Lifting and getting stronger with Caroline Girvan: 2025

[BigButtons]

New thread !

Hi all. Checking in. Nearly at the end of week 3 PE. Question. I walk to and from work most days an hour total. Should I add in more cardio than this? I work full time so it would have to be at weekends. Thoughts?

I'm so pleased to read this because I keep struggling on with weighted lunges, trying to do it "properly", but I much prefer body weight for lunges. It's great to see someone adapting to what suits them but still getting great results. I'm going to do this too.

This is where this group is so much better than that facebook group with their 3 1/2 hour workouts and macros!!

There’s a real streak of pain/punishment in the group sometimes (and all health and fitness groups tbh) which is very unhelpful to me. I like to do things the fun and easy way!

@disappointed101 - I don’t go all out for cardio at all. I might do a three mile run instead of a workout on a nice day and I walk, but not loads and don’t even hit my 10000 steps most days. In my heart of hearts I know I should probably do a bit more, but see above!

@AtomicBlondeRose thanks. You are right, I think I need to lower my expectations. I don’t know where most people find the time to be honest

Yep I'm the same with cardio. I'm pretty tired anyway due to perimenopause, so I just don't have enough energy to do both strength and cardio. I do short walks every day, but I don't get anywhere near 10,000 steps. Very occasionally I'll do one of Heather Robertson's cardio classes, but not often - it makes me too tired.

Cardio is good for the heart but most particularly for the mood if you love dancing or aerobics (I do!). Since PE is a four day split you could maybe do pe 4x and cardio on a weekday, too, leaving you with two rest days? To be honest even 4 x PE sounds quite gruelling to me though; cardio is definitely the lighter option for me. But I don't often do Caroline's plyo-type HIIT, just more enjoyable LISS like cardio dance party stuff or a jog with the dogs. I used to be a mad Insanity junkie and regret wrecking my knees with the burpees and tucks.

I'm doing Iron but struggling with keeping to the schedule, I like to run a couple of times a week and I need at least a day off completely. Did anyone else take longer than the 6 weeks to get through it all?

I'm going to go against the grain here and say yes, cardio is important and walking - although excellent exercise - isn't enough as it doesn't get your heart rate elevated enough to improve VO2 max. If you are short of time you can do intervals, 1 minute on, 1 minute off with running for example, 10 reps is all you need max, so 20 minutes once or twice a week.
Did anyone catch Kala Guichard's post - one of my "favourites" on the FB group - she'd taken a couple of selfies with her ill daughter and was marvelling about how jacked her arms were in the photo. The narcissism on that group is something else!

I'm currently doing Max and have been wondering about cardio. I think I might add in one hiit work out a week.

@samthebordercollie thanks. I will aim for some sprints. I have a spin bike so could use that. Honestly that group is unhealthy. I don’t have the time, money or energy to dedicate to looking like that. It is very disheartening to see post after post of the same people flaunting their bodies. The lady that posted about this on the group about finding it difficult was told by Me Psychologist to seek therapy. Seriously?

Jfc, that's atrocious. My baby is sick... woah look at my fucking arms! Said no normal person of either sex ever.

I have pretty much all the men blocked as they give me the creeps but sometimes they slip through. Today it's a man saying he did her Happy Burpees vid WITH A WEIGHTED VEST. Yeah, every conscientious physiotherapist would totally recommend doing that particular workout with extra load on your lower back.

I did one of the Intent leg days in the 20s this morning before the heat set in, a heavy one. Keep waiting for these workouts to suck less. They never do. But the strength they have given my old legs and particularly improved knee mobility, brilliant.

@disappointed101 yes, when I saw Silly Boy Aidan reply on that post I was shocked too! Spin bike is great for cardio too, when I do a spin class it's the only time my heart rate can get as elevated as when I run. Which I still do, too often, in fact I do too much cardio and too much lifting, I really need to cut down on both!
@Gobacktotheworld that woman with the sick daughter is batshit, she loves herself so much if you look through some of her older posts. I'm working through Intent too, I'd forgotten how tough it is. And it isn't as boring as I thought it was the first time, this week there were a couple of circuit workouts which made a nice change. I loved the step up workout too.

@samthebordercollie I might tackle intent after PE.

God, the blithering idiot. But why are the mods letting such an irresponsible post through?

I hate it when parents plaster photos of their kids on a locked-down social media page. When it’s a public page like that it’s horrendous. Those poor kids.

