Caroline Idiens (aka Caroline's Circuits) on Strength Training in Midlife

0:04Hello and welcome to a special edition of The Midpoint. Today I'm joined by fitness expert Caroline Ideans to talk about keeping fit in midlife. We've spoken to lots of experts about nutrition, but it's been a while since we've focused solely on fitness and movement and exercise is such a big part of my life. So I wanted to get an expert's view on it and who better than Caroline. She'd been a personal trainer for over 25 years, but it was in lockdown she started to post fitness classes online. Dubbed Caroline's Circuits, these classes really took off and I'm talking globally. The joy of everything being online at that time was that Caroline could reach more people than ever before.

0:43And in the five years since, she's built up a huge following. Strength training has always been really important to her and her workouts all incorporate resistance-based exercises. She's vocal about the benefits of being strong, both physically and mentally, as we get older. And that's why she's put all of her knowledge into a brand new book called Fit at 50. So we're going to be dipping into that today and finding out more about the link between strength training and longevity.

1:15Caroline Circuits, welcome to the midpoint. Feels strange seeing you in the flesh and calling you that because that is the name of the account that has become a phenomena and launched you into a whole new world in the last five years. Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is very exciting. And you just said then, I don't really do many of these. I can't believe you haven't done many podcasts. No, I'm very new to podcasts, but it's all about to kick off, I think. Yeah, well, maybe new to podcasts. Definitely not new to social media. No, not new to Instagram. No. And I think a lot of people listening will know you from your phenomenally successful page.

1:51But let's go back pre-2020, when things really started to take off, and go back to your life and who you were before you became an internet phenomena. Well, I think, so to start, I was in advertising for a good 10 years. And then I qualified in 2001 as a personal trainer. I'd always loved fitness. I loved sports at school. I played hockey for university. And then I had a personal trainer and I discovered Body Pump. I don't know if you remember the good old Body Pump. and I'd go to a class before work. I worked in London, absolutely loved the buzz of lifting weights for the first time. Body pump was kind of the first introduction to strength training for me.

2:32And what I loved, having always been much more cardio-based with my own exercise and fitness, was the feeling, not only how your body would change with strength and with those kind of exercises, but how it made you feel. And the opportunity arose for me to train myself as a trainer, as a personal trainer and I decided I was just going to go for it and I absolutely loved it. I qualified in London. I had a business in London before I had children. So you kind of late 30s? Late 20s. Late 20s. Yeah, late 20s. And I just absolutely loved it. I had clients very early. I'm an early bird so I'd have clients at 5am by the serpentine and then all through the day one-on-one you know three of them became godparents and vice versa.

3:16It was a brilliant time to be a trainer and I really enjoyed the whole satisfaction and watching clients really change and transform again not just from a physical perspective but how it made them feel to exercise this is you know a lot of clients had never exercised before and then when we moved out of london when we had the family i started doing group exercise classes with mums from school at the prep school where we were and i love that everyone came together it was a bit of a boot camp it was very social and fun and then as lockdown when lockdown was about to hit, a friend of mine said, you know, we're all doing our cardio, but what are we going to do about our strength?

3:54You know, we've been having these classes for a good 10 years and the strength that we've built up and the, you know, the short workouts that we've been doing in people's lovely barns and gardens and schools, what are we going to do? And I said, well, maybe, you know, somebody suggested doing online. I said, who's going to train on the screen? Like, who's going to train on the screen? And she always says, You've got to mention me because it's my idea. And we set up a group. So one person planted the seed. And she called it Caroline's Circuits and who's coming to circuits. And so I then investigated how it would work on Zoom in the good old Zoom days.

4:29And it started with sort of 30, 40 friends, family in my sitting room. But it was that time when it was very strange. Nobody was really seeing anyone. So for three times a week, we would all come together in our sitting rooms, lift our weights or talk about you know what we were doing in our banana bread that we were all making at that time and so you so everybody these were the people these 30 40 people these were the people who basically had uh kind of the internet sold out of weights and it was because people like them who presumably they didn't have a lot of equipment at home to start off with and i said to everyone don't you know because it was it was really hard you remember to get hold of dumbbells and i just said you know everybody start really light because you're training across the screen And it was very different for me to being in the space with them and being able to show people technique and form.

5:16So I said, start like because the last thing you wanted in lockdown was to suddenly pick up an injury. And at that point, I thought I better get an Instagram account and website, et cetera, et cetera. And it all really spiraled from there. The group started growing. We still have the same times now that we did them, which was Monday, Wednesday, Friday, which will never be any different for me now going forward. And then we've introduced a Tuesday fourth class. but they were half an hour which people I think was the game changer which people loved because on a screen particularly if you do something for a lot longer than half an hour 45 minutes you lose people and the focus and what I really wanted was for people to feel that they had a proper workout this wasn't going to be a lot of chat and you know I speak all the way through the classes but it's really focused on after that half an hour and we've done our warm-up and cool-down that in every single class that people go away feeling I've actually done a workout, but they haven't had to drive to a gym.

6:11They haven't had to go and buy expensive equipment. They're in their own homes. And my big, big focus from the last five years is to keep it relatable, to show people that this can be done at home and it can have the most unbelievable benefits. I feel like your account is the antithesis to a lot of these accounts that you see with very inspiring people who are doing incredible things with weights, but in these very masculine looking gyms, even the women who are working out there. And they're wearing very skimpy clothes and they look very oiled up and the environment doesn't look very welcoming.

