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

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Yeah the jabs are rife! I know some who have got it on the dark web which is not ideal, with a completely normal bmi. I also know a few who were obese and are now very thin. I think the temptation to go too low in case you put some back on must be quite strong.

My bmi is 24 but I’m under nine stone, I don’t want to weigh the same as my dogs or kylie so I’m happy to stay on the slightly heavier side of normal. I usually sit between 53-56kg. When you’re very short you’re never going to look like a model so you might as well just aim for healthy!

BTW Fibrous I am also a rapidly greying Wednesday Addams impersonator with deep laugh lines and "thinking rivets" between my eyebrows. Just as well as I spend all my spare cash on stupid bowties for the dog and there's none left over for any titivation of my own appearance. ;)

Ha a woman after my own heart. My greyhounds are way better dressed than me!

I’ve not seen much in the way of WLI here in Italy, but I don’t really know anyone seriously overweight. Not that I frequent model types, but most females of my age, that I know or see about, are a healthy weight or just slightly chubby. We all eat normally and very few smoke (one reason that gets trotted out on here for why European women are slimmer). I’ve not seen anyone particularly gaunt either, but maybe I need to get out more. In some of the more exclusive areas in central Milan you see birdlike little old ladies with tiny limbs in their tiny Chanel suits, but none of them look particularly gaunt.

I hate the fake tan look all year round, never understood the attraction. I do tan a bit in the summer and yes, I look better because I’m olive skinned, which means I look sallow and unhealthy in the winter, but I’m past caring. I still dye my hair though, you’re supposed to go lighter as you age but I’m having none of that and now pay to get my natural colour back.

from what I’ve seen recently it seems that CG has had filler of some sort? Anyway, to get to the point, I tried Iron Pro on YT, it was ok but a bit repetitive but the colour was very Victorian. I’ve been flitting between the short 20 min programmes on YouTube but I might settle back into a programme. I’ve done Heat about 4 times now, so not sure whether to restart it or persevere with Endgame, which I was more or less halfway through.

absolutely strive for a heathy weight but none of these women ( in 40s and 50s) exercise at all .

The Weight Loss forum is jam packed with women who want to lose LOTS of weight but don’t want to modify their diet at all, and their diets are often truly atrocious - all UPF, sugar and refined carbs. Almost invariably they refuse to consider any exercise. All they want is to be slim…

@MelassaI’ve been grey for years but have always coloured my hair. DH never criticises anything but two things he not support would be if I cut my hair short and/or stopped colouring it. Also if I had Botox or fillers he prefers wrinkles. Agree Caroline has had both, but she has to maintain her image. I can’t imagine putting on a full face of makeup up before working out 😱

Unfortunately there is a skinny trend at the moment on social media, it’s worrying because the result is often osteoporosis.

A relief to see that brown wall gone after Iron pro!

I quite liked the brown wall. Think I was the only one.

at 46 I’m almost completely grey now, thanks to thyroid disease I presume. I’d love to be dark again but that ship has sailed. I have curly hair so it took ages to grow the dye out so I’m not ever tempted to go back to dark as I couldn’t face two years of wearing a hat again.

I've never dyed my hair. Got as far as reading the instructions on a L'Oréal box dye and thought it all sounded like far too much work!

I do Caroline's app programs on my phone, and, having skipped most of Cgxmas, it's meant largely doing Iron Pro and Play back to back. Both are rather dark and hard to see on the little screen. God knows what she is saying in those tiny screen tips, either! She used a much clearer font back on YouTube.

I used to henna my hair but it hasn’t had anything in it for over three years and all henna is gone. I have most of my greys at the front- the sides and back are still dark brown.
did day 10 today. After last week’s unusual full body success ( I loathe them) this week bored me shit less. It took most of my strength just to make myself finish it. Enough of the bloody supersets Caroline- time to shake things up a bit please.

Well done on persevering though, BB. This looked kind of like the MAX days I enjoyed less where it is just lower body + shoulders combinations. Plus already had a tempo superset workout in week 1 of Play and this faster partials one felt too similar. So I skipped it and did a leg workout with proper slow, controlled heavier RDL, bridges, some deadstop lunges and some banded abductions- PE Day 45. Pretty good glute workout. Then added this ancient abs workout with 9m views from YouTube- varied, tough, and the instructor cues well.

@Gobacktotheworld2 quite right- it felt very max like. I used her weights - apart from the bar- I need to go lighter or else sciatica rears its head- always/ but Jesus it was tedious. My only pleasant surprise was how relatively’ easy’ the push ups felt. I must be getting stronger inspire of myself and my moaning 😂

Outstanding on the push ups progress, BB. The mechanics of it are harder for women, especially those of us with big badonkdonks haha.