I called her out on it and she’s deleted my comments 😂😂😂

Ha- I am very glad I have stopped looking at that FB group much recently . I find it utterly awful/ it gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I am failing. There are a small handful of posters whom I like/
I am at the end of my rest week.
not sure what to do this coming week.
I have realised something about doing the sessions’live’ I don’t enjoy them as much as I feel a horrible self imposed pressure to keep up and look at what others are saying . Then I find myself lacking. Then I get to a point about 5 weeks in when I can’t bear to do it any more/.
my legs are stupid bulky now- I can lunge with 20kg. I like that I can -BUT I don’t like what this heavy lifting is doing to my upper thighs and arse/
i don’t feel right in myself..
I know I am so much stronger but tbh I don’t looked ripped. I am not big- size 8 in most clothes- but I think I just look like a bigger version of me rather than a bigger muscular version of me.
I suppose I should get out the spray tan but I can’t be bothered!
what do you all think?

Do what you want @BigButtons. I reckon you have been working out so long now you just need to do a few full body days a week to maintain, that’s all. I think I’m about to be banned from the FB group. I just commented on another post by a Jenna Fairbanks who was lamenting about her sisters health and how guilty she felt about not working out for 2 weeks whilst posting a photo of her looking completely ripped. I’ve also posted myself asking if building muscle and taking progress pics leads to narcissistic tendencies but I have no hope whatsoever that it will get past the mods 😂

Oh yeah- they guy who did burpees with the weighted vest- now he carries on and completes a series using increasing heavy weights despite posting daily that he was feeling fatigued and has joint issues
low and behold he burnt out . Had I brows and had to take time out/ Here he ia not having learned any lessons it seems/

@samthebordercollie bloody love that you are trying to post that. Now- I think that goes against the ‘be kind’ rule😂
you could be right about my training. Must be said that her tradi full body days were my least favourite. I might go back to trying out unleash or the pre exhaust big if pe - which I enjoyed the most. Which ever I do I shall take the lower body weights right down for lunges.
who was the woman saying she thought she was burning out but had just done a mammoth cross country will all her family and felt for it even though she hadn’t lifted and she had lost weight. Her posing photo was utterly ridiculous.
Then another who had done three sessions back to back.

Oh and I got muted on the group for 2 weeks once. I wasn’t being kind. I was allowed to see what was going on but wasn’t allowed to post. I get banned from most fb groups. I forget it’s not MN!

Sounds as though you're going out in a blaze of glory there, @samthebordercollie ;)

Intent is really tough, @disappointed101 - in a good way. It's the one programme I have tried where none of the workouts have left me with a dissatisfied "unworked out" feeling. If anything some of them have felt like a bit too much and that's why I have never done a lot consecutively, though I've been mulling alternating it with Rev, which was on the easy side. Probably a silly idea. As Caroline herself says, it doesn't really matter what you do- just pick and mix any upper / lower split or selection of full body workouts every week and you're good!

@BigButtons I wish I could lunge as much as you- my knees won't allow me. Please be wary of body dysmorphia. At size 8 you are not huge, you're just not. And even if you were huge, being strong is amazing. Can you get a bone scan or maybe bloodwork done? Because sometimes seeing positive health markers in those areas is a great reinforcer thant we are doing the right thing for us, our health and our future, even if we're having a wobbly moment when we feel too big or inspect our cellulite in the bathroom mirror (this is my fatal bad habit) or are blindsided by a lot of heavily posed and highly edited selfies from vapid online fitfluencer wannabes. I would personally take higher end of healthy BMI (for example) over osteoporosis or whatever! Particularly if it's weight from muscles, which increase my metabolism and allow me to eat well and drink sometimes 🍸 So please stop any negative self-talk. Why are we such buggers for that? My husband has no fucking worries in the world about his wee beer belly.

Interesting about weighted burpee guy... what a drip. Blocked!

Thanks so much @Gobacktotheworld uou are so right. I think it is that bloody group. It’s been seeping into my subconscious . I noticed silly boy and his wife won’t post much. Or is it that I can’t see the posts? That would be a win!

@Gobacktotheworld that sounds like a good idea to mix and match. I did 3 weeks of intent and stopped as I was burnt out but this may be a good way to complete it

@BigButtons we are the same! I’m size 8 too and horribly conscious about my thighs. I look like I have rugby legs 😂 they aren’t so defined though and so many trousers that are tight on me now. It’s a mind fuck. However, if I lose weight, I lose my tits so u don’t know what’s worse