Lifting and getting stronger with Caroline Girvan: 2025

[BigButtons]

New thread !

Well I’ve been banned AND blocked from the FB group. Did Intent Day 16, a great shoulder and chest workout!

Bet you're devastated.

You're missing out. A man filmed himself doing sissy squats in his workout shorts and shared it to this predominantly female group, because that's perfectly normal behaviour we'd expect and accept from our husbands and brothers, and some thirsty woman replied "I can't stop watching this." Calm the fuck down, love.

@disappointed101 same here! I don't think she got the volume right with Intent overall as a programme, as a lot of people seem to have felt ground down by it and been left fatigued rather than energised by it, BUT individually the workouts are excellent!

Oh nooo sam.🤣
Don't worry we can keep you informed,especially on what your 'favourites' are up too.

It does ground me down a bit seeing all the ripped bodies posing and the humble brags about how much and how heavy they can do.
I'm slowly working my way up in weights,wobbling with my 9kgs for lunges.
I'm shit at squats and won't even attempt a Bulgarian and my gym wear gives me a wonderful muffin top at times..

Oh @samthebordercollie did they tell you why or was it a straight boot out?
thwre is a massive cognitive dissonance going on in these fitness groups- especially the CG one. Someone posts something obviously obsessive and unhealthy and everyone else says whoop whoop / if you challenge it you have the awful mantra ‘ you versus’ thrown back at you and are told that there is nothing remotely weird about what is being posted. Fucking gaslighting behaviour.

@BigButtons straight boot out and block, it happened overnight. I think someone reported the comment I made on the woman who posted a perfect photo of herself who had the sister with Hodgkin's disease or something like that. Or maybe it was the comment on the post by Kara, her sick child and her amazingly ripped arms. The group seems to have changed, there are just lots of selfie posts now, very few posts asking for advice. I'll just have to find a new hobby 😂

@samthebordercollie they ate awful people.
you won’t be missing anything useful.
I am going to continue with my rest from weights as I feel not great.

Hope you feel better soon @BigButtons . Do you enjoy yoga at all? It can be so restorative when you are feeling out of sorts.

Thank God I stumbled across Caroline Girvan on youtube while searching for a different trainer and did one of her workouts on a whim one day. I was hooked. Because if someone had recommended her on Facebook or added me to that group, I'd have just assumed she was another snake oil, eating disorder-promoting, posturing, Betty Bullshit fitfluencer, like the shite she has allowed to overrun her group.

Caroline needs to actually regain control of it and bring back some sanity, or employ better social media managers. Jennifer Batts can't fight this fight vs the tide of bullshit all alone!

Ended up taking another rest day yesterday as this sunny weather doesn't really make me feel that keen in the evenings, but did Epic II Day 5 first thing this morning as YT suggested it to me when I put the telly on! It was not the sweatiest one from that programme but still the cardio effect was really pronounced, felt totally exhilarated afterwards! Genuinely "full body" too-- I love it that she used to include calves in the main workouts.

(If the FB group ask, though, it was just my little warm-up before doing three PE workouts back to back, OK?)

@Gobacktotheworld shame on you for inky so one workout. Aren’t you worried about your gainz?
you vs you
whoop whoop.
actually epic 2 is the only series I haven’t done. What’s it like?

I'm sure the group used to be better and there were more questions and useful advice - or am I misremembering?

I did today's Max after gardening and had to modify/lower weight on everything as my lower back felt tired and I have a lovely tennis elbow thing going on with my left elbow. But the one thing I'm obsessive about when I do a series is staying up to date with it as once I skip and slack, it all goes to pieces.

Hi, I'm new to the thread, have been doing CG workouts from you tube for a while but dont have the app.

I have done beast mode 1 & 2, fuel and now 2/3 way through Iron. What would you recommend next? Can look at getting the app, how much is it?

Also, what is this hilarious facebook page you all talk about? Had a look on fb but there are a few CG groups so wasnt sure which one it was?

I liked Epic Endgame on youtube quite a lot, although Iron was my favourite.

I think the app is £89/year, or a bit more if you pay monthly, unless the prices have gone up since my last subscription.

The group is Caroline Girvan Community. It's the one with 317K members.

I'm doing.endgame and finding it tougher than somw of the other series probably because I'm making a real effort to increase my weights.
I think all are good really.

