"30 Day Shred" - Day 5: My Experience So Far

This morning I completed my fifth day of the “30 Day Shred” workout video. It’s been seven days since I started this exercise plan, but I took 2 days off – one on the weekend because I did three hours of gardening and my legs and lower back were extremely sore afterwards; the other day I was just lazy and slept an extra 20 minutes instead of exercising.
The “30 Day Shred” is a workout video from Jillian Michaels, the tough trainer bitch from “The Biggest Loser.” She must be from New York or New Jersey – I catch her accent every now and then when she slips. The video offers 3 levels – start with level 1, work your way up to levels 2 and 3 over a 30-day period. Jillian uses a “3-2-1” system where you do circuits of 3 minutes of cardio, 2 minutes of strength training, 1 minute abs. After that you start the next cycle. It’s tough, it kicks my ass, and I’ve read online that people much more in shape than I am find Level 2 and 3 challenging!

I have AT& T cable and internet service – which I absolutely love love love! – and they offer the Level 1 and Level 2 videos for free on their “Video on Demand” feature. The actual DVD is like $15 at Target. Level 1 is 21 minutes long. Not a long exercise video, but Jillian maximizes that time by making you go immediately from one exercise to the next - no resting, no drinks. She says that if she's going to make big promises and if you really want to see results in 30 days with a 20-minute video, you have to stress your body and work it hard. I'm definitely drenched in sweat by the end of this video - for real, drenched. But I am a beginner and very overweight, so Level 1 would not do this to everyone.

I am still on Level 1 of the video, but I can slightly feel myself handling the routine a little better. The first day I thought for sure my heart would explode during the cardio section. Today I had trouble and was uncomfortable, but didn’t think I’d actually die. I have been using 2 pound hand weights for the strength training sections and I feel like I’m ready for 5 pound hand weights now for the bicep curls and chest flies (NOT the shoulder stuff - I have very weak shoulders).

There are 2 girls doing the workout with Jillian - one does a lower-impact version for beginners like me to follow, Natalie does a high-impact version for crazy people to follow. I am definitely not ready to follow Natalie any time soon.

The abs are where I need the most work (I am ALL belly right now), but it's where I feel the least burn using this video. I've tried videos like "Abs of Steel" and Denise Austin's pilates workout, and those really burn the abs within minutes and the pain is terrible for 2 days. With "30 Day Shred" I barely feel the ab workouts during the exercise, and definitely don't feel it afterwards. I don't know if this is because my abs are so undeveloped that I need extra exercises to make them work, or if I'm doing the ab workout wrong.