2013 NEW YEAR JILLIAN MICHAELS FANS!

[threestepsforward]

New thread for the Julian Monkeys!!

Here's to a new year Shedded and Shredded, Ripped, with Killer Buns and Thighs, a 6 Pack, a Revolutionised Body and No More Trouble Zones

Any practitioners of Insanity, Turbofire and all other such insane DVDs come and join us too if you like

Day seven of antibiotics and I'm still coughing . Had to ask my GP for an extension of the course.

I'm going to have to continue to do Level 2 of the Shred at reduced effort for the aerobic circuits.

Well done everyone for their efforts - despite efforts of dhs/dcs/injuries/illnesses to thwart us.

A little competitive edge has entered the equation eh Ponks? Fab! How is he finding it?

Prettybird and Gingercat take care of yourselves. Think it was Notyummy who said if the cold is above the neck it's okay to exercise, if it's below it's best to rest, or something along those lines...

Well I'm still in a bit of a sorry state. Not yet found someone to go to for my back, and I'm waiting to hear back from a friend who recommended someone to me a few years ago.

So I've decided to take at least a week off and try and sort it with non-violent (JM) exercise and rest. Will be doing my pilates and back stretches and the occasional flurry of push-ups, my new addiction

I'll come back next week hopefully like a new pin. So have a great week all, and happy exercising

Threesteps x

Took today off because I think we're supposed to have a day of rest every now and then, and I was up late last night with an upset tummy, and my knees were hurting. Back to it tomorrow.

Saturday I managed to get in 6W6P Level 1 before DD woke up, Sunday I did Level 3 and 4 of Ripped in 30 - I'd forgotten how hard that DVD is.

Going to do Level 3 and 4 of Ripped again tomorrow morning.

And I can see my bottom rib if I suck my tummy in - I have boney bits!

Can I join please? I used to be on the Jillian-loving thread up until May last year when I found out much to my shock surprise, that I was pregnant again at the grand old age of 44. Before that, I'd lost 2.5 stone with the lovely Jillian's help, and was an avid collector of her DVDs. My DD is now 10 weeks old and I braved a Ripped L1 today (lent my Shred out and haven't had it back yet), did it without any weights, and my god it was hard but I loved it. I was doing all the top levels before with 3 & 5kg weights, so I think it'll be a while before I'm back to that! I've got a stone to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and I need Jillian back in my life!

hi everyone. i am doing level 2 and although i love it, my knee is starting to twinge. its not very painful but i feel it everytime i walk or stand or sit.

any tips on how to avoid it getting worse?

i did the shred before too but had to quit halfway through level 1 because my knee had become very painful

i havent had any knee issues before

Knottyhair!! Welcome back to the Jillian fold

Congratulations on the news of your lovely DD, aw
I'm very impressed you are Ripping with Jillian at 10 weeks! (May I recommend Killer Buns and Extreme Shed and Shred for your collection if you don't have them? - how's your Jillian storage annex looking lol?)

Really great to have you back x

Hoping the only thing I can think that may have an affect is your form? Make sure you're spot on, and that your knee doesn't over-extend over the toes when you're lunging etc. Unfortunately Jillian stuff can be quite heavy on the knees... Perhaps have a few days rest if it's uncomfortable at the moment, what a pain :( Also, trainers?

On the injury bench for the rest of the week but just checking in to say the stretches are really really helping :) Tempted to throw myself back into it but I'm not going to - going to give myself a full week off to convince my back there is nothing wrong!

Laters all :)

Welcome to the Jillian-fan club hopingtodrive

The things I find worst for my knees (which are really dodgy) are any moves involving moving lunges. So I can do a static lunge, but that's it. So I swap any jumping/moving lunge moves with a different move.

So jumping lunges becomes high knees, or standing mountain climbers if I'm feeling really energetic, when there is a high-knee strain move in the cardio section.

I used to be able to manage plie hops, but this morning I had to swap those for high knees. I've also noticed that jumping jacks are starting to really put a strain on my knees too, so again, I switch them for something that keeps the leg straight.

