I think I have found the holy grail of at home workouts!
Sometimes it is hard to get going at home….I have a full gym and an elliptical upstairs but it is hard for me to get ready to “do it all” up there.
To get a good workout I would have to commit to at least and hour of weights and then some cardio, and it is hard to overcome my laziness at home to do it. Going to the gym to workout is another story, but that is difficult these days as well. My hubs works late hours and the good gym here does not have childcare.
The child friendly gym has a child area near the equipment where you put your child as you workout. You however have to watch your own child.
When I go to the gym I like to put my ear buds in, crank up the music and get into my zone! I don’t like buddies, too distracting. Working out while watching your own child get hit on the head with another child’s sippy cup and start crying while you debate leaving your zone to go give a hug….BIG distraction.
So needless to say working out at home is my only real option but the free weights and elliptical upstairs bore me and don’t get me off the couch.
I am a firmie…The Firm is a system that has been around for decades and stems out of a gym is south Carolina.
I did the firm a few years back and got back into my pre baby jeans very quickly.
The firm works, it really does but I have started to tire of it. The new workouts are nothing like the old, so I am working with the same DVDs I have had for almost 5 -6 years. I really just felt like it was time to shake things up.
One thing about the Firm is the workouts are about an hour give or take a few minutes. That seems like an eternity of squatting lunging and stepping…It never ends!
While I do love the firm and I highly recommend the older series of workouts, a little thing called the 30 day shred had begun to catch my attention very recently.
People were talking about this awesome workout, that kicks your butt and gives really great results in 20 minutes a day.
20 MINUTES A DAY!
That made my firm box and stick look a lot less appealing.
It is not more results for less work, let me tell you! I did my first workout today and it kicked my butt hard! I have never sweat so much in my life! Not after 30 minutes on the ARC trainer, not after an hour doing the Firm.
I have to mop the floor when I am done!
It was hard….but in a good way.
It is split into 3 levels, and each level is 20 minutes with 6 minute rotations. 3 minutes of strength 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs. You rotate through this 6 minute rotation 3 times, with different exercises each time. You don’t get a moments rest, to drink or catch your breath..its constant movement and work. Laying on the floor for chest and and abs was seriously hard but a sweet relief at the same time!
Level one was so difficult I don’t see myself moving up to level 2 anytime soon. Women on the boards I frequent are terrified of level 3 and curse Jillian’s name all the way through!
The 30 day shred is split like this, and I will attempt to do this split if my stamina allows…we shall see,
some pretty fit women have a hard time with this split.
10 days at level 1
10 days at level 2
and 10 days at level 3
then you can repeat this cycle again with heavier weights.
I am using 3 pounders for most of the exercises (trust me 3 pounds is waayyy more difficult than it sounds)
and 5 pounds for lying chest work.
The trainer is Jillian Michaels, and her two workout buddies. One buddy shows the modified version of the exercise but honestly there are not many modifications.
The moves are simple and there is no fancy foot work or box stepping.
Jillian talks alot through the video and I can see where this might get somewhat annoying at some point, but also motivating when she finally tells you that you only have 5 left!
She is a trainer on the Biggest Loser show, which I have never watched but may need to check out now.
I will update daily with my results and maybe some before and after pics 
I will to the shred on the weekdays and continue my cardio at the gym on weekends, I just enjoy that time away from the kids and DH, just for myself!
Diet wise I will continue what I have been doing. Watching my portions and eating more fruits and veggies and cutting out the salt.
Does anyone wanna shred with me?!?
We can motivate each other here, leave comments and lets make this interactive.
If your saying, “wait I don’t have the DVD yet” amazon has it for a great price under 10 dollars.
I have not received my DVD yet either but the whole thing is on youtube. Just search for 30 day shred and do it in front of your computer, you don’t need much space.
Or hook your computer through your TV, thats what I have done.
Motivate me, lets do this together!
