OMG the shred!! i Think I am Dying! But its AMAZING!

[MistyRocks]

my shred dvd arrived this morning from amazon

Fuck! i started on level one and its HARDCORE!

and this comes from someone who has been doing pole fitness for 5 years!

reckon it must work though, and although it was hard, i really enjoyed it

I am interested in doing this but I noticed a lot of people are having knee problems. I watched a bit of it on youtube and she keeps saying "we don't want any injuries!" which makes me think it's a bit risky, as I don't have brilliant joints to start with.

I also noticed that she only does hip / knee circles one way, she doesn't say to change direction - surely you need to go both directions to exercise both legs the same? (Or did I miss where she said to change?)

It would be really unusual to bulk up shredding. It is very difficult for women to bulk up- you need to be lifting properly heavy weights (I mean 10 or literally 20 times what most people will be doing for this sort of thing. And do them for only a few times. And eating a modified very protein heavy diet. We don't have the same hormonal balance as men do we don't build muscle like them. Perhaps add some yoga, Pilates and running to your routine, as well as circuit training like the shred. They will stretch your muscles out as well as give you the calorie burn via running. Not much calorie burn in shredding unfortunately (albeit it builds lean muscle which burns fat in itself.)

1.5 kg seems fine as a weight to start with. I think that is where most people start. You could always buy a heavier set once it stops being as much of a challenge.

it's risky if you do it wrong. With any jumps, you want to land softly on your toes and roll to your heels. Your landing should be as quiet as possible. If you slam the foot down and your exercising sounds like a herd of small elephants, then this is indeed not good for your knees.

on the other hand its good for your bones all that jumping i have osteoperosis so hoping itl help

right am on day 16 and have noticed i am much more toned already and feel firmer and have had no knee problems as many people have said they have

BUT my ankles hurt :(

they feel kind of stiff and achy, is this normal and should i stop doing it for a bit till they feel better?

Thanks for the tips, I was doing boxercise, circuits and zumba. But poverty has hit, so its the shred and waking miles to save bus/tube fare!

Dials- I have no time to go the gym or any classes which is why I use DVDs and running. My yoga and Pilates are via DVD, as are the circuits (via various Jillian Micheals DVDs, as well as Billy Blanks and now Insanity as well!) Shredding and walking sound good- occasional run might up the calorie burn too? Good luck either way.

I ordered the 30 day shred a few weeks ago. But have to admit that I haven't actually taken it out of its wrapping yet .
I had a personal trainer a few years ago and was very impressed when I started developing a six pack. Sadly it has now all disappeared so need to get moving again.
I also re-joined Weight Watchers this week so seem to be having a bit of a motivational burst!

I did day 5 yesterday and was ready to do a full week's shredding.

But I fell over otday when I was chasing after some people, for directions.

I can now only limp up and down the stairs.

ANd I've really hurt my left shoulder.

oh this sounds quite scary with all the injuries!

Can I refer you to my first comment:

Pinot Wed 04-Jul-12 11:45:47
It busted my knee Bloody thing. I'm only 37 too so not an old-age thing.

Do be careful - it works well but is tough on the old bod

Just done level 2, Day 1. Found it rather difficult but really like it! I love all the new ab moves, but due to a dodgy coccyx caused by falling down a flight of stairs last year, I can't put my weight on the base of my spine when flat on the floor to do the leg lifty up ones. Does anyone know if I can put a cushion under my back? or should I just do an alternative exercise?

notyummy When DP comes back from an extended work trip, I need to find a jogging buddy. If I go by myself, i just stop and walk! We would like to go together, but we have no-one to look after DD.

I love the shred - well all JM stuff really, but Pinot is right, you need to be REALLY careful and tight on form.

My advice is to aim for top notch form, rather than high repetitions early on. Once you have the form and are sure you aren't doing yourself a damage, you can start to rev things up a bit.