If there is a moving lunge move in the strength section I switch it for military press with leg extensions, or just hold the lunge position so that my knees aren't moving. I do try and give the swapped exercises an extra percentage of effort so that I don't feel like I'm phoning it in.

I guess the key is finding out which moves put strain on your knees - you may have a different weakness to the one I have. Mine is a weakness which causes pain and instability walking down stairs or extending the leg to straight with any weight upon the ankle.

If you collect a few Jillian DVDs it will give you a range of exercises to swap in for the high-knee strain exercises.

Hi everyone, it looks like I am joining some of you on the sickness bench I started with a sore throat on Sunday but perservered with L2KB&T and L1 ES&S yesterday. It was my first time on L2 Killer, and I didn't think it was too awful - although I was modifying some things (e.g. single jump rope not double) as I was struggling to catch my breath more than usual.

Anyway, by yesterday night I had a fever and today my whole throat feels swollen and the airways in my chest feel really inflamed, so I am taking threesteps / notyummy's 'below the neck' advice and having a reluctant rest day. Argh, I hate not being able to exercise! [sob]

Hope my fellow sickos gingercat, worldgonecrazy and prettybird are feeling better and listening to their bodies. x

Ponks, how brilliant that your DH is getting really into Jillian! I may have persuaded mine to come out running with me once he's got himself a decent pair of trainers, which I am excited about!

knottyhair, CONGRATULATIONS on your DD and welcome back! I am so impressed that you are back to Jillianing so soon - I think you will be my inspiration when I have DC!

hoping, threesteps' advice re. form is good, and if your trainers are getting old / worn out it might be worth investing in a new pair. If you have sustained an injury, then keeping the leg elevated when you are sitting down could help it to heal better, as could applying an ice pack / frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel for 5-10 minutes a couple of times a day. And remember it's better to ease off on the exercise a bit now and give your knee a chance to heal up than to press on and do yourself more damage in the long run! (Although I am terrible at taking my own advice on things like this...)

Just a thought - would anyone be up for a DVD swap around? I have a 6W6P or a 30DS I would like to swap for a peek at No More Trouble Zones. We could swap back after a few weeks so you get a DVD for the price of posting one back. Drop me a PM if you're interested, or post if you have a DVD to swap.

Thanks! Sorry to those of you struggling with injury & illness - it's really frustrating when you've been going great guns. Hi threesteps, I was doing Killer Buns before, but Extreme Shred & Shed is on my wishlist, when I've eased myself back in!

Hi everyone, am back after a week at my parents and no JM. Did Level 1 of S+S this morning and yesterday, am definitely aching less! I have a full day at work tomorrow so won't have time for JM but plan to do Level 2+3 of 30DS together on Thursday morning - haven't attempted 2 levels together before!

Have also ordered the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD and awaiting for that now! Definitely need to get proper weights though.

Knotty - I remember you from the 'Nothing tastes as good as being slim threads' ages ago! I remember your Jillian addiction then! Congratulations on your DD!

Just wanted to pop in to say congratulations knotty!

Back and related sciatica really bad sadly. Managed some short gentle runs last week and a long walk on Saturday, plus my daily Callanetics. GP has given me stronger pain relief but it makesme constipated so I trying to only take it if I really need it. Considering trying NMTZ tomorrow as missing my strength stuff. Will be careful with the weights but it is quite slow so I hope I may be able to manage it.

Hi guitargirl & notyummy! Sounds like you've been through the wringer notyummy, really hope you recover soon, you were always the one to aspire to!

Congratulations knottyhair! How can you even think of exercising with a 10-week-old?! That is proper hard core.

Hope everyone is getting better. I do not count myself as sick, as it is partly my fault. After I partially lost my voice we were given free spa tickets, and these are really - really dear (we were at my parents last week, too). What I did not realise that you can only get to the indoor pool via outdoors in the cold Continental winter. Plus DS wanted to spend all his time in the outdoor hot thermal baths. So we spent a lot of time traipsing around in soaking wet swimming costumes / trunks barefoot in freezing cold. I did not deteriorate at all, but felt a bit guilty. I am a responsible parent, I know.

