Saturday, December 24, 2011

30 day shred, day 22




Time: 10:30am
Weight: +1.4 lbs
Level: 3

I came home from my 5 mile run, thinking I was just going to get into the shower and start my day of binging on delicious food, but when I walked in the door my son grabbed his 2 lb weights that I had given them for Christmas (we celebrated yesterday) and told me he wanted to do the weight exercises with me.  Doh!  
We turned on Jillian with Level 3, and him and my youngest son both grabbed their weights.  They made it about 80% through!  After that, my middle son decided to do exercises that he learned in school (table tops, he said he counted up to 900, maybe we need to work on counting) and my youngest sat down on the couch and told me I was doing good.
I can feel soreness in my body, but I'm not sure if it's from Level 3 in the past or from the workouts that I've done this week at Optimal Performance Specialists (along with the strength exercises, we took a few minutes to work on my running form.  Boy have I had it wrong!).  Either way, I'm excited because I'm down .3 lbs (from my 1.7 lb increase, so it's still increase, but just not so much).  

I didn't do the work out yesterday because, as I mentioned earlier, we celebrated our family Christmas and I didn't feel like it :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

30 day shred, day 21


Time: 10:30am
Calories burned:  160 (155 was what I burned at Level 2)
Weight: +1.7 lbs
Level: 3

Level 3 certainly kicks my butt.  I can't do all of the advanced moves, but I can do a lot more than I could when I first tried Level 3 (I guess this is only my 3rd time, so I've come along way!).  Before I started the workout, I would have said my abs might have been a little sore, but when I started to do the ab moves, I could definitely tell!  My shoulders are sore too, but I think that was from yesterday's strength training at Optimal Performance Specialists.  We did a lot of jumping, lunges, and squats yesterday.  

I like the moves in Level 3.  They are usually 2 part moves, so the exercises goes pretty quickly.  For example, instead of doing pushups, you do walking pushups.  You move your hands to the side, do a push up, walk your hands to the other side, do another pushup and repeat.  It makes the time go by much faster.  One of the last strength exercises you are in plank position with the weights under your hands.  You lift your leg straight up, lower it, and then you pick up a weight (while still in plank position) for a back exercise (I think it's a form of a 'row').  I feel pretty cool doing it (even though I can't do them all).  I need to remember to start counting the exercises, because I'd really like to see how far I've come.

Even though I'm on the plus side of the weight, I do not plan on doing any running today.  Today is dedicated to getting caught up at work!

Monday, December 19, 2011

30 day shred, day 20


Apparently I skipped out on this yesterday.  I didn't notice until just now.  Have no idea what I did last night after the 5 mile run...  Oh yea.  I had to finish up some work for this morning!  Oops, I remember now.  I didn't plan that day very good.  Should have done it earlier in the day.  Will try harder!

I've got another wrench to throw in the mix.  I've decided to go, twice a week, to Optimal Performance Specialists (they work with Orthopedic Rehab here in town) to get my knee exercises in.  I went there last week for an evaluation on my knee and they figured out exactly what was going on.  Wish I could speak their language, but I translate it to the fact that one muscle is taking over in my leg when it shouldn't.  I got a set of exercises that I need to do twice a week to get my knee to behave correctly (oddly enough it's squats and lunges, the things that I was avoiding!).  I have to pay special attention when I'm doing them so that I'm doing them correctly and allowing the right muscle to do it's work.  In 12 weeks time, I should be as good as new!  Ok, maybe not that good, but not having my knees hurt or feel sore would be a start.  When I was doing the squats correctly, sometimes my knees wouldn't even crack and make crackling sounds! 
Why do I bring that up?  Because, also with the knee exercises, I get strength exercises and tons of cool stuff in these sessions.  I'm pretty certain that all equals to a lot of soreness.  The two days a week that I'll go there, I won't be doing Jillian, because that's way too much.  If Jillian can't make me shredded, maybe training for another marathon (YES, you heard that correctly!  Memorial Day weekend three friends and I will be running a delightful 26.2 miles along Traverse City bay) and getting in some kick butt strength training will do the trick!  

