It’s been almost a month since I started calorie counting again, and I’m finding that I absolutely love this healthier lifestyle, especially the exercise part. Lately, I’ve been working out about 3-4 days/week for 30 minutes. It’s not much, but for me, it has been a drastic change.
About two weeks ago, I dusted off Jillian’s 30 Day Shred. The last time I started the Shred was before our wedding, which was 3 years ago. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I could barely do 5 girly push-ups and jumping jacks? Yeah, those definitely weren’t happening. I felt a bit defeated after the workout, and thought that I just really messed up my body. Can’t do a jumping jack? What was WRONG with me? 🙁
The next day, I was surprised to feel sore. I thought that I didn’t do much, but apparently, I did enough to make my (lack of) muscles scream at me. It was also a pretty darn terrible day for my allergies, so every sneeze went like this…”AH-CHOO!! ow..”…and yeah, I’d really say ow. It hurt. I wasn’t looking forward to day two at all that evening, but I pushed through it. It was still just as hard as day 1, with the wonderful addition of soreness. I didn’t want to have to do that again, so I decided after day 2 to take a rest day and see if that would help with the soreness.
I will say that on day 3 of the workout (after the rest day), I noticed a much bigger difference in how much I could workout. The strength components still were difficult, as well as some of the cardio (jumping jacks and just regular jumping), but I was noticing that my body was able to do the workouts a little longer than before without stopping. I decided that a rest day between Shred workouts was just what I needed, so I kept going with that idea.
Day 4, 5 and 6 were MUCH easier. Day 6 was last night, and OMG y’all, I was able to do ALL of the jumping jacks. Most of y’all are probably like, I can do jumping jacks while cooking dinner, but for me? Doing those jumping jacks just showed me that my body is definitely changing….way more quickly than I thought, too! It’s motivating me to keep this up. In fact, I’m thinking about buying another Jillian DVD just to mix things up a bit, since we really don’t have good gym choices out where I live.
Do y’all have any recommendations for a second video of hers to get? Or heck, I’m open to ANY workout video ideas. Just keep in mind, I’m a beginner and not super fit, so P90X probably isn’t the best choice for me at this time.
The Biggest Loser cardio DVD is great, and Jillian Micheals No Trouble Zones as well. Good Luck!
Ugh 30 Day Shred killed me when I did it too. I did the Ab work out from P90X last night. I couldn’t do all of it, and my abs are killing me this morning!
I don’t have any video suggestions, but I just wanted to say awesome job with all the work outs!
Gotta love the 30 day shred! I do it evey now and then. Congrats seester!! keep it up! 🙂
I’m planning to get into Zumba soon through some DVD’s before trying an actual class. Have you tried it before? That might be a good different option.
No More Trouble Zones is really hard, but you can choose certain “zones” to isolate if you want to work your way up to the full workout or if you’re short on time. I also like her Yoga Meltdown. Keep it up!
I agree with CSouth. No Trouble Zones is quite challenging, but you can build up by focusing on certain parts of the body. Over time you could then do the entire 40 minutes work out. I have the Yoga Meltdown, too and it might be nice for a change of pace. Before I started running, I used the Burn Fat, Boot Metabolism video, and it’s all cardio. Good luck with everything!
Bob’s kettlebell DVD is awesome.