Epic 3 is my favourite YouTube programme followed by Endgame and Epic 2. @BigButtons Epic 2 is great although a lot of people avoid it because the sessions are quite long. Not as bonkers as Epic 1 (there are so many lifts and moves there she never repeated - and not as structured as Epic 3 but great fun to do. I often repeat some of the full body workouts there. The Caroline Girvan Community now has only 316999 members 😂. I felt a little bereft yesterday morning when I realised I'd been chucked out but it's not so bad, my other FB groups are now appearing more often in my feed and they're actually far more interesting!

Hi @Sanch1 ! The app is very good/ you can trial it for free for 2 weeks. Then you can either buy for a year which works out cheaper - or pay monthly and pause/ cancel whenever/

I did epics one, two and three when I first discovered CG. I don’t really remember the difference between them. 🤣 I did Endgame again recently between app programmes - I love the 100 rep finishers, although often it’s ‘let’s see how many I can do in the time it takes her to do 100!’

I just finished Iron recently (first time doing CG and first time devoting any serious effort to lifting) and it took me about 9 weeks in all - I lost a week to a stressful life event and a week to a holiday (skiing so at least was still getting a good workout!) and I only managed 5 workouts a week a couple of times. I also run 3x a week and do a pilates class once or twice a week. Definitely made noticeable improvements, I don’t think there is any harm in making it fit your schedule.

I’m officially hooked now - doing Ultimate Beginner on the app (which feels too easy after Iron but it’s helping me sort out my form - I might finally be doing RDLs right!).

Just for you @samthebordercollie so you can see what you are missing………….

I have been in and out of gyms for 25 years and there are about six users who upload selfies to that group whose pictures scream anabolic steroids to me.

But they'll claim it's all nutrition.

Well, it kind of is...

Sorry have been consigned to the outer darkness, Sam. Glad you are spared all this crap though!

Bigbuttons I agree with the others on epic ii. All solid, but love the full body routines. It was before she got obsessed with heavy hip thrusts so the leg days are a good way to work your legs without the heavy weights. Very thorough!

@BigButtons @Gobacktotheworld Thankyou so much for thinking of me 😂Alease Bott, one of my, cough, favourites preaching her muscle gospel daily, I so miss that!
I'm continuing with Intent, I'd forgotten the format circuits every 5th and 6th workout or something like that. Day 18 was lounging about on the bench for most of the time but dead arms at the end after the 3 circuits.
I guess Caroline is obsessed with hip thrusts as she wants to please the majority of women who only want a big arse - and maybe sculpted shoulders - but don't much care about the rest of their body!

Well done on Intent day 18. I did a YouTube one (Unilateral Full Body)- 50mins- which only has 15sec breaks but you don't really need more as the work periods are 45 seconds and you are always switching sides. One sided chest presses are somehow harder than both- feels so unstable! It feels all right till the last ten minutes when it's all squat to press, maker, burpee variations etc! The whole thing really did fly by and I was puce and gasping for water at the end. And I LOVED it. THIS is the kind of workout that got me addicted. No fecking hip thrusts or weights larger than 17.5kg. (I followed her weights exactly - staggered squats with the 17.5kg high racked on one shoulder were a good challenge, a bit of balance in there with the strength). Really felt energised! It feels good to sweat.

By contrast I even slightly sweated with one, maybe two Max workouts? I know it's a different style but it's good to move as well. I checked her programming this week and Monday was yet again stability ball rollouts plus upper movement plus a low weight lunge or squat variation. Her programming has got a bit of a paint by numbers feel for this programme, almost? A bit formulaic. Still, I will probably jump back in later this week and catch up on some Sunday and Thursday Max workouts, which have been the ones I liked the most

@Gobacktotheworld she has a unilateral upper body on you tube- I can’t remember which of the week long series it is from. It is my very favourite upper body of hers- ever. I love unilateral work.
i remember the you tube days- glutes were targeted once a fortnight. Mind you I am glad she is doing much more rear delt work now- that was lacking in the tour tube series.
day 29 max for me today. I liked it. Only 4 moves, sweeps, shoulder press, thrusts and staggered RDLs.
i am picking and choosing with max now. If I like the look of the set up I’ll do it- if not I’ll do something I do like.

Thank you @BigButtons I will try that next arm day! It's incredible how the unilateral stuff gets all your torso muses working. Noticed that from the standing overhead press, could feel the opposite transverse abs working overtime to keep me in place. Do you like her kettlebell arm workouts?

Picking and choosing with Max is me, too! I think tomorrow will be Day 29 for me. Love staggered RDLs and will go heavier than usual (for me)... not sure how that is going to go by round IV.😬

It’s interesting for me. I have one said who does gym stuff at a gym. She tried out my free weights and said it felt SO much harder because her body was having to work to balance. With the rdls today I felt it strongly on my torso more so than in my hamstrings