6:50And your deliberate kind of stance to make this so welcoming, because you don't do it in a gym in your house. You don't do it in a space that looks like a gym. It's in your hall or it's in somewhere, you know that you could have had kids walking through half an hour before you know it looks like a space in a home I think is a really clever move because people get still get quite intimidated don't they about the space they exercise a hundred percent and there's a few things you've just said there which are really key the focus for me was very much like my sitting room has become a chaotic gym and my family have been very good about that because it is five years next week and it's still a chaotic gem but I think the fact is that it's not a studio with top of the range equipment in it people think actually I can do this and yes there's often a spaniel barking the delivery guy always comes at five past nine you can you know fit your life in it but actually I get so many messages from people that say oh it's so nice that you do have a dog there that occasionally barks or that something you know will topple from a lamp or I don't know whatever it is but it's just to show that it really is real life and the other thing is that I'm doing the classes with them from start to finish me people say to me so what do you do after the class which gym are you at you know what how heavy you like I have no definitely not got enough time to do that but those classes are my own workouts that's what I do I'm 52 I'm a mom I'm busy we're all really time poor and what I wanted to show was that with these half an hour the effects long term because every single class we're talking about functional training, we're talking about longevity.

8:25It's about really putting simple steps in place that are going to have long-lasting effect. And the fact that I'm doing it at home with them, and I quite often will say to them, God, that's a really hard exercise. Why have I put that in this morning? We're all going through it together. And what I really love is that it's now reaching a bigger and bigger global audience. And the messages I get are just phenomenal from people like this morning somebody sent me pictures of them in Sydney and then there's others on a rooftop in New York you know and they're all doing it together but they still feel like it's a personal trainer in their sitting room feeling and you know I'm passionate I'm really passionate about this and it's been 25 years now that I've done it but only in the last five years I think has it really sunk in that this this is really helping like really helping a lot of people now and it's exciting to know where it can go and the book is just another way of reaching yeah the book which has just just come out at 50 and you're actually fit at 53 very soon we should just say oh thank you for reminding me of that 52 just discovered you're almost the same age as my husband a year a year older me uh looking clearly we don't even need to say looking incredible because you practice what you preach you follow your mantra you live the life that you show people and the book doesn't just have exercises.

9:45There's pillars of health, basically, and sleep and diet, the exercise. Oh, what's the other one? Mindset. Mindset, yeah. And these are all, you kind of divide the book up into these sections, which I think is really important, actually, because it's a holistic approach to health. And it was a real key. When we first sat down and looked at what this book was going to be and I didn't want it to just be an exercise guide and a manual, I think it's so much more looking at the 360, you know, approach to it that it can't just live on its own exercise. It's got these other pillars are so important, if not as important together.

10:24I mean, I'm someone that's a huge advocate now for sleep. I've noticed that my sleep is the one thing that I really need to, you know, work on. My screen time is horrendous. So I know that that's got a lot to do with it. But I know now and I'm really focusing on improving my sleep patterns because I know that when I don't sleep well, I tend to not make great food choices. My exercise is not so great. And I just think all these things work together. And the nutrition side was so interesting and something I'd wanted to really focus on. I've never spoken about nutrition on my page, kept it very exercise focused.

10:59And people are always saying, you know, what do you eat? What do you like? and then working with Laura Clark, who's a registered dietitian on this, it was brilliant to work together and really look at, we didn't want it to be meal plans. We wanted it to be more just really delicious, but again, like the exercise, relatable food that you can make at home, that you can make for your family, which didn't require 100 ingredients. Nobody's got time. And the ingredients, if they're not fresh, they're very easy to have in your pantry. But interesting. one of them was to do with marinated watermelon and I was going to nip out and buy it the other day and Kenny said we've got loads of food and I thought okay I haven't got any watermelon in but I do fancy some fruit in this salad and I had some nice clementines and some grapes and I thought I'll just pop those in instead and so I think actually it's just ideas that sometimes you can get even if you think you're eating well you sometimes get stuck in a rut of eating the same kind of things don't you and it's like the workouts I wanted it to show people it's just very small changes to habits.

12:00And, you know, people often ask me, well, what do you eat before a workout, after a workout? And it's almost like you've got to copy someone. Well, everyone's journey is different. What I eat is going to be very different to what somebody else has. Plus it depends, you know, what your level of exercise is and what you, you know, when you eat. But for me, protein and how I put my meals together is so key at the moment, I find, to refuel and give me the energy. But one thing I particularly like now at this life stage is that you kind of understand more about what works for you than you did 10 years ago.

12:31I don't know if you feel the same on this, but I now know what clothes suit me, what foods really work for my body, what exercise is just part of my routine, but again, which will really work with what I do. And from skincare, whatever you're doing, I think at this age now, suddenly it all becomes much more manageable. I was going to ask you actually that, that this was a perfect storm of timing in in many ways not just the fact you had the space and the time in lockdown but being you know somebody in their later 40s yeah having that wealth of experience had this happened to you in your early 30s when you just started out it would have been very different well also you know children are older now as well and the time that I'm spending I mean you know I'm on this 24 7 it's become you know such a a big part of my life and I just think you know as the children are older now and you've got the space to maybe spend more time doing this and the focus what do they think hugely support well of course you know when you first start and you've got an instagram page and it's all hugely embarrassing your mum's jumping around in the gym crop top um you've got a son not dissimilar age to me so yeah yeah yeah i imagine and now they're really yeah he probably had more to say about it did he but they're really supportive the whole family are I've got a really close family circle and I couldn't have done it all without their help and support.

