Lifting and getting stronger with Caroline Girvan: 2025

[BigButtons]

New thread !

Thank you! My teenager is getting into fitness and seems to be getting the running bug. Sounds as though I could leave her to do UB with light dumbbells for her cross training and she'd be in capable hands.

Well done on the Unleash glute day BigButtons- you must be glad to have that under your belt. I haven't done that one yet. Just noticed I haven't done day 8 of PE (having done the rest of the first half of the programme and some of the second) so will have a whack at that tonight... gulp! Her back and biceps ones are some of the hardest for me.

@ArtTheClowni loved Unleash, there are some pretty challenging leg and upper body days which really get the heart rate up.
i think I’ll do it again when I finish Intent for the second time - up to Day 34 which was a great upper body workout. Yesterday’s complete rest day due to travelling evidently helped as I felt really strong today!
@Gobacktotheworldthanks for posting the Daniel B kettlebell workout, I’m definitely going to try those. My brother won a medal for England in some kettlebell category (can’t remember which) he used to love kettlebells!

@samthebordercollie thank you! What is Intent like, is that quite similar to Iron would you say?

It’s heavy slow lifting, some longer lifting periods than Iron and an upper/lower body split so no full body. There is a 4 minute complexe finisher of 2 exercises and there are ab exercises in the finisher on some lower body days. And the workouts are the longest of all on the App, around 45/50 minutes so a lot longer than Iron workouts!

@samthebordercollie thank you. That sounds like something that should deliver some results!

Those Intent finishers, my God. Seeing "240" flash up in the timer nearly broke me the first time.

@ArtTheClown I really disliked unleashed when it came out. Tbh I don’t think I was strong enough of knew my body well enough. According to the app I did about half before I gave up.
I have started to do those sessions I missed in a rather ad hoc way and have been ‘enjoying’ them. I feel accomplished afterwards, but am certainly suffering during.
They are very hard though and I have had to dial the weights back down a bit. She goes pretty heavy in unleash.
I liked intent then suddenly got bored with it around week 7.
i think i just get fed up for the formats of different series and need to mix things up. I also think that doing things live isn’t good for me- it makes me stressed and I few I have to keep up.

I also think that doing things live isn’t good for me- it makes me stressed and I few I have to keep up.

I have exactly the same mindset. I'm almost scared to fall behind. It's been probably good for me in the main with Max as I've got more done than I would if I did it more at my own pace, but when I tried it with Rev at the start of the year, after not being well, I wound up injured.

I stupidly feel the need to look on that silly fb group and see how others have got on. Then I get pissed off with ll the whooping and hollering and spiceies and loved it. When I didn’t feel my of those things.

I think i just get fed up for the formats of different series and need to mix things up.

when it's the same format for 10wks, it just becomes mind-numbing, doesn't it?

Some of the Max days will be good to mix in in the future, the more challenging ones.

Re: Facebook group, are they paid? It honestly feels so fake. Very few of the comments read like genuine reviews; it is often like "Ooh the [insert exercise name here]s were so spicy!!!!" and "wowwee the finisher was dynamite!!!!!" (when it's just light dumbbell lateral raises). Same with app comments: "We're gonna smash this today!!! Come on!!" which tells me precisely nothing about the workout. How pointless. Did they even do the workout at any point?

I check the FB group too but I don’t think many people are doing ultimate beginner luckily! It’s weird that people who are so over the top are enjoying CG’s minimalist style.

UB 8 done today. My knees are so creaky/cranky when lunging - I skipped the lunge finisher, and I am glad I did as my knee is now niggling. The rest of the workout was good though.

I sadly don’t have the option of consulting the FB group 😂. Never mind. Today I did day 36 of Intent, 3 circuits and a great upper body (mainly arms) workout. There was even a Tate press in there @BigButtons! Looking at the number of people who did Day 36 there were 10000 for intent, 11000 for PE but only 6000 for Max.

Hope your knee feels better soon, clearing. They are tricksy things.

That Intent session sounds good, Sam.

The hype for MAX doesn't seem to tally with those numbers, does it Sam? I also wonder at people saying it has given them the best results, the most hypertrophy, the biggest gains, etc. Arnold Schwarzennegger wasn't exercising for just 5 half-hour sessions a week (and Caroline doesn’t claim that she does, either).

Fucking love a Tate press- I am always subbing them in😂
I am working my way slowly through the bits of unleash I missed and fancy doing.’so glad I stopped max- it looks like a glute - sciatica nightmare.

Arnold Schwarzennegger wasn't exercising for just 5 half-hour sessions a week (and Caroline doesn’t claim that she does, either).

Out of interest, do you know or could you hazard a guess at how much she does work out in order to look like that? She's clearly also pretty lean.

