My Review of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred

I attempted to go through the 30 Day Shred Workout 1 yesterday.  Usually, I can breeze through work out videos, bike riding, and most walking without my inhaler.  This workout was tough enough that I actually had to stop 7 minutes in for my inhaler.  I sat out the rest of the workout.  All day I felt a little soreness through my thighs, despite the fact I cut my workout super short! 

Today, I used my inhaler appropriately and started the work out with vigor.  I am happy to report I made it through the whole work out and actually felt like I had put in a full day at the gym!  The work out moves you through circuits.  You do 3 minutes of cardio, 2 minutes of strength, and 1 minute of abs.  The cardio includes jumping jacks, air jump rope, punches, butt kicks, etc.  The strength training requires someone to use weights.  Fortunately, I have a set of three weights. Yesterday I started with my 5 lb. weights.  I could not keep up with that much weight.  Today I used the 1 lb. weights.  I was able to at least keep up and expect I can move to 3 lbs. within the week. There are chest flys, dumb bell rows, and dumb bell extensions.  The abs are worked out with a series of crunches, side crunches, bicycle crunches, push ups, etc. 

There are a lot of pros to this work out. I love that it keeps me moving through circuits.  Just when I think I can't do anything else, Jillian will say just 5 more or something to signal you are nearing the end.  This gives me the last oomph I need to keep pushing.  Unlike the usual depictions of Jillian, she does NOT yell. In fact she is even sort of cheerleader! You could probably use my next pro as a con, but I think the first part of the work out is actually more difficult than the last half.  I like this though, because I know if I make it through the first few minutes, I can definitely do what's coming up next.  In addition, this whole work out is only 20 minutes! When I priced it at Target it was just under $10.  I borrowed my copy from the local library.  In addition to the workout you need something to use as weights and I suggest a yoga mat, but that is not required.  I am using muscles that I didn't realize I had or have not used in a long time. That feels good!

As far as cons go, I am not sure what I will do after the 30 days! The workout is intense enough that I can see where if you were able to do 30 days, you might be ready for something more intense?  There are three levels. I am working out on level 1. 

Overall, I think this is an excellent work out.  I have been frustrated with other DVD's or workout games where I don't even break a sweat.  I sweat and really feel like I get a lot of bang for my buck. In fact, according to my BodyBugg I got up to burning 8.9 calories per minute! When I look at the time frame I was working out, I burned 193-222 calories. To put this in perspective, when I am sleeping I burn around 1.6 calories per minute. Casual walking burns about 1.8-3.6 calories per minute.  Getting up to 8.9 calories per minutes is pretty serious then!

I plan to review some other work out DVD's, but like this one so much that I will be sticking with it for a while.  I actually think it will produce some serious results!  So, if you are looking for something fantastic, check it out!