Get ready to get shredded!

I don't know what it is, but to me there seems to be two major fitness crazes at the moment: Zumba (if you haven't heard of this you've been living on the moon!) and Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred (dum dum dum!).

Now for some reason the former doe not appeal to me in the slightest (I think it might be the cheesy TV adverts) but the latter I cottoned on to through, of course, various people's blogs and YouTube channels (Gemsmaquillage for example).

After reading various reviews, I decided to bite the bullet and put in an order from Amazon, where this DVD is currently available for £4.99. It's also available from a variety of other websites such as Play.com and Tesco Entertainment.

If you are like me and don't watch The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels' is the programme's no-nonsense resident fitness expert. A quick look on Amazon brings up a whole host of other fitness DVDs she has produced along with the 30 Day Shred, including No More Trouble Zones, 6-Week Six-Pack and Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism.

The synopsis on Amazon describes this particular DVD as a "60 minute integrated program designed to mix cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and an intense focus on the abs to create a dynamic system that can result in extreme weight loss as impressive as 20 lbs in 30 days".
The workout consists of three 20 minute circuit-training workouts (levels 1, 2 and 3, which increase in difficulty with each level) which are designed to burn fat and tone muscle. Each level contains a 20-minute workout based on Jillian's 3-2-1 Strength/Cardio/Ab training circuit: 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of ab work. There's also a brief warm-up session and a cool down stretch. The idea is that if you do 10 days of level 1, 10 days of level 2 and 10 days of level 3 you will see results (hence the name 30 Day Shred!).

Now I am only on day 2, level 1 and honestly I can't walk! Admittedly I may have been a little cocky and thought that 20 mins workout couldn't be that effective (it does fly by - part of the reason I like it!) and the exercises are fairly simple (for example Level 1 circuit 1 Strength involves pushups and an exercise involving small weights to work your back and arms, Cardio is jumping jacks and jump-rope and Abs is the basic crunch) but boy does it hurt the next day! Maybe i'm weird but I like hurting the next day, makes me feel like i've worked out...
All I can say is so far so good, and i'm glad I invested in it. Doing a bit of exercise, even only 20 mins makes me feel much better and sets me up for the day.

I'm going to persist for a few more days and see how I get on, and will do an update next week.
Would anyone like to see before and after pics? Admittedly i'm not exactly overweight, I just wanted to tone up, but if you think there would be a benefit in seeing before/after pics then please say.

Now i'm hobbling off to make a cuppa...

Melanie x