13:54They've been absolutely brilliant. I check in with my parents every day on the business front. We speak every day and they are a huge part of it. Really? Because I can't imagine your parents have had much experience in the digital space. So it must be other kinds of... My husband's brilliant on the digital space. And when we first set up the classes, you know, that's the one thing that I find really stressful when the tech doesn't work. And, you know, having an online business is always going to be the odd tech issue. But he's been brilliant at that and helping me to learn more about how it works.

14:27But, yeah, the children are great. And what I actually really love seeing now is, you know, my daughter's really sporty. And I love the fact that this whole chat, I'm not sure we're going to talk about strength in more detail, But I love the fact that it's now really transcending the generations. So, you know, she plays hockey. But I see now before they play a match that they spend a lot of time on strength and conditioning, which I never did when I was that age. We'd just run up and down. But they're doing their squats, their press ups, their planks, you know, their lunges, functional, looking at functional movement.

14:57And I love that. So, you know, it's coming all the way through. And we speak a lot about, you know, staying strong. And yeah, I think, yeah, it's great. but they've all been very supportive considering, you know, at nine o 'clock nobody was allowed to breathe and knock down when I was starting a class. They were all sent to their rooms. They had, this is when you go, but mind you, they were online schooling, which was probably quite helpful. But I think it was important looking back and we've talked about it a lot actually in our house the last few weeks because we're now five years anniversaries kind of happened, hasn't it?

15:25How much we quickly got into a structure because we're all quite structured people and we didn't want to just be lolling around all day. We like to have our exercise and our other beats of the day. Let's talk about strength because you mentioned there that younger generations now really, my daughter's exactly the same. University, she's been doing pole vault of all things, but actually I think it's the strength training she's really enjoyed around it. And that wouldn't have been the way it was 20, 30 years ago because even then, I remember when I was in my gap year, 19, and I had to do some weights for, I was asked to go and try out for the original gladiators.

15:59So I went to the gym and kind of tried to get myself strong because I was a gymnast, but I wasn't, I hadn't competed for a while. And I'd be the only girl there trying to do the weights because there was hardly anybody else in this gym that looked like me. But also I didn't know what I was doing, you know, and so I was kind of scared of the weights and scared of bulking up, you know, and that wasn't the body type that, you know, I was being shown all around me, similar to each other. We'd have been through the whole Kate Moss thing. It was exactly that. And actually you look at you, how you are as a strong woman, And, you know, and you're so lithe and the absolute opposite of what people thought would happen to you if you did weight.

16:38It's interesting because I think you've hit one of the big things there, which is the myth busting about strength. So I think a lot of people and a lot of people still feel this way that the when you mention the word weight, it's the guys in the gym with the huge biceps, the huge barbells. You are going to get really bulky. It's not for women. And also it's an intimidating space in the gym, which is why I think a lot of people do like to do these home workouts. I think also I love the fact that it's now being spoken about so much more the benefits of lifting weights and why not only is it a great thing to do, it's almost an essential thing to do.

17:14And the fact that we lose our muscle mass from age 30, we're losing our bone density. It's almost like why would you wait for something to go wrong? that's why I say to people when they say when's a good time to start just start because you don't want to be saying later on oh actually I should have lifted those weights and I say to people as well that it's not just about yes it is about muscles and bones but it's so much more than that it's your posture it's your balance it's you know there's so many articles in the press at the moment about exercise for brain health for cardio you know for your heart health but also the biggest thing is for your mood and how it makes you feel so I have women you know I've got obviously got a big following on Instagram but the messages that come that make it all so worthwhile are from women that say I've never ever lifted a weight and I've done this now for you know not necessarily just with my classes whatever they're doing or whether they're out walking or the fact that they're moving and they're using body weight or they're using some kind of resistance the difference that they're feeling mentally is huge and it's from an almost like inner confidence that then takes them forward And I get messages daily from people saying I'd never even thought about lifting a weight.

