. I mean…not really. But I liked it and felt challenged.

@AtomicBlondeRose thanks for that!
I am literally loading up my barbell. I bought more 10kg plates on sale in Argos yesterday. I am going to try with 50kg as I am ever mindful of my back.
for the squats I am going to use my 10kg weighted vest and 2 10 kg dumbbells as this will also be easier on my back.
chest press- I have to go no heavier than 10kg at as one shoulder has been playing up for months now. This also means less weight on the shoulder press. Bummer.
You are spot on about the FB group- the posts actually allowed up are just bloody crazy.
We shall see how this series plays out. If I don’t like it after three weeks( always the time I give a new series) then I will probably go back to rev or PE.
I am getting so big in my thighs and glutes TOO big for my liking. Upper body is also much bigger but I am ok with that, I am thinking of upping the weights but lowering the volume for any leg work .
also going to dial in the bread consumption! I am not big - 8 mostly but I bulk very easily on my lower body. I always have done.
will report back when I’ve done it!

I only have 25kg on my barbell because I started with a convertible set and it only holds about 30kg max. I know I could definitely go heavier on the hip thrusts by miles but it means getting a whole new set up so it’s just one of those things I keep putting off!

I’m hoping Max helps me trim down a bit because I’ve noticed since Rev ended and it’s been more piecemeal that I’ve put on a bit of fat. Can’t blame CG for that though as I’ve also been eating plenty of carbs and chocolate! But it’d be nice to tighten up round the waist a bit. My arms are quite big now which I like!

First day of max done- matched CG weights for all except the last round. I could have gone heavier on both hip thrust and chest press as no niggles to report.
it was boring- I like the alternating exercise set up- it’s a bit like PE.
no doubt the folk on fb will be screaming murder as usual.
this would be very easy for a beginner to adapt to just by lowering the weights.

Hip thrusts and chest press alternating was annoying for me as I don't have the huge bumper plates on my barbell. It takes me a bit longer to set up as I have to lift things into place rather than just roll them. But it was a good workout overall. Not reinventing the wheel but a welcome shift in direction from those mind numbing "now do eight sets of Bulgarians" type workouts.

I think it’s interesting that she’s sort of gone so heavy that no beginner would even try to match the weights so it takes all that out of the equation.

I get really tired of the motivational shit on the group moreso than the whining

I agree. Admins allow no interesting discussions. Cg is great but that fb group is something else. Especially the weird Irish couple.

Silly boy adian and the caroline clone...Do my head in!
Fair play to them putting the work in but...obsessed?
He looked better before he got big imo

Block them and a couple of others and the group instantly becomes quite a bit more rational.

I don't mind the silly image obsessed Caroline stans if I can't see them.😆

Oh god- the pair of them do my head in. I think he looks way too beefy.
i can’t believe there was one post with over 200 replies about the change in rest days.
i slept very badly last night and attempted fay 2 but hated it so gave up and went for a walk in the sun.
As much as I love CG there’s only so many exercises on her repertoire when she could choose others and K am getting bored with it- which worries me.

Lol he probably looked better when he was young. And is afraid to let go. Does he look more muscular than before? If he has put on noticeable muscle at 50 after decades of weight training, though, that's a common sign of taking anavar or similar. Ick.

Bigbuttons I sometimes do Heather Robertson just because she has lots of moves CG doesn't use. I don't mean the dippy combination moves but things like side plank dips, butterfly bridge pulses, lying hamstring curls with a dumbbell tucked between your shoes, T push ups, etc. I prefer Caroline overall but Heather gives me good ideas for moves to substitute in when Caroline does rear delt flyes or Bulgarians or hamstring rollouts just one set too many for my liking.

I did Day 1 and 2 this morning (wouldn’t usually double up but Sunday I run and I’m away for a few days with no room to pack all the weights!)
liked Day 1 and matched Caroline on weights except for chest press (did one set 15kg but very wobbly so went down to 13,5kg).
it was the first time I’ve dared use 10kg for shoulder press, a big win and I wouldn’t have been able to do that on the upper/lower body split I’ve been doing by redoing PE.
so that was nice. Day 2 I found really easy and not terribly interesting, after doing PE where you have supersets of 60 secs for lunges the 60s of Bulgarians with just 15s bodyweight were a walk in the park. Maybe she’s easing us in gently??

Oh yes finally where we can voice annoyance 😂 it’s really annoying to see the same people show the same progress photos again and again. We see you’re ripped. I used to be motivated by the facebook page but it’s more about fangirling. I’m too old for that and have too much cellulite

It really is. I can’t seem to tear myself away from the group. The app comment section is just as bad. Same people getting in there in their clique.🥱

Perhaps if I called myself "silly girl Ada" I might get a post approved. There was some pick-me poster gushing yesterday about how much she adored seeing all the men posting in the group. I assume that wasn't any of you.😀

I did day 31 of P.E. this morning. I am used to switch jumping lunges but those lunge hops where you stay all on the same leg are just pure evil.

@Gobacktotheworld how are you finding PE? I’ve nearly finished fuel and trying to decide on my next move. Have done Iron, Beastmode, Unleash, Christmas workouts and Rev from the app

I hated PE but it's turned to love. The post exhaust phase is way more fun than the pre. I am amazed because I don't usually enjoy anything like this split.it just feels effective and the leg days are nice and hard, just how I like em!

Feel more that my muscles are growing than with Rev

The only downside personally is the back and biceps days have so many sets that my golfer's elbow flared up again. But I am managing that better by skipping some sets now

Cool thanks for the review. Lots of people say the second half is better