Half-time report: working out with the mean drill instructor witch.

Hallo meine Lieben,

hope you are all having a fantastic weekend! As I mentioned before I started the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and I thought I should tell you a little bit about it.

What is it?

The 30 Day Shred is -surprise- a 30 day workout program. There are 3 different levels of difficulty. Every workout is ca. 28 minutes long, the actual workout without warm-up and cool down phase is ca. 20 minutes long. Each workout consists of 3 different circuits and each circuit consists of 3 phases: strength, cardio and abs. The mean workout with is Jillian Michaels. I have never heard of this woman before but it seems like she is known for the TV show "The Biggest Loser". All you need is a mat and weights. There are two other girls with Jillian Michaels -Anita and Natalie- and one is the instructor for the beginners and one if you prefer to do the beast mode. The strength part is 3 minutes long, the cardio part two minutes and the abs part 1 minute. You are supposed to do level 1 for 10 days, then level 2 for 10 days and the remaining ten days you do level 3. 

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Why am I doing this? 

I really felt like I needed some more workout. I do go hiking a lot, sometimes I even go running or do some yoga but I am not as active as I was before. When I was younger I did track and field, gymnastics, I was in a soccer team, I went biking a lot, skating etc. My goal is not to lose a whole lot of weight, in fact I do not even know my actual weight. I just want to become fitter and have a more toned body, have more strength and feel better in my body. 

How does it work for me?

Obviously I started with level 1 and I skipped the beginners' part and followed the instructions of the beast mode girl, I think her name is Natalie. I am really bad with names. I only did level 1 for 6 days and then skipped to level 2 because I felt like doing. I guess I am not that good at following rules. My legs really hurt the first couple of days. Walking up or down stairs was pretty painful but it was a good pain because I felt like something was happening with my body. 
I also realized that I do not want to listen to Jillian Michaels talking all the time so I just muted the video and played my own music. That was also much more motivating for me because music makes me want to move - on the other hand you don't really hear Jillian Michaels anymore who tells you that you are not allowed to take a break and that when 400 pound people can do it you can do it easily. How does she know that I am not 400 pounds as well? But anyway, I feel better when I do not have to listen to her. So I created my own workout playlist which is kind of a weird mixture of Bruce Springsteen, Cher, The Hives, The Offspring, Ray Charles and Modest Mouse. So do whatever you feel like doing. She does not say much about each exercise anyway so it is fine to just look at her and copy what she does. I have done the workout 15 times now so I am halfway through. I will probably skip to level 3 soon, I assume that the first couple of days of level 3 will be horrible.
All exercises are exhausting, some more some less but they all make you sweat. And they make you pant and get out of breath. There are some exercises I do not look forward to but I always try to push through it and get it done. Because I do feel like it is worth the effort.
I feel like my body is changing, I feel a lot stronger, I feel motivated and energized. I feel muscles that I have not felt before and I do think that my body starts to be more toned. And you can see some muscles. I do feel my abs, there might be some fat over them but they are there. My legs feel a lot more muscular, also my shoulders and upper arms. Of course I feel exhausted when I am done with my workout but I also often feel like I want to do some more. I usually go for a walk afterwards and sometimes I just feel like jumping into the air or doing some other weird things. I do not know, I guess I just feel really energized.
But of course, I will clearly be happy when the 30 days are over because I do not want to do this for the rest of my life. Every day. I can't say I look forward to this workout every day. It is definitely not my favorite part of the day but I do think it works. So I do it. And when I am done with the 30 Day Shred I will clearly keep going. Just not every day with Jillian Michaels. There are some other workout DVD's she made so I want to check them out and maybe do them 2-3 times a week. And I want to start running again. And of course I will still go hiking. But trust me, I do not feel like going for a 45 minute run when I finish this 30 minute workout every day. But it is definitely motivating and it works for me. I will tell you more about the results in 15 days!

This will always be my favorite workout:

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Have you tried the 30 Day Shred? Or other workouts? What works for you? What's your favorite exercise?

PS: Jillian Michaels is not really that bad and of course not a witch. She is just doing her job and she is doing it right. :)