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Caroline Girvan Review: 1 Hour Low Impact Full Body Workout at Home | Bodyweight Only
1 Hour Low Impact Full Body Workout at Home | Bodyweight Only is an amazing bodyweight only metabolic strength workout. Wow is this a fantastic and challenging workout and best of all you can do it anywhere, as you only need a mat and an optional yoga block. (For reference, this one is with her wearing a yellow sports top & blue shorts, as there are several that are titled this way. I have included the YouTube link HERE).
Caroline Girvan is a fitness professional from Ireland, who posts full length workouts, for free, on her YouTube channel. I only discovered her recently and purely by chance, as she kept coming up on my YouTube feed, so one day I decided to give one of her workouts a try and I am so glad I did. It might be that I am a little bit obsessed by her routines now! Caroline makes really advanced and challenging workouts, which range from 8 minutes to over hour long workouts. She also covers every type of training and has lots of different routines depending on what you are looking for. My favourites so far are her 1 hour full body workouts, like this one, core workouts and lower body routines (she also uses really heavy weights for some of the strength routines). I haven’t yet dared do her cardio ones, as they look seriously tough – particularly the Hiit routines (there’s even one that’s just 20 minutes of burpee variations!) As a slight aside, she also just seems really sweet and you can tell that she is struggling along with you, as she often conveys her feelings just at the moment that I am really struggling too. In addition, she has excellent form and the pace is more measured to really focus on getting the most out of each move rather than just rushing through it.
This routine consists of a number of different bodyweight only exercises, which are set up in blocks of 8-10 different moves. After every 8 – 10th move you then go into five core exercises. These moves are then repeated every time you do the core moves. The workout starts with lower body, core, then upper body, core, lower body, core, and ends with total body and core. Each exercise is performed for 50 seconds with 10 seconds rest and to prepare for the next move. The routine is all low impact and there is no jumping so it can be done by anyone and you just take breaks as you need to. Caroline also sometimes takes breaks, during the routine, so you just do what you can, for as long as you can.
The workout is set up with music only and good music too, as there is no voiceover during the workout apart from a brief introduction at the start of the workout by Caroline. During this she explains the format and gives a few tips on some of the moves. There is a clock counting down each interval, in the corner of the screen, and when you have 5 seconds left the next move appears on the screen with Caroline demonstrating the exercise so you know what is to come and can get into the right position. She also sometimes shows modifications for some of the moves, such as, doing the push-ups on your knees. At the halfway mark you also get a “halfway to happiness” message appear on the screen, which made me smile!
Caroline uses a yoga block for this workout but the block is not necessary so if you don’t have one don’t worry (although you could always use a large book, small box etc, if you have one). However, it is designed to increase the work on quads for heel elevated squats, provide bigger range of motion for push-ups and lunges. You will also need a wall nearby for one set of wall sits.
What I find really amazing with this workout, is how well just using your own bodyweight can really challenge the body. I know Cathe sometimes does some challenging bodyweight exercises but they are nothing compared to this. I was really sweating and working very hard in places. I found the first two rounds of lower body moves pretty tough and the upper body was just brutal. Those uneven push-ups and push-ups with side planks were very tough. I also found the pulsing elevated lunges very difficult and even Caroline was struggling on these and had to take a few breaks. There are also quite a few balance moves that also really challenged my lower body and core. The fact that there are no repeats (except to do the move on the other side, if necessary), apart from the core work, also means the time flies by. So even though this is an hour long routine, I didn’t find it felt that way at all.
The workout ends with a 2 minute plank, which is part of her August challenge. She just encourages you to do what you can and by that point you will definitely be pushing to get through to the end!
(One thing to note is that the routine does not include a warm-up but Caroline provides a link in the comments to a 5 min warm-up routine. I did some lighter kickboxing cardio before this so I just went straight into it).
Overall, a really excellent and tough total body challenge that only uses your own bodyweight to burn out those muscles.
(Note: I haven’t decided how many of Caroline’s videos I will review yet, as the moves are often listed in her posts, but I really wanted to raise awareness of her amazing videos, in case you haven’t come across her yet. So if you like challenging and different workouts that focus on form and getting the most out of your time – then check out some of her routines).