18:24And now I'm moving on to five kilograms. I'm getting, you know, I've got that real urge to suddenly pick up something heavier and I can see the difference, but also feel the difference. And you feel sort of this empowerment. It's, you know, it's just a feeling of being strong. And yes, I'm really passionate about it. And people say, well, you're lucky, you know, you feel that way. But not everyone loves exercise. but I think once you start and it becomes a habit and it can be anything that's what I try to strip back that it's not about doing a half marathon or doing a HIIT workout it's literally about 10 minutes of movement so I say to people just get outside I mean obviously the weather now is fantastic but I know I mean I've got dogs so I'm always out walking but to go for a walk and talk and to meet up with a friend and go for a walk for half an hour can change your mood for the entire a day I'm a much nicer person when I've got movement in my day yeah yeah I'm totally with you on that I always used to say when I used to go away for big things like world cups and I was away for three or four weeks I'd say to my producer I'll work 18 hours today for you but I need to have some point where I can do some movement some exercise and a coffee and then I'll be fine but it was the exercise that I needed for my own headspace and as you say just feeling great afterwards whatever it is you're doing it might not while you're doing it feel like you you know this is comfy is this good some people love the feeling you know i like the feeling the next day when i'm a bit squeaky and you've got that slight bit of muscle soreness when you've done something new but it is the after effects are huge yeah and i say to people just 10 minutes you know i put together mobility we've got lots of 10 minute little workouts on the website that broken down 10 minutes 15 minutes it's core it's legs it's whatever it is but it's just 10 minutes so I say try and stack that with another habit so maybe you're getting up in the morning you put your coffee on you're running a bath you're getting children ready for school just do the squats get the squats done and then I bet you and I say to people write it down make sure if you're doing something you've got it ready to go the night before if it's a workout if it's a playlist you've got your shoes out you know what you're wearing so there's nothing that gets in the way I mean I am a very boring early morning person and one of the things you put on the list was just set your alarm 20 minutes earlier yeah Yeah.

20:34Which sounds like it's nothing 20 minutes, you know, because you're doing this at home, actually. If you say you regularly get up at half past six, ten past six is there's not a great difference, is there? So just those little things that you remind people in the book, I think, are simple but really effective. Yeah. And then when I say to people, then write it down and come back and tell me how you feel the next day. But the book, we specifically did a six week plan, because whilst everyone's starting from a different level of fitness, I do genuinely believe that if you set aside six weeks and we're only talking 20 minutes a day.

21:04So we're not talking an hour because that's another myth that everyone always felt you had to do an hour on a treadmill. So, you know, 20 minutes. But the six week plan, I know that within six weeks, whatever, if you're starting from a beginner or you might be somebody that's exercised for years in six weeks. Not only are you going to see some changes, but you're going to feel amazing. So I said, please just try and set aside. And the book, you know, I've spent a long time structuring those workouts from beginner to more challenging classes. And already, you know, people are on sort of week three at the moment, week four, and they're writing to me saying, I'm just absolutely loving this.

21:39Yeah, it's just brilliant. And why, because people think of books as, you know, everything in your whole career to date that you've got is kind of emanated from social media. Why did you feel a book was an important addition to this? I think the book is just it's just another way to reach people, but also to show them I wanted to put all these little pieces, you know, in the jigsaw in one place. So whether that is your nutrition and what you can be doing or certain sleep tips and tricks or it's things for your mindset and going outside in nature or whatever it could be. I wanted to put it all in one place because, yes, on social media or on the platform, it's, you know, exercise focus primarily here.

22:16it's showing you yes if you make that you know smoothie or you you you want you know a quick fix with the energy balls or whatever it could be it's just things that can fit into your day and that's why and i think the book is just another example of um showing how small habits can have long you know long and you do break down the exercises as well oh the x you know the exercise That's glossary. And the, you know, the technique conforms. I bang on and on about it in the classes. I really want people to know as well that if they have a certain, this is like I was saying to you before, if you've got a certain injury or you need a modification, it's in there.

22:55I know not everyone can do squats and lunges. And I know that, you know, a lot of people find maybe they've got sore wrists and they can't do press up. There's always an alternative. And I think that's really key. If you're going to follow someone online and they say this is a set pattern And then there's no way around it. In midlife, everyone's going to have something. It's going to be a lower back or, you know, I think it's really important to know that there's always something for you. You just need to you need to find someone that can show you a way around that exercise. You were telling me before that you have a lot of younger people who come on.

23:29It's not just for midlife people, but a lot of younger people and multigenerational families have been doing it together as well. but this period of life which is where you are right now um obviously you've talked about you talked about strength that's so important but i also know that you want to do a little bit of cardio in your week you don't ignore cardio no no no and you know and i say to a lot of people that are runners um i'm doing uh writing a blog on this at the moment how strength training can really help your running especially glutes we'll come on to glutes because i bang on we could do a whole podcast on glutes but you know if you're a runner strength training is so key but also the cardio it you know whilst my ratio of exercise in my in my week we used to always be sort of 80 20 running to strength it's totally flipped around I still feel that there is a place a hundred percent for cardio and I've just got back into doing little loops of Battersea Park when I'm up in town which is where I started my whole career and I love that and I'm not you know I'm talking 5k hey, I'm not talking about a half marathon.

24:29But I do find that 25 minutes of running, brilliant for your headspace. I love it. Absolutely love it. But I've noticed now since I spent so long doing lower body legwork that just my performance and my running is just so much better. And I'm also looking at it from an injury perspective as well. I was going to say your chance of injury has probably massively gone down because of all the functional training that you do. Yeah, and warming up and cooling down and refueling and thinking what I'm going to have after my race and whether it's supplements that really help me. I'm a massive fan of magnesium and turmeric for anti-inflammatory.

25:04I really think about what is coming back to that. You know what works for you. I know that magnesium really helps my sleep. But I do think I do a class coming back to your cardio question. I do a class on a Friday for HIIT. It's a really popular half. Again, it's only half an hour. We get the heart rate up. It really is a great sort of kickstart to the weekend. And I love that for the endorphin HIIT for the cardio. So I think cardio's 100 % got a place. And it's just how you structure your week. I'm also a big advocate for rest and recovery days. I think they're just as important as the days you train.

