30 Day Shred

I think everyone who reads this blog knows that no one is paying me to shill for anything. (Though, y’know, if you want me to pay me to shill for something for you, drop me a line, eh?) But, I’ll still say: no one’s paying me to shill for this product.

Here’s the product: Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. I love, love, love this DVD. I got it two or three months ago, and have been doing it 4-6 times a week ever since then. I just wanted to share in case anyone else is looking for something like this.

I’m not sure everyone would love it, but here’s why I do: it’s really short and it’s really hard. Short is good, because there is only so long I can keep the kids from crawling on me (and each other) while I’m working out. Hard is good, because if I’m going to invest the time (and even half an hour is a huge investment when you have four kids), I want it to really work. (It says it's 20 minutes, but it's closer to 30 with the warm-up before and stretching after.)

I was a jumper (pole vault, long jump, triple jump) in high school and somewhat into weight-lifting in college, and this reminds me of a lot of the stuff I did during those times of my life. It’s got a lot of jumping (squat jumps, jumping lunges, plank jacks) and lots of weight-lifting and some ab work. I’m finding that I can make it harder as I go by slowly upping the amount of weight I’m using. There are some of the moves (chair squat with a v-raise) that I still need to do using 5 lbs. weights, but some (press and clean) that I can do with a 15 lbs. dumbbell, and still get through all the repetitions. On most of them, I’m starting with the 15 lbs. and switching to the 5 lbs. halfway through.

But here’s the lovely thing: I have muscles again! I’m a mesomorph, and my body is happiest when it’s muscley. I never get skinny, but I can get nice and lean and defined, and I love it when I look (and feel) that way. Despite the stretched-out skin from my twin pregnancy, I can see my abs again (hi, abs!). And (truly) doing this workout regularly has made it much, much easier to lift my almost-25-lbs twin toddlers, which is a great blessing. I can get by on a bit less sleep too, and feel more cheerful (you know, once I can breathe again). It’s like my muscles say, “Just work us really hard for 20 minutes a day, and I promise you, we’ll be really nice to you for the 23 2/3 hours that are left.” Fair deal. They double that promise if I stay away from sugar. :)

I also love that Jillian is not girly. She’s great at saying actually-motivating things. Not things like, “Oh, look how well you’re doing!” Ick. No. Things like, “This is no fun at all, but if you want change, you have to actually put stress on your body to force it to change.” (I paraphrase.)

Honestly, the things she says about physical fitness always lead me to think about spiritual fitness. About how God puts stress in my life to force me to change, tests and refines me. Puts me through my paces, as it were. And how, if I commit to the process, dive into the exercise despite the pain, I get so much more out of it. (“Don’t you dare phone this in,” says Jillian, and I think about more than just the stupid, stupid, stupidly painful side-lunges-with-an-anterior-raise.) I think the discipline from this DVD is leaking into other areas of my life, and I’m all for that kind of cross-training.

Anyway, this is something that has helped me greatly. Again, if you’re the sort who would rather go run a few miles rather than touch a weight, don't buy this. Have fun running! But if you’re like me, and you like circuit-training, and might only have 20 minutes a day, I highly recommend this DVD. It’s awesome. Hurts, but works.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell