Meet Caroline Girvan 💪

Do you know this woman?

I discovered her YouTube channel last month.

Since COVID, she has become an internet sensation. The story goes that with the lockdown she made a video to help her friends, and family workout at home. She is a personal trainer, and competitive triathlete from Ireland, with no previous on-line experience. Since then, she has made numerous videos, refined her presentation, and gained a huge following along the way.

These follow along videos target specific muscle groups using only body weight, or dumbbells. They are all set in what appears to be her living room. Over the past 10 months, the videos have become more professional looking, and sounding, but are all based on high repetitions with little, or no rest.

Initially, I watched her videos to learn new variations of exercises I was already doing. I have never liked doing follow along programs, but yesterday I tried one of her ab workouts. It was 12 minutes of continuous effort. That’s right. No rest. There were 4 body weight exercises targeting the upper, lower and oblique muscles completed in succession. I thought this would be easy. Well, I was wrong. By the end, I was exhausted. And sore.

I enjoyed this workout so much that I completed one of her Arms & Shoulder workouts this morning. Again, it was tough. She is one strong woman. This one was 20 minutes long with several short rests. I emphasize short. I never fully recovered. She did all movements with 2 twenty pound dumbbells. Amazing. I started with 20’s but quickly needed to reduce the weight. Again, by the end of the workout, I was exhausted. The exercises worked the muscles from several angles, never giving the them a rest.

These strength workouts are clever. They are short, so they can be combined with my smart trainer workouts. Each video targets specific muscle groups – abs, arms & shoulders, chest, back, glutes, legs – so 1 or 2 of them can be done every day, hitting all muscle groups several times a week. I don’t like long smart trainer sessions. The longest I have done is 90 minutes. Instead, I prefer to do 2-3 each lasting 20-30 minutes, and between each session do a 10-20 minute strength workout. These videos are perfect for that. In 2 hours I can have a good cardio & strength workout.

If you are looking to change things up, learn new routines, and get motivated, I highly recommend Caroline Girvan’s videos. You won’t be disappointed. They are suitable for all ages, fitness level, and sexes.

Let me know what you think.