30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels Review

Having 2 babies has seemed to leave my body not quite in the same shape it was pre-baby.  Let's just say the profile still looks like I could have that baby in there.  Most people I meet say "oh you don't look like you've had 2 kids." But trust me I hide it well.  And hiding wasn't going to be much of an option once summer and bathing suit weather came.  I knew I was going to have to do something about it and not just believe that the extra weight would just come.  After reading a review from a friend about the Jillian Michaels 30 Shred video I decided to give it a try and picked it up for around $14 at Best Buy.  Surely I could devote 20 minutes a day to getting rid of a little excess flab.

Strength... Cardio... Abs... Oh My!
The 30 Day Shred DVD featured Jillian Michaels who is a super tought trainer known best from the Biggest Looser.  I've seen the results she gets during these shows so who am I to argue with whether the video will work or not it was more whether I would work the video or not.  Ths particular workout video is organized in Jillian's 3-2-1 workout format which includes 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs.  A set of hand weights is necessary (though you could get away with large canned goods until you can get the weights) as well as a mat if you are using a hard floor.  Each 20 minute workout includes 3 circuits of this format as well as a brief warm-up and cool down.  Each circuit gets progressively more difficult.  This has to be what I like about the video the most.  With the 3-2-1 system, there is a good variety of different excersies you are that change at a pretty quick pace.  Most are about a 30 second interval.  Only a few of the excersises last an entire minute. 

The DVD itself features 3 different levels of workouts ranging from level 1 for beginers to level 3 for hardcore workouts... or if you just like torture.  Within each of the levels youreally have 2 choices you can make.  With Jillian are two other ladies who assist in demonstrating the moves.  One does slightly modified excersises for the beginner and one does the excersise all out.  You get to choose which one to follow.  Most of the time I choose the modified, lower impact version, but the higher level gives a higher standard to work toward.  Throughout the entire set Jillian is very encouraging telling you exactly why each excersies is being done, what it is doing for you. 

Am I Shredded Yet?
It actually took me a little while to get started with my workout because, well, frankly I'm lazy.  The March was the first round of getting started and I tell you what.  The first and second workouts were rough.  After day 2 I was sore in places I didn't even know I had muscles.  About a week after starting I came down with the flu and got out of the shredding habit.  When summer came running up on me, with this flab still hanging out, I knew it was time to revisit Jillian.  This time I have a friend keeping me accountable for my workouts.  So far I've been at The 30 Day shred every other day for about 2 weeks.  I have added other excersise on the other days (walking, biking etc...) to compliment the video and add variety.  Many of the ab excersises Jillian does I have also incorporated into other workouts I have been doing since they don't work that area as much.

Level 1 is a good intro to get basic strength and endurance training.  It took me over a week (remember I've only been doing every other day) to really be able to get through the entire 20 minutes without feeling like I was going to die.  After about 1 1/2 weeks I was curious about the level 2 workout and decided to try it out.  Surprisingly I was much more able to endure through the cardio than I could in level 1, but I was definitely working much harder.  By the middle of level 2 I was dripping with sweat, which I never had with level 1.  The cardio and the strength for shoulders are definitely the areas the get me each time.

Am I seeing results yet? Well, the flab is still there and I'm not seeing much difference in it yet (remember still only every other day and it's only been 2 weeks).  But I do feel like I have more stamina and am beginning to have more energy overall.    Since I've basically done a week and a half worth of this video I don't expect any real results for a few more weeks.  I am going to keep it up though to be able to reach my goal of wearing tight fitting shirts again.  Although the video may not be "fun" per se, the variety of the 3-2-1 format keeps it interesting enough to keep my attention and keep me coming back to it.