Also, checkout some of the individual exercises/positions on y
YouTube etc and work on getting them bang on before you try adding in weights, speed or repetitions. Things like, arm/shoulder positions in push ups and weights, knee, hip and ankle positions in squats and lunges. Knees can easily get damaged if you don't heed JM's warning to never bring your knee over your toes.

I know quite a few people who have had nasty injuries through doing the shred, so it really does pay to be extra careful, but if you work your way into it and always put form first it's well worth doing.

I did the shred last year and lost ridiculous numbers of inches. I found my weight didn't start shifting much until I was nearly finished with level 3 the first time round, but then it came off nicely when I restarted doing all the advanced moves with bigger weights. What I did lose was plenty of inches, right from the word go.

My waist went from 34" to 29", my hips from 42" to 39" and my ribcage from 34" to 32", plus I lost a couple of inches of each thigh, an each off each calf and plenty more across my body.

After I'd been through it twice (first time beginner, second time advanced) I bought Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and started selecting circuits of that to add onto the shred. I did the whole of BFBM at weekends when I had more time, but loved doing the kickboxing and abs circuits daily as they really toned my backside and tightened my abs.

Unfortunately for me I have an illness that has relapses and I have been in relapse for most of this year so far. I have managed 4-6 week windows of restarting the old JM torture and each time the muscle tone does come back surprisingly quickly, but I am a long way of being as fit as I was last Autumn.

I'm really looking forward to getting back into it when I am feeling better.

Dials, if I were you I would choose an alternative exercise to work on your core and substitute that rather than risking your back.

Any of the plank-type exercises work the core, so you could try mountain climbers, plank twists or leg lifts.

I love plank twists... will double up on them (note, I have only done them once, about 10 mins ago. I may be eating my words in a day or 2!)

Plank twists are good, I love anything that works the sides of my abs, as I really love having a nice firm waistline.

Not that I have one at the moment, more like a wobbly, jelly-like waistline that is growing bigger by the day. I really miss my post-shred body.

I am now pretty much at day 30. I haven't done shred every single day - I mixed it with 5k road runs. However, I feel great!! Very fit and toned and my stomach and waist and legs are so much more defined and firm.
I haven't really lost weight or seemingly inches. However, as I said before, I don't really need to as have a BMI of 21.5 which I am happy with.
I will definitely keep the shred up and plan to increase the weights that I use.

Just did it for the first time, it was bloody hard work, and I'm afraid I did rest even when she said not to - bad me! Only for a few seconds to have a drink though. At one point I pressed pause just when JM had a face, hee hee!

I wonder what's going to hurt most over the next few days? My calves were definitely feeling it...

Hello,
Sorry if I missed this earlier on in the thread, but I've just done level one on Youtube - is the idea to do level 1 for 10 days, then level 2 for 10, then level 3? Or are there more variations that I can't find on Youtube (i.e. more than the 3 x 20-minute sessions)?

Cheers!

Yep, that's right, 10 days of each. If you are a beginner though, it's advisable to do level 1 until you are happy with your form and feel ready and able to move on. The first time I did it, iirc, it took me 40 ish days to get through level 1. JM also advises on all her other vids that you only workout 5-6 days a week, as your body needs time to rest and allow your muscles to repair.

Can anyone point me in the direction of anything which will help me make sure I'm doing the exercises correctly (safely) please? I am trying to do the squats without letting my knee go over my toe, but that just feels like bending down, am I doing it right? Should I be sticking my backside out as far as I can, or what?

I do something similar to this at the Martial Arts School. Been doing it for 5 weeks (did it before for 4 weeks & lost 5lbs & 6 inches - even though I don't need to lose weight as I'm 8st 7lbs).

35 mins of intense circut training, weights, jumping jacks, burpees, kick boxing, boxing, sprinting, skipping, sit ups, leg raises, resistant bands,......plus a week of bootcamp every 4 weeks (killer!) but I love it!

I do it twice a week plus run 5 miles 2-3 times. I am toned & I have superb leg muscles (which scare my DH!)

May try this shred DVD at home now!