The Workout
1 Hour Low Impact Full Body Workout at Home | Bodyweight Only is a bodyweight metabolic strength workout consisting of 58 bodyweight moves and ends with a 2 minute plank.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
1 Hour Low Impact Full Body Workout at Home | Bodyweight Only is 65 minutes long (63 mins workout time). There is no warm up included with this routine but Caroline provides a link in the details to a 5 minute warm-up you can do beforehand. There is a 2 minute intro, before the workout starts, where Caroline explains what is coming, tells you what equipment you need and goes over some tips for the “knee tuck saw to single leg raise” move before mentioning to make any adaptations that you need to make this workout your own. (The workout starts at 2:15 minutes).
Each Interval below is 50 seconds of work & 10 seconds of rest
Lower Body
Heel elevated squats (both heels on block) – yoga block
Half rep squats (never standing up fully & w/ heels on block) – yoga block
Uneven squat (1 foot on block & other foot on floor) – yoga block
Uneven squat (other side) – yoga block
Sumo squat
Lunge to sumo squat (alternating sides)
Curtsey to rear lunge
Curtsey to rear lunge (other side)
Core on mat
Tabletop side crunch (lying on back w/ knees bent & feet off floor; reach over to 1 side)
Tabletop side crunch (other side)
Crunch pulses (knees bent & feet on floor; reach towards knees)
Tuck to hollow (tuck knees into chest while reaching hand to feet; then extend legs straight out & arms over head)
Leg lower (legs start straight up towards ceiling then lower both legs down & up slowly)
Upper Body on mat
Uneven push-up (1 hand on block) – yoga block
Uneven push-up (other side) – yoga block
Plank up & down (start in straight arm plank & walk down to elbow plank & back up)
Pike push-up (in pike position w/ heels slightly lifted off ground do push-ups)
Scapular push-up (in straight arm plank lower & lift shoulders / torso while keeping arms straight)
Push-up to side plank (1 hand on block) – yoga block
Push-up to side plank (other side) – yoga block
Reverse snow angels (lying on stomach w/ feet on floor; lift torso / shoulders off ground & hover there while bringing straight arms back & forth from overhead to beside body)
Diamond push-ups (tricep push-ups w/ hands in diamond position)
Cobra push-ups (start lying on stomach w/ hands either side of shoulders then push up & down – similar to an upward dog position)
Core on mat
Tabletop side crunch
Tabletop side crunch (other side)
Crunch pulses
Tuck to hollow
Leg lower
Lower Body
Lateral lunges (side to side lunges but staying low)
Elevated lunges (front foot on block) – yoga block
Elevated lunge pulses (front foot on block) – yoga block
Elevated lunge (other side) – yoga block
Elevated Lunge pulses (other side) – yoga block
Elevated curtsey lunge (front foot on block) – yoga block
Elevated curtsey lunge (other side) – yoga block
Low squat walks (moving to one side & then back again)
Wall sit (leaning back against wall & sitting down w thigh parallel to floor) - wall
Alternating rear lunge w/ pulse x5 (step back into lunge & pulse down x5 then step in & switch sides)
Core on mat
Tabletop side crunch
Tabletop side crunch (other side)
Crunch pulses
Tuck to hollow
Leg lower
Total Body
Hinge balance (start in standing position; lift knee & then hinge forward bringing bent knee behind you)
Hinge balance (other side)
Knee tuck to saw (start in downward dog position; bringing 1 leg straight out & up behind you; bend at the knee then bring same leg in under the body in plank position)
Knee tuck to saw (other side)
3 Point balance (start standing & then bring straight leg forward, back & to the side; keeping foot off the floor)
3 Point balance (other side)
Cross over squats (standing figure four stretch w/ 1 foot crossed over the other thigh & squat down & up. I had a chair nearby for these, as I found it very tough to balance)
Cross over squats (other side)
Standing leg extensions (lift knee up & slowly kick leg straight out & in)
Standing leg extensions (other side)
Core on mat
Tabletop side crunch
Tabletop side crunch (other side)
Crunch pulses
Tuck to hollow
Leg lower
2 Minute elbow plank
The workout ends with a 2:30 minute cool down and stretch.
Take Action
Try it today! Check out Caroline’s YouTube channel HERE.
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