30 Day Shred Recap

IT'S OVER!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!

I think this is the first "program"/"system"/"whatever" that I've actually stuck with for the entire course. Granted, it's only 30 days, but in those 30 days I was sore, I was busy, I went on vacation, I had a million excuses for why I shouldn't do the Shred, why I should skip just ONE day, but I didn't! Despite Jillian Michaels feeling like my own personal workout Nazi at times, I did that darn DVD every single day for the past month. And I feel great about it! Total feeling of accomplishment. Here's what I learned:

• The DVD works. It's very intense, but short. However, I do think if you worked out to pretty much anything with this level of intensity for 30 days straight, you'd see results.
• The transition from Level 1 to Level 2 is the hardest.
• Jillian Michaels is very tough-love, and I find that to be the most encouraging.
• I perform better if I hold myself to a high standard - ie. it is easier for me to stay on track if I do not take any breaks or rests. If I had taken a day off for vacation, it would have been much too easy to give up.
• Working out is best done in the morning - it gives me energy and I love not having to worry about getting my exercise in for the rest of the day. If I do it at night, I have a hard time sleeping.
• My knees held up much better than I thought they would - a lot of people have problems with their knees on this program. 

And finally, my results!

• Down 9.2lbs
• Dropped 1 dress size (almost 2 - my jeans are pretty baggy, but the next size down is still a little too tight).
• I can now do 1 minute of sit-ups with no rest and no modification, as well as 20 jumping lunges. I still don't like to, but I can. 
• I wish I had taken measurements, because I see the biggest difference in my thighs. The 30 Day Shred has a TON of leg work - basically all the cardio and strength moves involve the legs. The reasoning behind that is that legs have big muscles, and so working them will give you the most muscle gain and calorie burn.

Basically, I think it's a great DVD. It's definitely my favorite workout DVD that I've seen so far. It's a great price (as opposed to the P90X, which involves a lot of the same or similar workouts, but costs much more and takes more time - you'd probably get better results with the P90X, I just can't afford it!), and it's great for a high-intensity, short workout. Like I said earlier, I think you'd probably similar results from any 30 minute per day, high-intensity workout, but this one is very convenient - you just need some hand weights and space, and you don't have to worry about driving to the gym, what the weather is, whatever. And everyone can squeeze 30 minutes into their day.

Next up: Couch to 5K! That program is 3 workouts per week, for 9 weeks. It starts out pretty slow, but another thing I learned from the 30 Day Shred is that starting out slow is best. Usually when I decide to start running, I set out to run a half hour right off the bat, can't do it, get bummed and give up. The Couch to 5K program asks for only 60 minutes of running at a clip for the entire first week. It doesn't seem like much, but it's important to build a foundation and stick with a program. I can't wait to see what the next 9 weeks bring!