Sept 2014 - 30 Day Shred thread - because Christmas is coming

[yadahyadah]

Join us as we bounce, hoik, stumble and otherwise get ourselves through one or other of Jillian Michaels' DVD programs. Some of us love it most of the time, others of us just do it and then learn to love it as we start to feel stronger, leaner and generally fitter. You can be as negative as you need to be, just show up and get it done. You know you want to.

Body Rev phase 2 week 6 cardio 2. Gah - did it despite the headache and the mayhem. And that is the best that I can say about it today.

yadah - well done for doing it!

Body rev sounds interesting but I don't think 6 days a week would work for me, I like doing weekdays but then doing 'real stuff' (and/or resting) at the weekends.

Right ... the plumber I was waiting for has been and gone so I'd better get my gear on and get on with shred.

Thanks Errol I really feel a bit in the wars at the moment so facing up to the cardio is particularly difficult at present. On the six days a week point, I did it for the first 5 weeks and since then have been a bit flakey in general. This week, having decided that I really really benefit from daily exercise, but am up against it in various ways, I have decided to ditch the 6th day until I feel ready for it again. I may not, let's face it but on the other hand, when I began this JM business, I had decided to follow your lead and commit to five days a week and that is a bloody good goal to stick to.

I really need to do this again. cries I try wedding dresses on in 19 days... I could do a lot of good in that time!

Just marking place so I don't lose you again!

not JM'd for a week

Oky - oh, how exciting - yes, you really can make a difference in a few weeks, a lot of people find a bit of midriff goes quite quickly. I find it easier to eat better when I'm doing this too - the short intense exercise doesn't make you hungry like slogging away for ages doing moderate exercise, so it's a win-win on that front.

Forgot to post in the last couple of days but am now up to 30DSL2D4. My knee is killing me though. I think I hurt it doing squats in L1 and now it hurts when I kneel down. Any advice oh JM gurus...? Rest? Keep going carefully? Get some physio? Such a nuisance I don't want to give up on the shred just when I am getting back into it. Plus I have ordered NMTZ in the vague hope I will finish the shred some day!

flower you're one day ahead of me and my knee is killing me. I'm limping now and can't kneel down. I'm going to ask the physio at work on Friday so will report back!

Flower and spotty when i first did Shred, I developed a really painful knee - one that hurt going up or down stairs or cycling. I stopped doing the lunges - or did the teensiest ones I could - and felt very worried/ frustrated by it all and then after Shred and halfway into Ripped in 30, it just disappeared and I was able to do lunges and squats again no problem. I concluded - and this is entirely cod physio thinking - that the muscles in my legs and bum bum had been too weak to spare my knees from taking a lot of the pressure in those moves during that first program but as they became stronger, they were able to take the heat and spare the knees, which are now absolutely fine again I am happy to report. So I would lay off the heavy duty knee moves, curb your enthusiasm and wait for your killer buns to appear...

NMTZ done. I'm back on it, huzzah! Am going to get my hands on ripped I think, although am worried as have had to modify planks and sub in ab moves as my diastasis still plays up. I think ripped is likely to be full of planks and push ups? Which I need to avoid like the plague.

Am off to undo all the work I've just done and eat birthday cake and drink wine.

Just done 30DSL2D1 - oh my God! It's so much harder than level 1 and I couldn't even do 2 reps of some of the moves. Please tell me it will get easier and I won't always end up lying on the floor in a sweaty, red collapsed heap half way though...!?

I think yadah is onto something with her take on the knee problem.
Way back near the start of the year there were several people with knee issues and someone gave advice about it - IIRC she recommended avoiding the lunges (sore muscles are fine, they'll be stronger after rest and recovery, but dont carry on doing anything that hurts joints) but instead do exercises which help build up the supporting muscles - I think balancing on one leg at a time came into it, doesn't Ri30 do quite a few one-legged balancy things?

For people starting, do be very careful about your form in squats and lunges - it's all about the butt going backwards.

littleorange - yes, it does get easier. Which moves are you finding particularly bad? - one or two I use lighter weights to allow me to get through the set.

