The Shred Review

*** If you will be offended by pictures of me in a sports bra don't scroll to the bottom. I'm about to show off my hard work.


The Plan
The 30 Day Shred is a DVD by personal trainer, Jillian Michaels. The only things required for this workout is a pair of dumbbells and tennis shoes. I would also recommend doing these exercises on carpet.

The Content
The DVD starts off with a 5 minute warm up. There are 3 circuits of 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs. There are no breaks. There is a lot of jumping. And sweating. And faceplanting into the floor on my very last traveling pushup. There are 2 different levels; Anita is the beginner level and Natalie is the more advanced. I followed Anita for most of my exercises but really tried to push myself to Natalie's version. Ideally, this DVD will be used every day for 30 days. 10 days for each of the 3 levels. I did it in 31 days. I took Valentine's day off for worthy cause.

My Experience
I loved being able to get a good workout in 20 minutes in my own home. I've never gotten sweaty every day for a 30 day stretch before in my life. Level one was a great start. At first I couldn't imagine a harder workout, but by day 4 or 5 I was getting the hang of it and able to walk normal again. By day 10 I was ready to move up and start something new. I hated level 2. For some reason me and the exercises just didn't get along. They felt unnatural and I felt like I was doing them just to get them done. I started level 3 a day early and was so glad. I loved level 3. I still can't do every exercise to completion. I struggle with the "explosive" moves. But I did move up to 5 lb weights and tried doing half Natalie half Anita style.

My Diet
I didn't do any crazy diet plan unfortunately. I focused on eating fruits, veggies, and lean meats. This worked well while at home. But then there were cookies at work. Dunkin Donut drive through on Sunday mornings. Super Bowl Sunday. Valentine's day. Ya... the diet could have been better. But I did majorly curb my night time snacking. Being a night shifter I get used to eating at night while at work. On the nights off I tend to snack my way through The Duggars, Intervention, Hoarders, and next thing I know I've eaten a whole meal right before going to bed. I tried planning one healthy snack around 10pm, which works out great since I don't go to bed until after midnight. I just have to be conscious of "bored eating".

I Wish
I wish I had been able to do a hard core diet. No carb high protein would have been ideal, but it just wasn't meant to be. I wish I had taken before pictures BEFORE I started the workout! I wish I had taken measurements of every body area and relied less on the scale. I wish I had bought one of those Body Fat Analyzer machines and thrown my scale away.

The Sums
I ended up losing 0, zero, nada, nothing pounds. If anything I gained a little. I DID lose over an inch in my waist, and 2 inches in my hips. Those are the only measurements I took, but I have a feeling I lost a little boobage and bat wing mass. I have a slight hint of a quad/hamstring line down the side of my leg. HAWT.
I loved this workout. I'm so glad I did it and I feel completely ready for Ski Trip 2010.

I took these pictures about 9 days into the program. That's also when I did my measurements. So these pictures are only 20 days apart instead of 30.

Before





After
There is a new line down the side of my abs and my bowchikabowow is a little less bowwow and a little more just wow.






Before




After
My chub rubs seem to be doing a little less rubbing.











Before





After
My sandle bags are filling out the pants a little less.
And PLEASE note that defined deltoid taking the picture (click to enlarge)