I’ve decided to do 3 Play sessions a week, and then a full body one hour from one of the Epics on a Saturday and a hiit on a Sunday. That was my pattern when I did Epic Two just before Christmas and I like that weekend pattern! Today it was day five from epic one and was quite enjoyable - but hard - makers every other exercise for 20 minutes! It would work well for someone new to exercise - they could do the first 20 minutes (legs) one day, the next 20 (arms) the next and the final (full body/core) the third day. No idea how she managed to do windmills with 10kg! I had to drop from 6 to 4 because 6 didn’t feel safe!

@Minesril i keep meaning to do a hiit at the weekend. I have a cold/ sinus infection on going so probably not a good idea. My face feels like it is gonna explode when I bend over.
great that you have found a rhythm that works for you. Yes it is basically an epic format 🙂

I still do an occasional HIIT with Growingannanas.

Has anyone done High Interval Sprints?

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/fitness/running/a62445970/sprint-interval-training/

I think this might actually suit me down to a T

@Enrichetta I do sprint training as part of my running plans, using an app called Runna. Although I live in a very hilly area so instead of running to a pace, I have to swap to a perceived effort as you never really know when you’re going to be uphill or downhill. It’s bloody hard, though, I much prefer a plod! I also do hill reps which is jog to one of the hills and then run up and down it for a set time with rests in between. I actually quite like those.

I have a cold, a broken wisdom tooth with added sinus pain, and a sore bum from two days of conference food (which wasn’t even that unhealthy) so I’ve not worked out for days and I’m mostly moping around feeling sorry for myself. Dentist appointment on Monday. DP currently cooking a curry and I made a one pot dhal in the oven earlier so hopefully that will help with the cold and digestive issues. I might do some yoga later.

@Enrichetta i started doing this again recently. When i used to run i used to switch between sprints and jogs to mix it up a bit (especially if i was on a treadmill), plus i was advised to by a PT friend as it maintains muscle tone better, which regular running at a constant speed does not.

I now go from brisk walk to sprints and back to brisk walk, I try to maintain a sprint for 30/60/120 seconds, but it’s probably more sensible to do more frequent, shorter bursts. I only do this at weekends as I stay out for at least an hour, but I’ve noticed I can maintain 2 minute sprint with a bit more ease compared to the beginning the month when I started. It does suit me, I can go at my pace and it entices me to get outdoors even in the cold.

I don’t mind HIIT but I avoid anything that looks like it might have a sniff of a burpee or a sprawl. I used to do martial arts and I love the training, so I’ve been trying out other trainers on YouTube who are more in line with this.

Minesril, I love your plan!

Healing vibes to all of you with winter lurgies. 💐

The new HQ made me chortle. How amazing that a lady of Caroline's acquaintance just happened to come up to her and say "I got fat at the onset on menopause and it was because of my set point" when that happens to be one of Caroline's hobbyhorses.😃

I was semi-planning to do Day 11 of Play when it was released, but she is back to her sissy squats so I am going to do some Daniel PT kettlebells instead.

Bloody sprawls and burpees can get in the bin!I am also not really enjoying all these rear delt flies.

@TessTickle0 for ages on the app she has been really just focused heavily on glutes rear and side delts

I don’t mind rear delts too much. I really dislike push presses though, no idea why. Hip thrusts were another I hated but I don’t mind them so much now.

i found a really cheap kettlebell last week, it was 10kg but fine for all those swings, which I find hard with my heavier one (also, why are kettlebell grips made for huge male hands?). So, just to make a change I’ve been doing her kettlebell workouts. Nothing quite as satisfying as a kettlebell swing!

Oh no, that’s no fun. Hope you’re better soon.

If you are still looking for a hiit, I did day 20 of epic 1 today - loads of fun moves like ‘go into lunge, punch, come up and kick’. And ab moves like skull crusher into leg extend! I love this stuff and think it’s really sad it’s missing from the app. I think Iron was such a success (and Fuel less so, although I love it) that she went in the direction of ‘straight lifting, nothing fancy’ and hasn’t really deviated from that.

I assume she has some stats to back up that straight lifting is what her subscribers want? Although some of her YouTube videos have millions of views.

I really miss the variety of her YouTube stuff (makers, sprawls, etc). I subscribed to the app last year, but I've set it to cancel at the end of this month. I have found myself dreading another leg day with static lunges, hip thrusts etc. with not much variety.

I am going to try the Heather Robertson app as her new series looks like it has a good mix of stuff in it, and then I think I will cycle back to CG's YouTube series, probably starting with Fuel.