25:35I know that you'll agree with that. It's so important to have those two days. Even if you're on your rest, you go for a really long walk. Or yoga. And I know a lot of friends are massive yoga fans. And for them, you know, those two days where they're doing something low impact, but still movement, but a different type of movement.

25:56I hope you're enjoying this episode of The Midpoint. If you are, it would be amazing if you could give us a review and subscribe. It really helps. I'll be back in a moment.

26:10So I could have done a shout out for questions and answers and we would have been inundated. But I thought instead I would ask you some questions I think would have come in. And then I want you to tell me as well the kind of stuff that you get asked all the time, because I only found this out before we started recording the podcast. You until very recently had done every single thing on your account. So you've been up all night and you finally got something to help you with. People assume that these kind of massive social media accounts are handled by somebody else. It's just me. Yeah. So you know exactly the kind of things people are concerned about.

26:41You know, the most dominant areas that people are concerned in terms of their health and training and fitness and what you've helped them with. So should we crack on with that? Where would you where would you say? I'd say the biggest number that I wake up to at 5 a.m. are motivation, motivation issues. People that say that it just frankly haven't haven't got the time and they just need to start. And I will I will explain to them, you know, the sort of tips, if you like, for me and how I really think those short workouts or just movement. Remember, even whilst you're going up and down the stairs carrying laundry or you're, I don't know whether it's gardening or any kind of housework, dancing, picking up children, everything you're doing, movement is all movement.

27:28It's not, you know, your body doesn't suddenly think, oh, you're standing in a gym. It's different to what you're doing in your kitchen. It's all movement, but all chunks will add up. So I say to people, just break it down. Keep your goals really simple. Don't set yourself a huge goal that's going to be so demotivating in that whole new year, new year thing. so a lot of the questions are on motivation I have a lot of people that ask me about sore knees particularly is a big one um knees you know a lot of the workouts that they see online do involve squats it's the best best exercise compound exercise midlife exercise I mean you know functional exercise working with the muscle groups but I also say to them if you've got problems with your knees there are alternatives and that's when we get on to me going on about the glutes you know glute bridges or whether that's side standing leg raises there's always something you can be doing um and that's what you discuss as well we talk about that yeah in the book for a lot of people yeah if it's not motivation it's yeah again it's back to time or very much about what weights they should be lifting because that's a whole nother another where do you start people out from the very beginning i say to everyone that you need to start with two kilogram weights and yes you know you might might not use them so much going forward once you start to lift heavier, but I still use my twos now.

28:45I've had them for 25 years. It's the same pair of twos and you will use them, but in a different program or in a different way in a certain exercise. But I just say to people the whole time, build up gradually and that you don't need loads of equipment. That's another thing that puts people off. They think that they genuinely need to have, you know, a whole studio filled with equipment and you don't. But also a lot of people say that they love having their own space in their house now to do it. Like that's kind of their time, but also their place. And then from people that are beginners and are starting out, I also have the other spectrum that people that are getting personal bests in marathons, for example, or want to know a certain exercise that's going to help them with their leg strength or with an alignment issue or rehab or coming back.

29:32And I do love to hear that people that have been doing strength training for a while and have gone through some kind of surgery or injury rehab, the recovery time is so much better when they started out as a fitter person. And what about minimum amounts of training? You have to be aware of how much time they've got. Having just said that to you about time poor, I say if you can do three to four times of something a week, three times of strength, 20 minutes, then brilliant. But I would say that those walk days, those days when you're getting your steps in, if you can fit those in around that, then brilliant as well, because it's all a balance.

30:08It's looking at the week as a whole. It's having your recovery time. But also it's brilliant to be outside in nature and, you know, all the benefits mentally that come from that. And walking is so underrated. I mean, you know, weighted vest when you're walking, going up and down hills, you know, take someone else's dog, meet a friend and then you're accountable for it. It's all about, you know, just structuring it in. You've heard some of the stuff I've been doing with Vitality about walking and talking. And they did this big study. And one of the things that I found really interesting in that is that if you're with somebody and you're talking to them, it supercharges the benefits because you tend to walk quicker.

30:44And you tend to walk longer. Yeah. So people, you know, kind of think, oh, why would you take a break? Actually, I love taking somebody to walk because you're ticking two boxes. It's my time as well when I catch up with a girlfriend. You're really with them. There's only the two of you. so or you know maybe three you're really focusing on your conversation you're having a and you don't realize you've just done 7k you know because you've been chatting so long but also that walking can be you know as you say it can be built up and you know it's a bit like a catch to 5k if you want to start running isn't it that you know you can build up the walking and then maybe start doing a little bit of fart leg so you might jog a little bit and you might walk a little bit sometimes yeah and write it down yeah i go out with the dog sometimes and think i don't really feel like a runner i think i'll just start walking and i can't help myself i'm in my train i think oh i'll I'm on a bit.

31:26I might walk a bit. And, you know, you just those days where your headspace isn't quite ready for a run. Yeah. It's a really good balancing act. And also, I think it's great for sort of stress and anxiety and mental space. And I'd say, you know, we talk a lot in the classes, which is something I wanted to mention on here is about functional exercises. And what we really do in my workouts is focus on mimicking daily movements. So years ago, it would be very much you did this isolated machines in a gym, you know, like biceps or you do a hamstring. Lack pull downs again. How often do you do? I know.

