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

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I have stopped taking creatine as it was affecting my sleep. I was lying awake at night feeling wired and unable to switch off. I know it's not a stimulant, so it shouldn't have this effect, but when I googled it there were a lot of people reporting the same problem.

It's a shame as it has so many benefits. I might try again in the future with a much smaller dose.

I've just discovered Caroline Girvan via this thread and always looking to mix my home workouts up a bit so gave the first workout of the Iron series a go last night. Am currently loving progressive overload stuff and quads are on fire today!
There are a couple of things I'm not so keen on though:
• why no warm up built into the workout? Are all her series the same?
• I hate this style of not talking throughout the workout and doing silly pointing etc. Just explain to me what the next exercise is in the breaks, and give a bit of encouragement! Much easier to follow than having to watch the screen for tips etc.

No inbuilt warm ups ever (there are generic ones on her channel you can do beforehand) and no cueing except on her app Ultimate Beginner program and a tiny handful of really early youtube workouts. Everyone on her Facebook group raves about this aspect of her workouts but it's something I had to get used to. On her app she compensates by writing form tips on screen in tiny writing which to my mind is a lot worse than a few verbal cues.

If you like cueing, youtuber Jasper McDermott cues really well though he does chat quite a bit. There is also Sydney Cummings but her programs are on the easy side.

I did like Jasper's variation on the hamstring rollout- instead of the stability ball he uses a skateboard.😆

I forget to say- welcome and enjoy those Iron DOMS lol! The reason I have switched like 2/3 of my training to Caroline is that she has effected real change in my muscles!

I am one who likes the fact she doesn't speak. At least if you repeat the programs you don't anticipate the same verbal diarrhoea that I found with some instructors. I just stick on the radio or some music. I once accidentally turned the beeps up so loud on my tv it set my dogs off barking for fifteen minutes. Don't do that!

I use her warm ups in the app offered before I start a workout if I haven't already been for a run. I don't really rate the warm ups or the cool downs, I usually make sure I do some yoga before bed to stretch out and click everything back into place.

It's a good job I've got no social life these days. All this self care is very time consuming!

Yeah the cool downs annoy me, as I don't think she holds the stretches for long enough. I've just gotten into it and she has already moved on to the next one. I tend to do my own thing.

I have the Down Dog yoga app, so I usually do a ten-minute vinyasa for a warm up rather than do the warm ups on the CGX app.

Yeah I agree - she needs slowing down about 10x for it to be worth it but I guess most people don't bother will cool downs so she has to keep them short.

I have taken creatine at least 5 days a week for years- never had issues but also never noticed the difference if I haven’t taken it.
day 8 today was very 🥱. It didn’t bite at all until 65% in and I used heavier weights than she did for some of them. It was sweaty though- it’s quite warm here today. I have certainly done harder quad stuff with her. I also hate holding dumbbells high as it really throws my posture out so this one is consigned to the never again pile. And now my right hip hurts
family issues meant I came to this agitated anyway. Still- it is done.

The new warm ups are better than previously. The cool downs are useless. I wish she would do a proper cool down session.
I loathe instructors that yabber away at you- very happy she is silent.

It took me a while to get used to the fact she doesn't speak,I used to do shelly dose workouts on YouTube and she chattered away, which I liked.
However I just put my music on and get it done now.
The only time it bothers me is in the cool down,sometimes I can't see the screen so dont know what stretch we have gone into next!
I'm following heather Robertson at the moment and she includes a warm up and cool down.
Today I did her day one,arms and shoulders workout in the fierce 1.0 series..
Really enjoyed it.
Went in all guns blazing but.had to drop my weights as it went along, a good burn.

Horses for courses on the talking I guess! I have tended to follow mainly US folk so maybe it's a US v UK thing? Imagine I'll get used to it and good shout on earphones as the music on the videos is atrocious!
Will also give Heather Robertson a go. I do prefer to mix things up as I get bored easily so the more the merrier.

I think it would be perfect if she just gave the tips before each exercise rather than all in one go at the beginning as I forget them. I guess some people use the beginning speech for warming up by themselves but I am too clueless for that.

