CGX App Review: My Feedback As a Personal Trainer

I recently had a new client reach out to me to tell me that she had been doing a couple of popular fitness programs, including Madeline Moves (Moves App) and Caroline Girvan. And while she appreciated both apps, she was looking for something that felt like a better fit for her age and stage of life. As a 39-year-old busy mom of 3, she felt that the programs she had been doing were leaving her more drained and less consistent than she’d like to be. She had some questions for me about how Simply Strong compared to Moves App and the CGX App.

I, too, have struggled in the past with finding the right workout app for my schedule, goals, and life stage. I actually did Madeline Moves workouts for a couple of years back in 2019-2020, so I had experience with that app, but I had never tried Caroline Girvan’s app, although I had heard about it.

I decided to check out the CGX App by Caroline Girvan to see what the app was like and give my feedback as a fellow personal trainer. There are so many wonderful fitness apps out there; it’s fun to check them out and see what their approach is. Plus, it helps me to better understand what certain women are looking for so I can help them make sure they’re aligned with the right app for their needs.

Getting Started with CGX

The first thing I noticed about the CGX App was that there is a free 14-day trial, which is very generous, as it gives new users plenty of time to try the app and get a feel for the workouts before committing to payment.

I created my account by first downloading the app; the process was straightforward and only took a couple of minutes. Once I got in there, there was a welcome video from Caroline that explained why she started the app, what to expect, etc. There wasn’t an obvious place to start my free trial, nor did I locate the workout program options right away. After visiting the CGX website, I am thinking I should have selected a program first, then gone through the process of subscribing to the app because it was a bit unclear on how to proceed.

When I found the workout program options, I also figured out how to start the trial and subscribe through Apple. I started the trial through Apple Subscriptions - I’m not sure if there was any other way to subscribe, i.e., via a credit card.

Exploring the Workouts

Caroline Girvan has 20 exclusive programs and series on her app, broken into 6-10 week training blocks. There are also a bunch of one-off workouts you can choose from - basically a library of workouts as you would find in the Peloton App.

I am a firm believer in following a program, not doing random workouts, so I knew I wanted to select a program from her programs section. After a few minutes, I was able to figure out how to schedule the program to fill out my calendar so that each day I could just pull up the workout for that day.

Each of the workouts tells you how long it’ll be, most of which are between 40 and 45 minutes each, which is reasonable. I didn’t like that the programs didn’t tell you how many days per week you were going to work out. It wasn’t until I scheduled the program on my calendar that I was able to see that the plan I chose had 4 workouts per week.

Before you actually “start” your workout of the day, you can expand a workout description that explains the workout and how it’ll work. It also tells you what equipment you’ll need. For the program I chose, the required equipment included:

• Dumbbells/barbell/kettlebell
• Mat
• Chair/bench
• Yoga block/wedges
• Wrist straps
• Stability ball

The workout also lists Caroline’s weights for your reference. Basically, it tells you what size dumbbells she used during the workouts. I know a lot of women would find this to be helpful; however, I do not. I don’t think fitness is a one-size-fits-all situation - we should be selecting dumbbells based on what challenges us and what our current strength level is.

The last thing that’s listed in the workout description is the actual workout itself - basically what the exercises you’ll be doing are. I was shocked to see that there were 15 exercises programmed for my first workout. If you’re newer to strength training, this is a lot of volume, especially for the lower body. For reference, I usually do a max of 6 exercises per workout.

Inside the Workout

When you’re ready to begin the workout, you’ll see a pop-up that asks if you need to warm up first with the options of: Warm up, skip, or cancel. We should all definitely be warming up prior to strength training, especially if we’re over 35, but I think the question is more “do you want to do Caroline’s warm up or are you already warm?” In which case, I like the flexibility the program offers there.

Next, your phone will pull up a video of Caroline introducing you to the workout of the day, which you do have the opportunity to skip. The video plays automatically in landscape mode, which I didn’t love, personally. Even if you try turning your phone to portrait mode, the video remains landscape. The intro video is friendly and motivating, but at almost 3 minutes long, I can see how a lot of women would skip it just for time’s sake.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the workouts themselves - would they be follow-along videos (like her YouTube workouts) or ones that allow you to go at your own pace (my preference)? I wasn’t surprised to discover that the workouts were follow-along, meaning Caroline is doing the workouts in “real time” with you. Before each exercise, there is a preview of the coming exercise, and then Caroline begins performing it while a timer ticks on.

I was shocked to see that the timer for each exercise was set for 60 seconds and there was no specified rep range. Caroline performs each exercise for a full 60 seconds on screen, which is a long time and a lot of reps/volume. I did like that there was a designated rest period between exercises, but it was only 45 seconds. After spending a full 60 seconds on one exercise, I would expect to need to rest for at least that amount of time.

The workout is “no repeat”, which means each exercise is only done one time. This is appealing for those who enjoy novelty and variety; however, it’s not the most efficient way to build muscle or get stronger within that lift. Speaking of efficiency and getting stronger, I didn’t find anywhere inside the workout to track my reps and weights, which means the next time I do that exercise, I won’t have any record of my history with it.

The CGX App is clearly not a progressive overload-focused workout app, which is fine, but that’s an important distinction. Our muscles don’t respond to novelty (constantly changing things up); they respond to clear reasons for adaptation. Applying progressive overload, tracking your lifts, and repeating them are key for building muscle and strength. I’m not saying the approach in the CGX App won’t help you get results, because for some, it will. What I am saying is that it’s not the most optimal approach to strength training, and a lot of women, especially those over 35, will eventually find themselves spinning their wheels with this approach.

Wrapping Up

Based on the thousands of users and fairly high reviews of the CGX App, it’s safe to say that a lot of women are enjoying Caroline’s workouts and her app. Personally, this isn’t an app that fits my current needs and goals as a mom in her late 30s who wants to be strong, lean, and capable while being short on time and energy.

I am not a fan of the sheer volume the CGX workouts promote; I personally believe that it’s overkill and unnecessary for the average exerciser to do that many reps. I was also disappointed to see that there’s no place in the app to track your reps, weights, sets, etc., and no concept or focus on progressive overload.

That said, while the CGX App might not be the best fit for me and my approach to fitness over 35, it might be a good fit for others. If you’re someone who is looking for follow-along workouts where it’s a full-length video for every workout, the CGX App offers that. Additionally, if you like variety and don’t like to repeat workouts, you won’t have to worry about that in this app either.

Overall, I think there are a lot of great features of this app, and it’s clear that Caroline puts a lot of time and effort into making the workouts easy to follow, but it’s not aligned with my preferences and goals at this stage of life.

In the Simply Strong App, we focus on basic, proven exercises, strength training basics, and foundational lifts, with each workout having around 6 exercises. Workouts are 30 or 45 minutes in length and can be done completely from home with dumbbells, bands, and a chair or bench. You can choose between 3,4, or 5-day per week plans, and we track every workout in the app with the intention of getting stronger and more efficient.

Want to see if the Simply Strong App is a good fit for you? Take my quick quiz to find out!