32:02And so what we really focus on, and it's a big part of what I do and I bang on and on about it, like a lot of things, is we look at exercises that are going to really help you as you age. So if you think about it, you squat down to pick up your shopping, you reach up to put it away. You might be getting out of a car or turning. And we do lots of, for example, lunges with rotating at the waist or squatting down and a shoulder press or just something that is going to really help you in those daily movements and help you stay strong. When you're gardening, you know, you're rowing back, but then you're standing up.

32:34It's like a deadlift with a row. You know, it's all putting it together. And a lot of people don't realize that, that they're actually doing that in the class. but when you're focusing on your form and using the correct muscles and thinking about your core and engaging your core people never get injured in an exercise class they get injured when they lift the mower it's always the mower I've mentioned the mower in every single it is I get so many messages to say it's either picking up children and putting them on a shoulder lifting you know M &S bags out of the boot or just getting the mower I mean it's just because you're not physically You know, you're not thinking, whereas in a class, you're really focusing on, OK, I've got these kettlebells.

33:13I'm going to do this and I'm going to get my posture right. Yeah, but it is. And, you know, you can bet your life that someone's back is going to go because they've not really thought about their form. So we do time after time, you know, lunges with shoulder presses and things like that, which are just brilliant. But you're using multiple muscle groups at once and you're really focusing on movement that's going to help you as your age. And that's what it's all about. really it's about being running after your grandchildren and being able to yeah do these movements and do the things you other sports and things that you want to do keeps you fit but also like you were saying about different generations you know i love the fact that women in their 30s are doing these classes because they've just had babies and they're rebuilding their strength or maybe they're women that have got really busy jobs and they're sedentary for a lot of it and you know now they're they've found ways that they can build exercise it's all about lifestyle it's all about habits and actually I don't really see it you know I've people say to me oh you know why do you do it all the time on holiday last week why are you why are you still doing your exercise for me I don't see it as something that's a chore in my day it's the time that actually I really enjoy only because I just know afterwards I'm going to feel brilliant yeah so it's just about trying to spread the word of just start with something really small and as I was saying to you before we started on here you know the stories which I love there's three women that have done the classes now for three years the daughters at edinburgh university the mums in london and the grandmothers in south of france and they all do the friday class and it's their time to connect they say after that class they all just have a quick chat about their week it's their sort of check-in and i love that and that's amazing yeah that's incredible and it's just stories like that i just think oh you must have with all the thousands and thousands of people that you're touching now and changing their attitudes and their habits and everything else in their lives it must give you enormous satisfaction as well as this being commercially an incredible business that you've grown it's a real passion project as well well yeah and you think that you feel like you're helping people but it's like i say to the kids if you're really passionate about something it will it will shine through because you know this is something that i've just you know done for a long time but i'm just really grateful to have this voice now in the last five years to be able to spread the word on it because before you know i i've always loved being a pt But now I feel like I can really reach people and people of all ages.

35:33And it's just, you know, wherever stage they're at in their exercise journey, there's a place for this strength training.

35:57everybody around you in your family your friends have known about this passion and this is years yeah and so what what do they what does your husband feel about the kind of the new uh commercial success and the fact that you're known now. You were telling me a story before about being on holiday and two women doing the workout in a gym. It was so funny. I don't know who was more surprised. The women in the gym that were doing the Friday class or me standing behind them in my flip-flop walking through the hotel lobby. It was a really funny, surreal moment. And, yeah, they're brilliant. They're all super proud.

36:29And, yeah, I mean, it's just a very exciting time now. and you know they hear about it 24 7 so uh and your kids good at keeping it fresh they're obviously into their sport and yeah they are so they kind of drink the kool-aid do they do they kind of go out and preach about um exercise and strength training are they i think what's interesting for them is a lot of their the mums you know in their circle and their friends mums and you know they're doing the classes as well and it's just really nice we just feel you know even though there's a lot a lot of people on instagram i still feel every time i put a post up that I'm just it's just going out to my friends really and family and um you know it still feels really small and I think that's lovely that the community you know I'm really proud of this sort of you know online little family that I feel like I've got now I really genuinely am and it's funny because I still feel as excited about each and every class I mean it's a bit of a cliche I know but I've not repeated a class yet well and it's five years on Tuesday and how much planning goes into the yeah and it's the planning I do a lot of the planning at the weekend and you've always got to be conscious of people that some people have just started that day other people have been with me for five years some people have never exercised some people doing Ironmans you know you've you've got to you've got to cater to everyone and also to keep it fresh and challenging and you know that's part of it but I actually really enjoy that and I'm still old school everything's on bits of paper notebooks everything's written down I don't know I just it's just how I work and yet the business is very much a digital business so you've got your platform is where people can subscribe and they can become subscribe yeah members of yeah and I think you know and there's free trials on there so people can see what it's all about before they join but you're not tied in you know to a long lengthy membership you can join and cancel at any time but I think it's just for me when I'm now doing a live class and I see the numbers coming in to watch the class and I try and keep it all really, you know, still, it's just still me at home.

