I’m Ba-ack!

Did you get tired of seeing that glowing picture of me every time you stepped over to my blog this week? Sorry folks! I’ve still been exercising but have not made the time to update on here. So, here I am!

Let’s see, I checked out Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away the Pounds, 3-Mile Walk at the library last week and like it pretty well. It’s not real intense and a tad cheesy (but you’ll hardly find a workout video that isn’t) but it’s decent. Some of the cheesy parts are when occasionally the people working out will exclaim how much they like the workout, what part of their body they’re really “feeling it” and then will let out an occasional, high-pitched “Wooo!” Get the picture there? But, it doesn’t come close to the cheese level you’ll find with Denise Austin, bless her heart. 🙂

And then…my Mom got me Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred (thanks Mom!!). I now know why they use the word “shred.” I was hardly able to walk yesterday. My legs and arms were so incredibly sore that I considered taking a “break” and doing Billy Blanks Ultimate Bootcamp. Seriously. Ouch! I figured for those who are interested, I’d post my own little review of the workout so here goes:

The video has three levels on it, the first one being the “easiest.” Let me tell you, my friends, that Level 1 was what I started with and what has gotten me so sore. Each level is broken down into three circuits and each circuit has 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute of abs. Rinse. Repeat x3 for a total of about 18 minutes plus a warm up and cool down. The first day I got it, I thought, “Pshh, only 20 minutes? I’ll do Level 1 and 2 to get a good workout.” Um, I hardly made it through Level 1! I felt like a gelatinous mess by the end and curled up in a fetal position on the bed afterwards because I felt physically ill. And then the next day, I did it again! Only this time I was able to make it through a little better. Yesterday, I did the same thing and it got a little easier. I worked out despite being terribly sore and that’s when I could hardly move. Today, I don’t feel nearly as sore and am planning on working out later this evening. Here is a list of pros and cons about the video:

Pros:
1. It’s short.
2. See above. 🙂
3. The moves are very basic and easy to follow, no fancy foot work or anything.
4. It is an extremely intense workout in a very short period of time.
5. You feel like you really accomplished something by the time you’re done.
6. She has a no-nonsense attitude about working out.

Cons:
1. Jillian is a tad masculine. Some people might not have a problem with that. I just thought it was a little off-putting.
2. She also seems kind of arrogant.
3. In Level 2 (which I have only watched) she says if we want to be a bad a** to watch one of the girls in the background. It certainly isn’t terrible. I just didn’t think it was really appropriate.
4. At the end of Level 1, she says it’s time for a cool down and, “God knows we deserve it.” It just seemed kind of flippant when she said it. God knows all things but I don’t think we “deserve” a cool down. He knows we may need a cool down but “deserving” something so trivial…I don’t know. So I’ll just say I think she should have been more thoughtful.

And there you have it: my two cents about the 30-Day Shred. You’re also supposed to follow her diet plan but you have to buy her book. I don’t plan on doing that so I’ll just keep exercising and try to be mindful of what I eat. This past week, I’ve done an okay job with my portions and what I’ve eaten and stuff. That is until last night. We went out with some friends after church to IHOP. They have a new coffee drink special going right now. It’s iced coffee and it comes in vanilla, mocha, and maybe one or two other flavors. And free refills! Who can pass up something like that? But, as if that wasn’t bad enough, we also ordered an appetizer sampler x2. It had (drum roll please) onion rings! I was sharing the appetizer basket with my son and he doesn’t like onion rings so I did my part and “helped” him out. Wait! It gets even better because no onion ring would be complete unless you dipped it…in ranch dressing! Yum. They were so good. The funny thing was, I had fixed a fruit smoothie for dinner because I really was trying to be careful about what I ate. Good thing I was being so careful, eh? Yeah…good job, Lisa. So, it’s back to being careful after my little slip last night.

For those of you joining me on this challenge, how has exercising been going for you? Are you noticing a change yet? Do you find yourself enjoying it more?