Lifting with Caroline Girvan- keeping it real and having a laugh along the way!

[BigButtons]

New thread!

Lmao let me guess... ego lifting. No doubt the twat filmed the whole thing.

I am sure the Caroclone will survive and will be back posting selfies and poorly-punctuated vapidities within, oh, minutes.

I have non existent boobs- although now I am glad of them- must be said

There is a Kearney sick fest going on on fb 🤮🤮

From the sounds of Rwddit half the group has those two blocked, BB. It is such a low-value group even by Facebook standards anyway though. It's vexing to see an increase in posts like American-style infomercials, e.g. someone posting their abdomen and a link to a CG ab workout. The subtext being, do this workout and you get these abs. Yesterday, there was a post of a woman with a pretty built upper back and shoulders saying it was down to just five months of training with CG. Totally unrealistic! Caroline takes pains never to make misleading claims like this herself, but if you approve these things on your official group then you are tacitly going along with this extremely dodgy type of marketing IMO.

Anyway. Off my soapbox. I did some exercise! An old 40 min calisthenics complexes and full body one of Caroline's off youtube, not very demanding, so just right for my lazy arse this week. I swapped some of the ab moves for deadbugs and bicycles.

@Gobacktotheworldha, I saw that first photo yesterday on a wom who
lift group. She did 2 years of gymnastics before starting CG and tbh I can’t see any difference between the before and after photo! Gymnastics is clearly the mais reason why her shoulders and back are jacked! Didn’t she mention that in the CG group??
well done on getting back to exercise, Carolines calisthenics are definitely not the easy option.
i get fed up of all the American women too, they take everything so seriously! I dislike the term ‘athlete’ for anyone who does sport regularly. I’m not keen on the term ‘muscle mommy’. And of course the fact you can’t call out narcissistic, sick posts!

The internet is full of lies. My boyfriend is always mocking me for falling for stupid things on the internet but it's so easy to do! I saw an instagram reel of a cat who was bringing all sorts of ludicrous animals into someones bed at night and I believed it. There were live snakes, fish, ducks, and all sorts. He didn't stop laughing at me for days.

TBF I have a cat who has brought in ducks, squirrels, moles etc so I was thinking if we lived somewhere more exotic it would be possible!

Fibrous those are pretty convincing videos though, or can be depending on what the animals are. The first one I saw was a polar bear bringing a triceratops home lol.

clears throat I am going to boast about my DH like a Facebook muppet because he got me some very nice 10kg and 5kg dumbbells to tide me over for the next six weeks and to "keep me out of trouble" (fat chance mate). Very nice of him. Must grudgingly concede he is temporarily in my good books. But now I have to use them. Heat? Epic II full bodies?

@Gobacktotheworld good man indeed. I say epic heat!!

Epic II full bodies, they’re the best!

Nice work DH of @Gobacktotheworld ! If he's anything like my DP, he'll understand I need to exercise or I'm a shit to live with.

I did Iron Pro 23 this morning before work, glutes and abs. I was sweating like a beast. Those abs are horrible. Ab exercises never seem to get easier, although I'm sure my core must be pretty decent by now with all the yoga and stuff.

Since I am ‘behind ‘ on pro I get to pick which order I do them in now- which is great . Today was day 17 back and chest. I managed some 20kg for the rows and 15 kg for the chest. My dodgy right shoulder says no to diamond press. I managed a few dead stop push ups at the end.
What have you decided to do @Gobacktotheworld ?

Has anyone else bothered to read her newsletter? Apparently it's Menopause Awareness Month and I'm so excited that "our psychologist, Aidan, will be exploring the mental and emotional aspects of menopause". Can't wait to hear his experience of menopause. FFS.

ugh - he once did an article on post natal depression. He is a man with no kids, I am sure he has also already written an article on the menopause. Grade A twat. The FB group is almost un watchable . One women posted a photo of herself doing some back exercise and said her husband had told her how strong she looked. This must be American stuff right? I mean do any of your family or friends give a shit about your muscles?

I only notice flaws. No one ever comes to me looking for a compliment. I’ll happily critique!

Bwahahaha. If anyone ever spontaneously compliments me, they are always trying to sell me something. Every fucking time. If my family ever did that, my hackles would be up instantly.

@BigButtonswell done on the 20kg back rows and dead stop push ups! Those are so hard. I am going to do a mashup of Epic II, Heat, upper/lower split ones and maybe even some MAX here and there (the day 2 and day 5s that suited lower weights ie. the days I tended to dislike and skip! Now I have a reason to appreciate them). And definitely some youtube favourites like the dumbbell steps up one (there is a pouf perfect for those here).

