Mum of two, Caroline Girvan, based in Northern Ireland, has become a YouTube sensation after her online health and fitness classes became a phenomenon during lockdown. Their popularity has continued to grow, with her videos achieving over 300,000 daily views, and people tune in from 190 different countries.
Caroline is a full-time certified personal trainer who usually trained one-to-one with clients before the pandemic. But due to the pandemic, the 36-year-old fitness enthusiast began creating workout videos for her clients to follow and having to come up with new and innovative ways to coach and train due to social distance restrictions.
As a result, Caroline’s videos went viral and have created a huge online fitness community, with people from American, India, Canada and across Europe tuning in daily. Her YouTube channel has gained 525,000 subscribers and her home workout videos, designed for all abilities, has achieved a phenomenal 50 million views in nine months.
Not only is she creating these free to access fitness videos online, but her daily workouts are not just for the camera, they are the workouts she does to stay in shape and feel good.
Speaking on the success of her videos and her new-found fitness community, Caroline said: “It started out with me filming simple workout videos for my clients, family and friends, so they could work out safely at home with no equipment. I uploaded the videos to my YouTube channel for easy access, not expecting interest from hundreds of thousands of people. It was not my intention at all, but I am so proud of the community we have now built together.
“After having my children and becoming a personal trainer, my focus was on helping people feel good about themselves rather than the numbers on the scales. There is so much misinformation out there about losing weight and fitness. My ethos is as much about how you feel as it is the physical side of training.”
It was important for Caroline to continue posting her workouts online to support people through another lockdown.
She adds: “Now we have entered another lockdown in the UK and across many parts of the world, people need ways to stay motivated and keep healthy both mentally and physically. My workouts can be anything from 15 – 60 minutes. I know that from so many subscribers who contact me, this time to themselves each day is of huge benefit.
“What motivates me each day to create new content is the community that has been created organically. The feedback and positive changes mentally and physically are inspiring. My workouts are free, and I think that is what encourages people of all abilities to at least give it a try.”
During lockdown, Caroline developed a bespoke 10-Week EPIC programme created for everyone from beginners, to those more advanced. It is designed to help build strength and muscle, improve definition, learn new ways to move, improve mobility, increase flexibility, and simply feel EPIC! Caroline has just released EPIC 2 to help people through another lockdown.