People say that stuff with every single programme that comes out. I don’t think it has anything to with a particular programme- it’s just about being consistent. I am intending to tackle an unleash full body today.
i see today’s max is more hip thrusts again. How boring. Talking of arses- I have a lovely regatta rain coat. I bought it last year. Wore it this last week and it is very tight across my arse.
That was not very welcome but far more welcome than having a wide flat arse.

I’m sure Caroline has said elsewhere she doesn’t do additional workouts. I can’t find the article now but I did find this in one of them.

Don't quote me but she has previously said something like she does 5 sessions of up to an hour a week (it was in some old weekly HQ, possibly for the Intent program?) but she doesn't include walking, running etc in that.

She has been careful to say these are her real workouts IE. she is really doing them, no editing trickery involved- and that is definitely true- but she has never said they are her only workouts, has she? You only have to see from the occasional HIITs she releases, her pull up workout etc etc she that she is megafit and adept at various things that take a GOOD bit of practice and skill maintenance. She is not going to suddenly introduce sissy squats in Rev and be able to do them knees to ground the way she does without practice, or leave out cardio pretty much all of 2024 on the cgx programs and still be able to fly through burpees the way she does come REV.

I think she doesn't emphasise any other training she does because she is responsible and doesn't want to encourage overtraining in her followers.

Also her old YouTube videos show some of her home gym equipment and it is more extensive than just some dumbbells. I don't think she would let it gather dust or e.g. stop doing pull ups when they are what give you that ripped back she has

Re: lean, yes, very. Fab genetics plus hypercareful with food I suspect. Plus she's a shortie which makes the muscles pop more (they have smaller muscle beds).

@BigButtons I bet you look great in your coat! I have also had some muscle growth in the region. Unexpectedly noticed some adductor muscle things peeking through from under the fat in the bathroom mirror the other day. I am nowhere near lean enough to see musculature below the waist so it was a surprise!

I haven't done any Caroline for about three days now as have been on a little Bodycombat nostalgia binge with my dear old DVDs. Better jump back in. Probably could have ticked off an Intent workout while typing all this speculative bullshit.😩

Does anyone have an alternative for lat pullovers? I've done them twice now as part of Iron and both times have been in agony for a couple of days afterwards.

I remember too she said she lifts for around 1 hour a day 5 days a week and walks her dogs for an hour a day. She doesn’t run now and hasn’t for ages, except exceptionally. She’s been lifting for 20 years and once you have that muscle base it doesn’t take a lot to maintain it, she could probably work out twice a week and keep the same lean mass. She’s not getting any bigger and and undoubtedly lift a lot heavier than she does for the programmes but she keeps it real for us mere mortals 😂
I did another great leg workout (3 circuits) with Intent, Bulgarian lunges, step ups and band work.
I looked at the comments for today’s Max and there were A LOT of people saying they are fed up with all the hip thrusts!
Regarding pullovers, not sure if there is a good alternative for home workouts, the cable pull down is used in gyms to target he lats generally. Pullovers are quite an old fashioned exercise, but very effective (if boring!)

I have said it, and so I will say it again.
I think she is looking very very(too) lean, there is more muscle than in her youtube days.

Which Intent one was that, Sam? I remember day 11 had step ups because I gave it lots of love hearts in my fitness tracker.

Tess yeah she's really lean. I don't know how she keeps such a lovely unhaggard face. I have a much higher body fat percentage AND a haggard face. But then I suspect I have MUCH more on my conscience than she does.😁

Yorkshire mum, where is the pain? Is it muscle soreness in the lats or chest? If so I would persist, it'll get better. If shoulder pain, I'd stop. Subs that target the lats would be backrows, landmines or gorilla rows.

@Gobacktotheworldit was Day 35 of Intent with the step ups as part of a tristes with Bulgarian lunges.
I remember thinking Caroline looked a bit gaunt on Beastmode and Iron on the App but she looks very healthy now. She’s not at a very low bodyfat, like some bodybuilders, I’d guess around 15 -16%. She seems to eat plenty too.

I don't have the app as yet but see stills and video clips on YouTube and thought the same, I was abit shocked at the change.

My aim is still to get her lovely lean legs! (Haha who am I kidding,leg days suck!)

16%? I'd have thought lower, but I have never been into bodybuilding so it isn't my area at all and am happy to be corrected. For clarity I think she looks GREAT and has one of the most impressive natural physiques in the industry, but she is definitely on the lean side, with bicep/forearm veins prominent, and not huge but clearly defined shoulders, and visible abs. She possibly does weighted ab workouts which does make them visible at a higher BFP, apparently. Still from Friday's MAX workout.