May 30 Day Shred - come one, come all

[yadahyadah]

Logging my daily JM fix and getting advice and motivation has been great over the past two months so here is a thread for all those of you who want to do the same again or for the first time. Come on, summer's nearly here and your butt's got Jillian's name on it

Thanks Babesh.

That's enough of my manky boob now though so I'll bugger off til I'm shredding again.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Babesh level 2's much harder without shoes on, you've got no grip when you're doing all that plank stuff, I bought some halfway through and was amazed at the difference.

Hmm, my in laws would stand there with a cup of tea, watching me and making encouraging yet embarrassing comments. I can imagine it now.

FIL: oh Lambzig, those weights look heavy on the bend over row, I have to say it's given you a very tight bottom, hasn't it MIL?
MIL: yes definitely, very tight, mr Lambzig, son, you must find her pretty sexy at the moment.

Aaaarrrgghhh, doesn't bear thinking about. DH would run from the house screaming.

Day 6 completed. I might start level 2 on Monday as I am finding it a bit easy.

Maybe heavier weights. I am a bit of a wimp about heavy weights though. What are you all using?

I use 3lb (1.36kg?) weights for the anterior raises and 3kg weights for the rest. I started off using the 3lb ones for everything.

Omg your inlaws would say that?!?
Ha mine are the opposite and pretend everything is normal. I could turn up with yellow hair shredding in a pink bikini on top of their dinning room table and I doubt they'd bat an eyelid publicly at least.

Yep. They are quite set in their ways and overly interested in the minutiae of our lives as if we are alien creatures ("tell me what you had for dinner every day last week") and like to make the odd "with it" comment which are usually staggeringly inappropriate.

Babesh at shredding in pink bikini on ILs dining table.

So just did day 1 of level 2 of 30DS and it was...awesome! Really hard and really sweaty but I kinda liked it. Think my shoulders and abs are going to hate me in the morning though.

30DSL2D6

Stopping for a break in the middle makes it worse btw...it wasn't an experiment, just a neighbour popped in for coffee and weirdly I didn't say, oh aye, sit down, I'll just finish doing this, lol.

I feel like I did it twice, even though I just paused it and then did a wee warm up.

Sorry for the image Better:)

Lambzing your inlaws sound excruciating!

Tabula yup I reckon you are right so I will shop this weekend for trainers and I need some lighter weights for the anterior raises-2.5kg are no good for those!

30DS L3D11 done and that's me finished! It took 74 days from start to 30 days.

Babesh - yes, you need trainers and ~ 1 - 1.5kg weights for anterior raises. The first time I did shred I'd hurt a toe and couldn't get my trainers on, was ok with level 1 but really needed them for L2, fortunately by the the toe had subsided. I just use an old pair which I've scrubbed clean.

Anyone who's having difficulty coordinating the pendulum lunges in L2, try just practising them more slowly with no arms. The first time I saw them I was hopelessly confused, didn't realise you only move one leg at a time and do the other one the second time round!... but a bit of practice you'll nail them.

Just done L1D5. Has anyone had split abdominal muscles? I spent most of my maternity leave doing Pilates and have closed the gap quite well, but I'm worried that all the crunches will open the gap again. I tried to be very careful today when I did them.

safety - this has come up on previous monthly shred threads; I'm afraid I can't remember details - I was lucky enough not to suffer this myself but its common in mothers. if you google: safe exercises "split abdominal" there seems to be quite a lot of info. You might be better off doing pilates moves that you know are beneficial during the abs interval rather than risking injury.

We heeeee well am just back from a 5km jog (ponderous plod) but am still very impressed with myself! I had this as a target for the end of the month and was meant to do couch to 5k but didn't start on time... Hopefully am still walking and able to shred tomorrow! Tsk and to think I was missing whisky and crisps earlier:)

Yes Errol, trainer free and I will be in A&E soon. Will brave the hell of sports direct tomorrow... Will get the lighter weights and some a bit heavier than the ones I gave too.

Lambzig Lol but omg at your in laws. You must have some very entertaining stories

30DSL1D5 done. I'm

safety I think that so long as the gap is less than two finger widths then crunches are ok. I have a separation of about 1 finger width and I use what some techniques I learned in a postnatal physio class which will be similar to Pilates to make sure I'm doing the ab exercises right. So always engage your deep abdominals by drawing your belly button towards your spine. For crunches, I focus on trying to get my bottom ribs to move towards my hip - so not pulling up. If your abs are "doming" when you crunch, you maybe aren't crunching so much as doing a sit up. I actually think that once your abs have come back together then these exercises won't make them worse again - I could be wrong though .

Safety I've actually just checked mine again and the gap has reduced quite a bit so for me at least, the ab exercises have been fine. I do really try and focus on drawing my core in through the whole workout which I think may have helped.

30DS L2D6 it is not getting any easier! I am definitely sweating more than level 1.

Is L3 much harder than L2? I am going to do another 6 days of L2 then move up to 3.

Amelia L3 isn't as much of a step up as L2 but it's a bit quicker paced and I think it's more fun than L2 which is a bit of a slog.

30DSL2D7

God I hate doing it on a Sunday...people wander past asking if I know where things are and stuff, like mid plank jacks!!

I usually don't do it on a Sunday but I didn't get a chance to do it yesterday - I think I might send them all to bed if I have to do that again, DP and all, lol.

I haven't done a workout since Thursday night - Friday was chaotic at work, and then I lost my sports bra. A new one will be acquired tomorrow!

Will I have thrown away all the good work that I did? I'm a bit gutted, but doing it without a sports bra hurt!

I'm going to do next week at level one, too, because this is my first workout. Then I'll move up to Ri30 level two.

I really hope I'm making a difference! I've been been turning down snacks more at work because of of the effort, so that should help too.

TabulahRasa Same here! My DP came in while I was purpled faced, panting like a dog, balanced on one leg, lifting the weights while kicking my leg and started telling me what he'd bought at the supermarket. Does this look like a good time to talk to me?!

I did L2D3 today after two days off. It seems to be getting harder instead of easier! That might be the pizza I had last night though or the McDonalds on Friday

30DS L2D2 done. Is it weird that I like plank jacks? Not so keen on squat thrusts, or plank twists. I hate it when I'm doing it but I feel really good afterwards, almost makes it worth it. I go on holiday at the start of June so hoping doing it 5 days a week will help me feel a bit better poolside - though I have acquired two flattering swimsuits so that should help as well.

Phew I have now managed 3 days of L1, though not all in a row cos I was rubbish and missed 2 days. Still it is a start. Am finding it not as hard as the very first time I did it (although I am using a bit lighter weights for some things) - but mostly a bit dull....

Hopefully when I can move on to L2 that will make it more interesting as I haven't done L2 for ages and don't really remember it. Think I will try to move up fairly soon before I lose interest!

Just done RI30 L2D1. Gosh it was hard, I think it's as hard as L3 on 30DS. Really did not enjoy that.

Found out this morning that it looks like I might get made redundant which is scary, but quite liberating as I have hated it for a long time. I am lucky that we could just about afford to be a SAHM for a while and maybe retrain. Scary, scary.