Last night I did 4x straight sets upper body (60 mins) from the cgx app, adding some extra reps for rows, chest press, pullover etc. Using 2 x10kg for bicep curls and upright rows was comfortable, so have definitely got stronger this year. Felt pretty good but it was a bit light on the back, so added a back-focused Charlie Follows wheel flow from her Improvers challenge last year. Quite demanding.

This morning I did Epic II Day 5 Slow Burn Full Body, an old favourite, with my beautiful purple 10kg dumbbells (😍😍😍), and added a glute band for the staple. Loved it, they are terrific, Sam, and was definitely red-faced by the end, something I haven't had from CG workouts in a while. Squat rocks, calf raises, one legged wall sits, X over squats, crouch to push up, snow angels to push ups, renegades- all great moves.

The upper body is definitely now feeling tired so tomorrow it will be a lower-focused one, probably Heat Day 3 as I did Day 1 recently. She also listed this band one as an add-on and it looks good so I might add it ... could try putting the dumbbells in a backpack for 30kg for thrusts? Has anyone here tried that? Gotta be worth a go. For muscle maintenance you don't have to do much, right? Fatigue the muscles once a week, trying to go near failure?

Oh is that how you spell POUF? Oops. 😂

No idea. Perhaps "ottoman" is safer.😆

I've not tried putting the dumbells in a backpack but it's a really good idea!
My heaviest weights are two 15kg and they are adjustable so roll all over the place,that way they might be more secure, it's worth a try.
I always do my hip thrusts off the floor,tried leaning on various things I have and it's always hurt,but when I did a HR vid she was using a stability ball, so I tried that and it worked perfectly-makes a lot of difference in terms of feeling the move more.
Will need to secure the ball though because as I finished the last set and was lowering to sit on the floor it flew off and I didnt land very gracefully 😀

Leg day 21 think . Managed 23 kg for lunges- for the last 2 sets . Am considering moving to to 25 lg next time

Super strong there BB
I am going to try hip thrusts off the ball Tess! I don't want to sweat all over the rental's lovely couches, and am running out of towels.
Also- Heat is just the best. Have done day 4 today and just adore the sweat, the mobility challenge, great simple moves like mountain climbers and hot feet that are pure fun. Hip thrusts in a backpack worked! I know you would get stronger with IronPro but for actually being fit, this kicks its arse

Iron pro day 24 here today, full body. I can’t say I enjoyed it as have loads to do today but managed to cook some veg soup at the same time so that’s a win. I can’t relax into exercise when I feel the day slipping away from me.

I counted back through and I have done 4/5 of the workouts each week on this program which was more than I thought. Combined with the consistent running I’m definitely feeling stronger. Hope I can keep it up and not get bored like I usually do.

could do with a nap now, but time to crack on…

Well done there @Fibrous . Great commitment especially with your running AND yoga. I walked the dog along a beach at lunchtime right at the water's edge today, doing running and walking intervals, and found it absolutely knackering (was going to do the local Park run, maybe next week), especially periodically running uphill and down to avoid the fishermen set up along the way. Switching up the terrain is always a killer. Now for fish and chips and molto vino. Gonna rest tomorrow as I know my legs will be protesting.😴 Have a good weekend all!

Yeah I find it all hard work too, doesn't matter how fit I am, every time I run up a hill I wonder why the hell I'm doing it. Enjoy the fish and chips!

I was going to rest but my back felt underworked this week so I made a new dumbbell out of my tens and some glute bands and headbands. Behold, the clunkiest fugliest 20kg DB ever. But it worked! I managed a careful set of 10reps each side and it held firm, so did IronPro Day 5 back and biceps which I had previously disliked and skipped, using my 20kg for rows, 10kgs for biceps and pullovers ( unilaterally) and 2x5g for rear delts. The slow pace suited my being petrified my weight would disintegrate.😀 I think this would work for staggered Romanians too, which would be perfect.( I did RDL with 2 x 10kg twice this week but didn't feel much. Trying them toes elevated was definitely not hitting the hams but the sciatic nerve. So, this unwieldly 20kg might hopefully help there in the unlikely event I can recreate how the bands looped lol)

Amazing job of the improv @Gobacktotheworld ! Where there’s a will there’s a way. How are you getting along generally?
I did today’s glute and hamstrings- I swear to god we already did this session 🤷🏻‍♀️
some of these sessions are getting to be a bit samey . This is often the point where I lose interest in the series. Wish she did more bicep work.
I noticed today how much bigger she looks compared to other series - like proper beefed up. I mean she was always beefed up but this is the next level. Or maybe it is just me.