Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred

[Shimmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CajunFille' I'm one of those girls who hasn't worked out in forever (5 yrs.) I thought that chasing around my 2 small children would keep me in shape. Wrong! I have lost a lot of muscle tone in my legs and stomach that I used to have. I believe the fact that I had two c-sections plays a part in the belly thing some what, but I think if I exercised it would be much better. When I was in my early 20's I had nice abs and I want that back! Do you ladies think that this video would work for me? I'm really not interested in losing a lot of weight. I'm 116 lbs and 5'6 so, that's pretty good, I think. It's just I have "the bad areas". If you don't think this is the video for me, do you recommend a different one? I'm kinda clueless about this stuff.

squats
lunges
deadlifts
walking lunges holding a weight plate overhead (10 lbs to start)
they'll work your legs and your trunk. A correct squat works the midsection at a fairly unforgiving level.

Overhead squats
front squats
thrusters
kettlebell swings
push press
press
this will work your "core". If you're lean, it'll strengthen it all quite nicely.

 

[CajunFille']

Shimmer- How many reps of each move should I start with?

 

[Shimmer]

Y'know, not knowing your physical status, I wouldn't be comfortable making that recommendation.
I suggest though, checking out crossfit.com for video instructions on doing each move safely, and if you're able to do that, maybe 15 to 20 of three of each. That's just a suggestion though, as crossfit programming is more intense than that.

edit: I have to throw the caveat that I'm a crossfit affiliate and that our programming is done with these moves in mind. The intensity and methodology isn't for everyone, and every mindset is different. But...empirically, CrossFit works.

 

[CajunFille']

Thank you. I'm going to check it out now.

 

[JULIA]

I thought the 30 day-shred was absolutely terrible.

She has you working the same muscle group day after day = a big no-no. Plus, a lot of her cardio movements are super high-impact. I didn't even break a sweat from doing this.

 

[COBI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JULIA I thought the 30 day-shred was absolutely terrible. She has you working the same muscle group day after day = a big no-no. Plus, a lot of her cardio movements are super high-impact. I didn't even break a sweat from doing this.

Depends on what you are doing. If you aren't actually stressing the muscles to the point of needing to recover, then you can easily do them daily without issue.

Exercising major muscle groups every day, in and of itself, is not necessarily a no-no. If it was then we'd have to spend every other day in bed. Even in talking about "really" working out the major muscles to the point of ideally requiring recovery time, it's not necessarily a no-no. Think of hard laborers: they often stress their muscles every day during a work week.

In general terms, recovery is ideal, but people work muscles without recovery on a fairly regular basis in many different situation.

Exercise is a funny thing because for every "right/wrong" way to things there is a situation where the exact opposite is true. For example, there are *proper* weightlifting techniques that the general gym-goer would point out as "wrong" according to what they were told; but serious weightlifting is very different than the basic that the typical gym-goer would do and what the average gym-goer will have picked up somewhere as "right" and "wrong" is very different for a lifter.

Another right/wrong example I encounter often is the idea of what is "correct" for a squat. In my kettlebell trainings, there are many positions where we drop into a very low (less than 90 degree angle in the knees) where I have to re-educate participants because they've "learned" that this technique is "wrong". It's not wrong, but I would accept that it's advanced and so it's easier to say it's "wrong" so people won't try it without good form or proper strength developed to maintain good form. Also, in kettlebells, there is a lot of whole body movement where the legs are used to assist a lift, for example; and often participants have been trained to "isolate" which is not "wrong" but it is a different technique that is used for different kinds of training. But they have been trained that assisting with other major muscles is "wrong" so again re-education must ensue.

The biggest key is listening to your own body and learning to distinguish what it is saying to you.

 

[Nicala]

Really? I sweat buckets!

 

[Shimmer]

Ugh. Teaching people the proper way to squat. *bangs head*

 

[CajunFille']

Shimmer, looks like lots of people need to learn how to do a proper squat. I was searching on YT for some direction and even some of the instructors on there were getting blasted from other instructors on their technique. Hmmm, wish I lived closer to you.

 

[Shimmer]

You'll find that people are either terrified of breaking parallel or they're all about ass to grass.
I'm an ass to grass person, as I believe in full range of motion.

 

[InspiredBlue]

Why do I suddenly feel like I'm on JP and not Specktra.

As always in this type of discussions, I am going to throw in the suggestion that anyone curious about weight training reads The New Rules of Lifting for Women. It does a good job of explaining some of those things that one might have learned as "right" that may not be so right after all.

 

[BeautyPsycho]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shimmer 3 to 5 lbs? o.0 Whoa. That's incredibly light.

It is light, but you don't drop them for almost 20 min. so it really becomes hard, especially for beginers.

 

[Shimmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeautyPsycho It is light, but you don't drop them for almost 20 min. so it really becomes hard, especially for beginers.

That's...retarded.


Let me edit this to clarify:
I find this type of workout 100% functionally useless. While the dietary discipline is impressive, the 'workout' itself doesn't build any type of strength whatsoever and certainly does little to improve or protect bone mass or stave off decrepitude.

Find something heavy.
Pick it up in the most natural, least painful way possible.
Put it down.
Repeat.

It's that damn simple.

 

[hickle]

Ladies, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 2-3 lb weights aren't going to do anything for you! You need to have enough weight so that it is challenging for you. You should barely be able to do your last rep, but not so much weight that you lose your form. It depends on what exercise you're doing, but, I honestly can't think of anything where you would need less than 5 lbs.

I don't know what the routine is but try challenging yourselves! That's the only way you're going to get fitter.

 

[Shimmer]

I'm ok with a slight loss of form as long as 85 to 90% of the workout is done with proper form and high intensity.

 

[COBI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shimmer I'm ok with a slight loss of form as long as 85 to 90% of the workout is done with proper form and high intensity.

Exactly. I try not to overcorrect people or they may become demotivated. As long as their form is not unsafe, I usually try to improve one part of their form at a time. There are some aspects of form that will naturally improve as strength increases without any need for me to coach them into it.

 

[Lebellabeauty]

I've been using 5 lb weights but I can't do all the reps at once with them. They definitely work my arms but sometimes can be too much so 3 lbs would probably be better.

 

[naturallyfab]

lol my friends and I all do this work out! I use 5 pound weights for most of it, but I'm feeling like I may need to up the resistance a little.

 

[Chupla]

Jullian kicks my butt with this video =*(

 

[LMD84]

so i'm bumping this thread. i have this dvd however i'm struggling with the weights too - as in nothing seems heavy enough for me! the problem is that because of my work i am used to lifing anything up to 50lbs with ease pretty much every day. So what weights should i be looking at getting? because 3 and 5lb weights really don't feel heavy at all to me