Lifting and getting stronger with Caroline Girvan: 2025

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New thread !

I have started doing the IRON series after years of little exercise. I used to do a fair bit but weights wise body pump or free weights up to 5kg. Should I be feeling muscle soreness in my upper body the next day after a workout? I have had some mild stiffness following lower body but not upper body. Do I need to lift heavier weights? Thanks

@Gobacktotheworld Thank you. What does DOMs mean? I feel nothing in my chest or arms whereas I remember feeling it a day after pump. Perhaps babies have made my arms stronger despite not doing any exercise! I will try heavier weights, thanks again.

@Gobacktotheworld bless you- no talk about them as much as you want. I find it grounding and validating when others can see how awful it is on there.
wow 24kg for rows? That’s incredible- well done🥳
I can manage 17.5- any heavier than that and I would have shit form.
I’m gonna do the finale in a minute and then I can say I have finished( even though I haven’t done half of them😂)

I've just done Day 1 of Intent. It's absolutely brutal after Max. My legs are numb jelly.

I did day one of Fuel today. Dear god I forgot what a beast it is! I really don’t feel as challenged by the app workouts as I do with the ones on YouTube. While I do think Max made me stronger, my heart was never in my throat like it was today!

There is definitely less cardio in the App workouts than on YouTube.

Did a brilliant upper body workout today, last week of Intent for the second time. Day 46 and all my favourite lifts - shoulder press, rows, push ups, lateral raises, arc raises - loved it!
I have decided to stop running for the sake of my knees which is a shame but I don't enjoy it like I used to when running. So doing spin class, cycling, swimming and Caroline's cardio workouts for cardio now, hope it's enough!
Had a non scale win which I would of course boast about on the FB group and post loads of selfies IF I WASNT BANNED 😁 My son was at the house with a few friends when I got back from dog walking on Saturday, when they'd gone he said they thought I was under 50 years old and très musclée, so I'm a happy nearly 60 year old. Thanks Caroline!

I remember disliking it-- didn't it have an AHA GOTCHA extra set of lunges at the end or something?

It did - well the penultimate bit before the abs. I just went screw you Caroline and did it body weight though.

In general I prefer the series with no cardio, as I run separately anyway and I also hate, loathe and despite HIIT with every fibre of my being.
I do like a bit of Combat though.

@Gobacktotheworld thank you

16 minutes of Bulgarians 😱 I can barely do 16 seconds.

UB day 15 was lower body - I did pretty much everything with6kg apart from the lunges which were body weight. Hoping to get this programme done slightly earlier than the schedule so I can try a couple of other workouts before my subscription expires.

Bulgarians are ok for me but not for 16mins straight or whatever it was.

I would never. I still have to mostly do them bodyweight as it is.

@TessTickle0 I do try and go flat backed with rows. I much prefer single arm rows- with doubles my lower back gives out far more quickly. I do my single arms with one leg on a bench.

I would have had a happier night without those weird twink Buffalo Bill pictures of the bloke in the speedo on the fb group.

Oh dear- I am glad I have the group snoozed!
I am taking a week off from lifting. Just feel knackered.

Yep those two photos were really disturbing!

Amen!😀

Haha! Now I don't howl or roar with laughter, nor do I spit out my tea through laughing but this did make me snort(I do that)
I saw those photos and your quote summed them up perfectly 👌 👍

I did make the mistake of looking in the FB group. There is a post from a women in a strapless dress clamming to be in her 70’s. The photo is hugely and obviously filtered yet everyone is saying that she looks great.
i am in another group that j am now trying to get kicked out of- a spin off from the main FB group but is full of mad Americans. If is a weight lifting group for 50+.
one women is asking for help with her face. I pointed out that it was a group about weight lifting. Loads of posters claimed she had muscles in her face and didn’t I know that and that I was being very mean.

Lol I didn’t see either of those. My ‘intermittent fasting’ is a 12 hour window! I did see one lovely looking lady of nearly fifty, just wearing denim shorts and top, but looking far more gorgeous than all the look-at-me bikini shots! Hope I look that good in - hmm - nine years.

Day two of Fuel today wasn’t quite as challenging as day one. I know I’m lifting heavier than last time I did it. 10s on the eight alternating rounds of push press! Kept hitting my shoulder on my weaker side!