Caroline Girvan or someone else?

[sidsgranny]

Am looking to start doing some weight training to tone up and get stronger. I am a complete newbie and have no idea where to begin.

Have found Caroline Girvan on youtube and I know she's popular. Would I just pick a different video to follow each day?

I suspect it’s down to personal taste and strength / fitness levels when you start. I like Caroline Girvan’s videos a lot as she doesn’t talk as she works out and the format works for me - short bursts of effort and breaks with reasonably short videos / routines. When I started, I was very weak - I’m not exactly strong now 😂 - so I started doing her dumbbell routines without dumbbells or with very low dumbbells. I’m sure there are other really good people out there, but for me Caroline girvan’s videos are really great. You can follow one of her programmes or you can pick a few - eg, an upper body workout, a lower body workout and a full body and rotate them. I definitely have found that doing them for an extended period - even only 2-3 times a week - has made a big difference to how strong and fit i feel (and to my physique). Good luck!

Thanks for your reply @Pineapplesunshine. Would you recommend doing a few different ones (upper, lower, full) in a week or would you do 1 week of each and rotate that way? Sorry, am 54 and absolutely clueless but for the first time ever I want to focus on me and get toned/stronger!

I started her Epic 1 programme 5 weeks ago and have loved it. I'm a similar age to you, was fairly fit but very weak in terms of ability to lift weights.

She does an Epic Beginner week where you workout without any weights to get used to the positions first. I did that week 3 times to make sure I was happy with my form (and because as a beginner, it was hard!)

For me, the best thing about following a programme is that I don't need to do any thinking about what to do, how often, am I working these muscles enough, etc etc. She's done all that hard work so if I follow it in sequence then I know everything is being worked on in a logical, progessive way.

By the way, I was a bit worried about the weight that she lifts but you lift what you can. At the start I was lifting 4kg to her 10kg (and failing to get through 45 seconds a lot of times). Now I can do 5kg to her 10kg and will only fail the last 5 seconds at most. The progress is so motivating!

I like Caroline and do her videos and I also like Juice & Toya. However if you’re clueless with weights it would be worth booking a session with a PT to learn how to use them without injuring yourself.

Thank you so much to you all for replying. I've cleared a space in our spare room and my weights come tomorrow so am going to give it a go.

This sounds a v sensible approach. I didn’t find the beginners one initially and would have been overwhelmed at doing it five days a week (I guess maybe not everyone does it that way, but as that’s the way I think it’s designed (?) I would have felt maybe I should) so I just started with a lower and upper each week and built from there. I still don’t do CG workouts more than 2-3 times a week as I like to mix it up and run or cross train, but I find them a really manageable way to get into weights and it’s great as even just doing it once or twice a week, if you stick to it you start to see gains really quite quickly. Good luck!

I am a huge fan of Caroline’s. Her programmes are extremely well structured, so I would definitely recommend that you follow one rather than doing bits here and there. Epic 3 and Epic Heat are particularly good to start with. EPIC 1 and 2 sessions are longer and more challenging.

However, if you’re new to working out with weights you may also want to look at Growingannanas and Heather Robertson. Both offer very professional programmes - the former more HIIT focussed, the latter more Pilates based.

I sometimes mix and match, i.e. doing 3-4 Caroline Girvan sessions plus 2-3 Growingannanas per week, to ensure I get enough cardio, which is my weakness.

@Pineapplesunshine I never really intended to stick to the 5 days a week, but I was in a bad peri-meno phase and waking up at 5.30, so I thought I may as well get up and do something positive instead of scrolling on my phone! Now I love doing it at 6am...doesn't matter if I'm doing school run or office day, or going away for the weekend, it's done by 7am. It means I have no excuses, whereas there can always be a reason for not finding time later in the day!

thats great! Wish I could be so productive at 6am 😂

Apologies as I haven’t read whole thread but I swear by Lucy Wyndham-read

Lucy is great for novices, especially those who are older and/or not very fit, but most of her workouts are not very challenging. As far as I know she doesn’t use any weights at all, but some of her leg workouts are really good. I really like her Glutes and Thighs workout.

However, I really think that weights, especially dumbbells, are an integral part of keeping fit. Resistance training is so important to maintain muscle and bone strength.

How are you getting on, @sidsgranny ?

I was about to start a thread on the same topic, searched and found yours.

I'm 52 and just starting too.

I did try her Epic beginners last year but it nearly killed me so this time I'm starting with a 20 minute full body dumbell workout. It's short and doable and I'm going to stick with it for a few weeks to see how I go.

I don't feel ready for hour-long workouts, and to be honest I'd worry about getting bored.

I've been using really light weights so far (1.5kg) so today bought some 3kg ones to use for lunges, squats etc.

Word of warning regarding Caroline girvan workouts

If you see one that's labelled 'upper body. No equipment' (no dumbells) it will humble you faster than a slice of humble pie.

She will quite happily do 30 mins straight of press up variations that I've never even heard of.

Oh, and her cardio sessions are traumatic.

Yes, she makes it look sooooo easy lifting 15kg!

I watch her doing a string of Makers and I silently scream…

Makers! She ends the workout I'm doing with them. First time I saw thembI just laughed out loud - no way! Next time I did a couple in extra slow motion. Now I do a slowed down version, but I'm getting closer!