38:28But you see the numbers and you're like, wow. And then, you know, the Spaniel will come running in and there'll be chaos. And you're telling me 35 % are in the US. Yeah. You know, the American community is fabulous and a really important part of the following, but also, yeah, on the platform. And that's the joy of being online because you can be anywhere in the world and log on and, you know, people are doing it on summer holidays on boats and it's just hilarious. But it's just nice that it's got that global reach. And do you find now that people think, well, I want to have her for myself. I'm going to have Caroline as my personal trainer.

39:04But you haven't got time to do. No, no, no. Do people try and entice you out of it? Yeah, you should ask that. Yeah, but also people still do feel like it's, you know, it's just me with them. And because they ask questions and because I do, you know, reply to them when people say, oh, could you on Tuesday not put in this? But could you put in more on triceps? You know, and you do. You listen. I mean, that's the fact that I do love that it's a two way conversation and that we are all the same. You know, we're all doing it together. And I say to people afterwards, you know, let me know. How did you get on in that class?

39:41And they do. They all reply. I ask them polls. Do you want music? Everybody said no. Really? Yeah. They have my lovely dulcet tone. So they can, if they want low level music in their own background, because that's the joy. Yeah, yeah. So they can have their own music. And I think, you know, I do, I speak the whole way through, which is quite hard during the HIIT class when we're doing, you know, jumping around. But I do say the whole, you know, talk the whole way through about technique and points and lower backs. And I'm going to have to mention the glutes because I said to you that. But for a lot of people, and we've got this class on a Wednesday, that's all about the glutes.

40:16loads of people don't realise the benefits and I go on and on about the fact that yeah we're sitting you know behind wheels in the car or we're hunched over a laptop and we're sitting in offices the glutes are a massive forgotten part of our daily movement you know they're the the part that really propel us forward with each stride in a walk it's the performance it's alignment when a lot of people have now said to me god since I've been doing the Wednesday class my lower back pain has gone because we thought it was our backs it's not it's the fact we haven't fired our glutes So I go on and on.

40:46My poor neighbours on a Wednesday for glutes day when I'm saying squeeze your glutes literally at the top of my voice for five years. But it is like a real game changer. And if you look at your alignment and your hips and your knees and how everything sits in your sort of skeletal frame, it's really important muscle group to work. So I talk a lot about that and it's particularly helpful for runners. And we've talked about incorporating a bit of cardio as well. I'm a big fan of Pilates as well. I like to try and get a few Pilates in a week. Have you done much in the way of Pilates? No, my husband loves your former Pilates, but I've got so many girlfriends that love it and for their core particularly, I've said it's a game changer.

41:29You do. There's one of the exercises, a dead bug, which is in your regime. That's kind of a Pilates style exercise, isn't it? So in terms of mat Pilates, there would be exercises that get into yours. Yes. You know, whilst these are all different forms of exercise, there is so much crossover. um and with their own body weight yeah and the the reason i put a lot of dead bugs in is because a lot of people actually hate crunches and find it either very painful for their necks or they just would love just as we do when we do all our plank work to find alternatives for deep core muscles and yes the dead bug again is just one of those i think one of those really key i've put it on our midlife exercise sheet because it's just a it's really popular but b i think it's really effective And you can use lightweights as well with that.

42:17And anybody thinking, what is a dead bug? I can ask you to describe it or I could point to them and say, we are after this going to be going and doing a few exercises. We'll make sure we do a dead bug. We are doing dead bugs. Yeah, we are. OK, because it's your routine. I'm just following you. Yeah, we're going to put that together after this. Excellent, excellent. So where do you go next? I mean, here you are. You've kind of conquered this space and it's going brilliantly well. what's what's the goal it's funny because people always say you know just take a moment you know you know what it's like you're on to the next thing whereas you know at the moment it's very much um focused on fit at 50 and and the book has only literally just come out so to taking a moment to sort of breathe and think about that and where that's going but also just now to continue just to continue doing what we're doing you know i will continue to do the classes for as long as i possibly can i think that is one of the key kind of pillars of your success though is that that authenticity is those classes and it's just me you know i'm the only trainer you know it's just me don't have a load of other trainers coming to do them and and also i think the thing you always say one always says i think about exercise is showing up you know it's got to show up to do it you've got to be consistent with it yeah it's consistency and that's what you have personified with carrying on doing the classes.

43:38It would have been very easy to say, well, I'll get somebody else to do those. Yeah, and I'll go and focus on growing the business somewhere else. Yeah, it's just me, which puts out the pressure on because, of course, which is something why I really look after, you know, have to think about my health and my sleep and what I'm eating and everything. But I also say to people, yes, you need to be consistent. Of course you do. To see the change, you need to be consistent, but not to put undue pressure on yourselves. People say, you know, I'm going to be going on a holiday and I'm not going to be able to eat that and I'm not going to be able to do that workout.

44:07It's not about, I don't think at midlife it's about restriction. I really don't. I think it's about really celebrating the times you can do stuff and thinking, brilliant, I can do that. But also not beating yourself up if you can't do something a certain day. You know, and it's the same on the food front as well. I'm all about balance. You know, I don't count calories. We don't have scales in our house at home. It's about balance and about doing things in moderation. But it is at the end of the day about trying to stay consistent because that's where you're going to see the change. So you don't weigh yourself?