I take creatine capsules- apparently you need to take more than 5g for memory effect. I feel like it might help, no side effects I have noticed

I quite liked iron pro 4 today. I was smug about my weights for round 1 and 2 but struggled for round 3 and could hardly lug the sandbag onto my lap!

I like the fact she doesn’t speak, I love the App because I can listen to podcasts while working out instead of her (sometimes awful) music, it’s more complicated with the YouTube workouts.

A few weeks ago, she started a workout with heavy hip thrusts (68kg or 78kg) and wrote that she had warmed up before the workout with some lighter hip thrusts. So... why not film that as the linked warmup or include that at the start of the workout video proper, instead of linking a generic warmup with moves like lateral lunges that don't appear in the main workout?🤔

I suppose the lack of talking opens up non English-speaking markets to her as well. Its definitely the trend on YouTube.

Yep I agree that a warm up which incorporates the movements you'll be doing during the workout proper would be ideal.

I think I am going to drop back to 5 sessions a week for a bit. I will ditch the full body days, which I loathe anyway. I woke up this morning feeling like I had been hit bu a train. I am not unwell , just knackered.
work is very full on and stressful and I have daughter issues. I am just so tired all the time.

Ugh- I mean 4!
I might today the upper body portion of today’s full body. I cannot be arsed to drag the barbell out again.

Good plan to back off to 4x a week. I love full body and did and enjoyed today's day 9 workout (though I accidentally used a barbell in the bridge finisher when I didn't have to), but it will be the last IronPro I tackle for now. If I ever need a slower-paced program then this will be the one to return to. Yesterday I did the 60min Kettlebell Full Body from the app and loved getting out of breath and red-faced within the first twenty minutes. That's a sick workout and you need to eat your carbs beforehand- I didn't and was struggling by the end! I am looking forward to some Heat and app Beastmode for the next few months and I know I'll get a bit leaner. Not sure why Caroline is wiping off her face with a towel in IronPro because these are her only workouts not to make me sweat even a little lol.

I’ve been sweating through these last ones, although it’s bloody humid in Manchester this week. I’ve been doing the workouts in my sports bra and yoga pants hoping no one looks in my window. Although I’m also in need of a haircut. That brings up the sweat levels!

I'm gonna give ironpro 9 a go this morning then I’m having a few days off as we’re in the Lake District.

I've been working out with Caroline for 11 months now and I've loved it. Committed myself to a small calorie deficit for the next 6 weeks to see how much muscle is under there- excited to see! I'm about 25% body fat if I had to guess.

Good luck with your small cut, @MsMoody!
Enjoy the Lake District, @Fibrous. One of those places I never got to.

Just started taking omega 3 off the back of another thread on here about vitamins. Hoping it makes recovering from lunges a little easier for my dodgy knees. It would be interesting to hear what else everyone here has taken that has helped them.

I take iron supplement because my ferritin level is always under 20 if not. Vitamin D, magnesium before sleeping, creatine and even though I eat a lot of oily fish (salmon, tuna and mackerel) I’ve started taking omega 3. My knees are beyond help now, I did a couple of runs last week and the pain came back, no cartilage, so no more running 😢😢 no amount of omega 3 will compensate for the lack of cartilage

My knees seem ok, although I'm 45, so maybe it's yet to come. I eat a lot of fats it seems, whenever I track what I'm eating. Hoping that gives me some protection for my joints even if it's probably bad for my circulation.

I didn’t start running until I was 48, then didn’t stop for 11 years. My knees have stopped me now, wish I’d done less now. But I can lift, cycle and walk so it isn’t all bad. Did anyone bother reading Silly Boy’s latest article? Some shit about self doubt, apparently he has it in spades, he certainly hides it well!

May your knees continue to give you no gyp, Fibrous! Poor old knees, Sam. I didn't click on that article even though the app gave me no fewer than four notifications for it. It would be GREAT if he were plagued by a hell of a lot more self doubt than he evinces. I hope he also has low self esteem. That would at least make him a fab judge of character.