Woo hello all, loads of people appearing! But also lots on the injured / ill list too - maybe February is getting to us all. I really had to force myself to Shred today, would have loved to crawl under the duvet but cracked open the DVD instead and, yep, really glad I did. L2 is definitely getting easier now - so I know what i have to do - add more weight! as I am only on 1.5kg at the mo with my spindly arms.

DH is enjoying the DVDs as it is such a different sort of exercise than he is used to - he is more of a runner but has been injured lately & put on weight - doing Shred and Killer is helping him build his strength up & tone up too. During the week we exercise at different times but the last couple of weekends we have exercised together which is good as we compete to see e.g. who can hold the "single leg chair squat" longer!

Wow knotty you are made of strong stuff - baby at 44 and exercising so soon!

Thanks for all the encouragement! I'm having to accept that I won't be able to exercise as much as before, as I can only really do it whilst DD has her lunchtime nap, and sometimes there are other things to do! Today I have to wrap presents etc. for DS's birthday tomorrow, and tomorrow I have to make a bolognese sauce (DS's birthday tea of choice). But Friday, I will definitely make time. My god, I ache today though! I luffs Jillian . Hope those of you suffering are feeling better x

knotty!! Lovely to see you back and congratulations! Only a stone to lose 10 weeks after having a baby is pretty impressive!

ponks it sounds fun having a his n hers workout together! Would love to persuade DH to give it a go!

Well it's going to be near impossible to fit in any workouts this week for various reasons, incl work and DCs. Friday is a possibility, and hopefully both weekend days. 3x a week is my absolute minimum unless ill; ideally would do 5x, but that's not really realistic so 4x is a good week. Knee seems ok now but still staying away from running for the moment.

Healing vibes to notyummy, gingercat, peggyO and all others suffering from illness and injury.

Hi Jackster!

Result! Got the wrapping done quickly and just managed to squeeze in 4 circuits of Banish Fat Boost Metabolism. To think, that used to be a fairly easy option for me, I'm a sweaty mess!

hello knotty and welcome! Congrats on the new bundle...I was thinking of you recently!!
Someone was asking upthread about Body Revolution and I love it! I would say along with killer buns it is may favourite of Jillian..I like the class feel and am used to that having done insanity, turbofire and now Chalean extreme. I am thinking of going back to it after Chalean but with heavier weights especially as the first time round I did not feel challenged till the 5th workout and not really challnged till about workout 8 so will up the game. I really think it is worth the money as you do have 15 workouts total that you can go back to over and over again. The moves are pretty varied to stop you getting bored too.
I hope all you injured get well soon...I had a niggling feeling near my right ovary during my workout so I hope that is not going to be a strain of some sort :( am three weeks into my push month and then it will be the home stretch with the lean month. Am enjoying the workouts and am allowing myself to reach muscle failure a lot more...am scared of it..heck knows why but I have always found it hard to challenge myself to breaking point which is why I did insanity!
worldgonecrazy that is a good idea. I have pretty much got all of her workouts though so don't need to swap...the only one I really want is the kickbox fast fix which is region1 so I doubt many have that yet

Hi, having a well earned day off today from shredding, i was hoping to complete level 1 first but yesterday (day 9) i felt a bit of a twinge in my groin during the side lunge with arm raise (circuit 3 i think)
I think i will leave level 1 there for now, dont want to tempt anything unpleasant to happen so soon after beginning this journey with Jillian
I have had a quick glance at level 2 on youtube and it looks side lunge free so i may get back to it tomorrow.

If anyone's interested, there's a couple of photos of Rosa (new DD) on my profile.

Just to add my congratulations knottyhair
Is there much of an age gap between DC? i had ds3 at 46 and had 5 1/2 yr gap between ds2-3 and a ten yr gap with ds1.
Though i have to say its ds1 and 3 that have the loveliest relationship, no competition i guess.

Thanks tracedw! There is nearly 9 years between my 2, and you're right, there's no competition and DS absolutely adores her .

knottyhair She is adorable!

Oooooh she is scrumptious Knotty- that gorgeous smile!

Managed NMTZ today. I can't do windshield wipers, because I can't bring my legs up high enough but can do everything else.