30DS L1 D2 done. Shoulders are sore today: I had to follow Anita for the second set of push-ups. (As an aside, is anyone else still struggling with push-ups after months of doing JM? I don't know if I'm doing them wrong in some way or if it's just that my upper body is totally feeble.)

Shadows, yes, Ripped is full of planks and push-ups: L2 (which was my nemesis) had crow push-ups, plank jacks, mountain climbers, squat thrusts and I think something else as well. L4 had three different kinds of push-up.

I agree with yadah and Errol about strengthening the muscles around the knee. I didn't have knee problems when I started (cyclist, so presumably the muscles were quite strong to start with), but I did find I got very sore ankles on my first run through the Shred. They got better about half way through L2, presumably when the muscles in my lower legs and feet got strong enough to take the strain.

30DSL2D4 complete. There's definite swelling on my knee. I didn't go deep in the lunges at all and avoid all jumping/running in the cardio but I'm still in so much pain I really want to complete this but it really bloody hurts!

ErrolTheDragon I mostly seem to be struggling with the ones that are in the push-up position (is it called the plank?). I can do quite a few normal push ups, but find the ones where you walk your hand forward first to be really hard. I can do about 2(!). I also have probems balancing with the lunges. I'm about to try L2D2 in a minute so we'll see how I get on!

Littleorangetree my balance sucks too with those lunges!

Oh, I still can't do full pushups after over a year - I've never had much upper body strength, and they need strong core too. I can do the plank-based things fine now so I think with me it's shoulders and triceps which are lacking.

I do sometimes get a wobble on static lunges if I've not got quite the right position to start with but in general balance def better than it was last year.

Missed my exercise this morning, because I was out picking up my new car!

Ok, just finished 30DSL2D2! Went quite a bit better than yesterday and I managed to do more of the plank moves. Still struggling though and can't seem to maintain it anywhere as near as long as they do! My lunges are pretty wobbly too, *Spottyteacakes'. I think it's going to be a matter of persevering and hopefully I'll improve. I already feel good for doing it (though I now look like a sweaty beetroot...)

What kind of car did you buy *ErrolTheDragon'?

A golf estate which can supposedly park itself.

Killer Abs L1D3 done. Co-ordination isn't getting any better - there's a move called a dancing crab where you start on your back, and come up on one arm and one leg, pointing the other arm and leg up into the air. I fall over ignominiously every time.

Body rev phase 2 week 6 workout 6 done. Didn't manage it yesterday - way too much going on. However, I am glad I didn't use that as a reason to have the rest of the week off.

Body Rev week 2, day 2 (except it should be the end of week three).

God, I suck. I have no motivation and have only managed to do this twice since coming back from camping and have now put on 7lbs in two weeks.

I am struggling fitting it in with the school run (DD just started reception). I am also struggling with it a bit emotionally as she has been in tears every morning and weeps as I leave (despite coming home and telling me what a great time she has). Today is the first morning I haven't come home and cried and I took her to school wearing my PE kit (oh the shame), so I didn't have an excuse when I got home.

So to sum up, I am an overweight, lazy, unmotivated emotional wreck.

At least I did it this morning, any motivational tips greatly received.

Hey Lambzig you and me both. The school run simply confounded me yesterday. Today, I got up just before 7am and did it before they even had breakfast. Felt so much better than wrangling with departure times and lost socks.

You were shit hot earlier this year and you will be again soon. Stick with it.

Hmm, my two are up at six and getting them ready seems to take forever. Hopefully, it will settle down.

I have decided that I have to post here if I don't do it when I am scheduled to, with my lame excuses (sorry, I know that will be riveting for you all). Hopefully, the thought of that will shame me into doing it instead of slumping on the couch with a bag of minstrels watching Devious Maids (current tragic sky box set addiction).

30DSL2D3 done. So crap at the plank moves...
I am far too disorganised and unmotivated to do anything like exercise in the morning before school/work, so hats off to those of you who manage it!! I do mine in the evening after my son's in bed and I can get a bit of peace. There's something nice about being all knackered when I've finished it and collapsing on the couch with the tv remote and a glass of milk, guilt-free .