44:39No, I just go by my clothes, but it's something that I've always done. I don't weigh my food, but I do also know, you know, the foods that make me feel healthy, foods that I know that will really nourish. And that's what we've tried to put in the book. And there's some recipes in there which are real family favorites like the salmon. You know, it's just something that I know. And I also know that when I eat better, I just genuinely feel so much better. But it's not about cutting stuff out. Like I've got the sweetest tooth of any of my friends. I'm renowned for it. And so how do you manage the sweet tooth?

45:13No, I just think, again, it's in moderation. I won't say that I won't have chocolate, but I, you know, I won't eat chocolate all day. But I will always mostly have chocolate once a day. But, you know, it's about... But then you're talking, you're not talking a family sized bar of Cadbury's dairy milk, are you? You're talking a bit of something. Yeah, I've got a certain favourite. I'm not sure if I can say it. Go on, say it. I'm a bit of a fan of a mini egg. We're coming up to Easter, aren't we? That's what Ruben bought me for Mother's Day because that's what I would tend to do. I love a mini egg.

45:44But also, you know, I love coffee. My coffee in the morning, I mean, I'm a real morning person. I'm up at the crack of dawn. I'm not a real night owl, but I am a real morning person now. Of course, it's lighter and I'm up and I love... Breakfast is my favourite time of day. it's after my workout and I just you know and I love my coffee and and I just think everything you know it's all all in moderation I'm not a big drinker at all but you know I just I try and eat as healthily as I can and I also know that with protein at the sort of heart of every meal especially when I've been working out it sustains me it's great for my you know for my energy for my muscles so it's just sort of knowing what suits you but everyone is different and I think you can't follow someone else to a tee on their exercise and on their on on their lifestyle because everybody is different at this stage do you get people apologizing to you because they haven't shown up or something you know like i couldn't make the nine o 'clock today do they feel personally kind of committed to feel that i can see them on the screen like in the old zoom days they do and i say no don't worry i can't see you anymore they said oh sorry i sat down with my dog and i'm like no it's fine but you do get some really funny stories there's um a certain shoulder exercise we do called the Arnold Press and one lady always writes to me her dog is called Arnold so when I'm shouting do your arms her dog goes absolutely crazy but things like that is funny but yes the screen is one way now so yeah yeah well that's probably for the best with all those thousands of people who are joining in with you and and doing it you didn't you didn't quite get to what what's next you said about taking stock which you're obviously not doing because you're plowing on what what are you just spreading the word I mean you know we've got some plans in terms of series and challenges and things that are coming up on the platform.

47:27Some exciting stuff coming because it's five years. And so we'll be celebrating that because I can't quite believe we're at that milestone already. But yeah, there's some exciting things. Watch this space, can't say too much just yet. Excellent. And in terms of the book, obviously available everywhere. I couldn't believe it's Sunday Times bestseller. I mean, literally just, I've got really emotional the day. I heard that. I couldn't believe that. Huge congratulations. It's going to be one of those books that's just, everybody has a copy of it. You know, those kinds of books that everybody's got.

47:59Everybody's got the Nigella First Nigella Cook book. I'm really pleased with it. Everybody will have Caroline Circuits. Somebody did ask me if my surname was Circuits the other day. Did they? Mrs. Circuits. Maybe we should change it by depot. I'm not sure your family would be thrilled at that. That was a funny moment. But yeah, I'm really pleased with it. And I'm just, yeah, I'm just, as I say, really grateful to suddenly have this voice really to be able to spread, spread the word. Because I think, you know, in midlife particularly, it's just so important. Yeah. I think the mental and physical challenges that come along for both men and women.

48:35Yeah. And I know a lot of your audience are women. Yeah, but there's men that do it as well. There's men there too. And just this morning, actually, I went out for a run, but Kenny went in the gym. He wasn't feeling great. And he said, I've missed my weights. I need to do some weights. And I think men can fall off it too. It's quite easy, isn't it? Their bodies don't change in quite the same way, but they still need that strength. Yeah, and there's lots of men that are doing it alongside their wives. And yeah, it's a team effort. So yeah, I'm just thrilled that people have also found that the short workouts, which is the main thing, the short workouts really do work and you don't need to be doing it hours.

49:10Caroline's short circuit looks like something completely different though, doesn't it? It looks like something's gone wrong. Caroline has finally short circuited. so maybe think of a different name when that book comes out but um caroline thank you so much for coming and telling us the backstory and giving us great bits of advice as well i think those those areas you talked about that people kind of come up with time and time again would definitely be if i'd put a call out people would have talked about motivation they'd have talked about not having enough time they'd have talked about the different injuries they have so you've addressed all of those and now we're going to go off and do a caroline circuit we are thank you so much for having me it's been brilliant thank you well caroline is just brilliant a real inspiration when it comes to leaning into your passions as well as keeping fit at 50 and beyond check out her website carolinecircuits.com for more details about her live online classes and you can order her book fit at 50 right now it's fantastic it's also got great recipes in it and if you're feeling inspired to get moving straight away, head to my Instagram at Gabby Logan to check out the workout we did together after we chatted.

50:20It was good fun. And a lot of what we did is the core of the stuff that Caroline teaches on her platform. But doing it with her was quite surreal having watched her all these years. A big thanks again to Caroline, to Spiritland Creative, and of course to you for always listening. I'll catch you next time.

50:44Thank you.