Today, I did Level 3 (9:30pm, way too late), and did part hard exercises, and part easy.  I know that in 10 days, I'll be able to do all of the hard moves and I'm excited.  I'm ready!!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

30 day shred, day 19, LEVEL 3

After a great 3 mile run, I decided I better get my Jillian workout in before the day gets away from me.  Level 3, here I come!


I followed Anita (the 'easy' one) and I didn't think it was too bad, but I noticed that there is quite a bit of difference between 'easy' and what Jillian's expecting.  She kind of makes you feel like a cheater by following Anita but I told myself it was ok because I was just getting my feelers out for it.  You definitely use Level 1's and Level 2's workouts to build up to this.  It's no longer black and white, strength and cardio.  Everything is mixed together.  


Jillian also talks about her diet plan, which did NOT come with this DVD.  She doesn't mention this until Level 3 and then says "With this 30 day shred DVD and my diet plan, you'll be shredded in no time."  Well, I had expected to be shredded with just the exercises.  The diet plan should have been mentioned before this.  I wouldn't have followed it anyways, but it would have given me more realistic goals.


Tomorrow I'll get more organized and get the list of exercises going.  11 more days! 



Thursday, December 15, 2011

30 day shred, day 17 & 18

I did Level 2 last night around 9pm, and then got up early to do it this morning (5:50am) because today and tonight will be busy.  But I think I'm ready for Level 3!
Last night I did most of the strength exercises, so this morning I did a lot of them without weights.  I'm ready to shake things up, so tomorrow or this weekend I'll try Level 3.  I'm kind of nervous.
 
I looked at myself in the mirror while getting ready this morning, and I'm definitley not shredded.  My husband kind of laughed when I told him I expected more.  "You can't expect to be shredded in 30 days honey."  Well, Jillian said I would!  He then said "You did say you lost 1/2 a pound!"  I didn't have the heart to tell him I had gained it back.
 
I do see more definition in my arms, perhaps a little in my abs, but that's about it.  I'm able to do 20 girl pushups, without a problem, so I know I've got more muscle, I just can't see it.  And the rest of my body looks the same.  Kind of disappointing.  I know you are all thinking "But muscle weighs more than fat, so you lost fat and gained muscle!  I'm sure you look a ton better!"  Really, I don't.  I still had to jump into the jeans I wore yesterday (seriously, I was in my bedroom jumping to get them pulled up).  They certainly weren't loose and they almost became shredded!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

30 day shred, day 16

Cheater cheater brownie eater!  I can hear you chanting that, because some how you KNOW!  You KNOW that I skipped yesterday.  What'd I do?  Had a little pity party for myself, which didn't end until 9pm tonight.  Kept on eating all day, but pulled myself out of the slump after 2ish brownies and a big sugar cookie.  But after eating that, I decided I needed to jump back on the wagon.
My sugar filled, bloated belly could only handle level 1 today, and I did feel like puking a few times, but I got through it (not real puking MOM, just being funny).  


I'm hoping to get a run in tomorrow, to run further from this slump!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

30 day shred, day 15


HALF WAY THERE!!!  WHoot Whoot!!!


Level: 2

Date: December 11, 2011
Time of exercise: 5:15pm
Qty (each strength is done twice):
walking pushups:  5, 4  
squat and row:  14, 14*
medium grip row w/
static lunge:    23, 16
pendulum lunges w/ 
hammer curl**:  31, 28
military press w/
leg extension:  15 ,7*
chair squat w/
v fly lift  :     23, 15
weight: -.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 
** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  
I'm half way there!  In 15 days I'm going to have abs!!  :)

My husband must have known it was my halfway point because he had sugar cookies waiting when I got home from my 4 mile run.  I ate one before these exercises, which wasn't probably the best idea, but it sure was good!  

It's a bit early to be thinking about this, but I think for my maintenance (after these next 15 days), I'll do these exercises on my days I don't run.  I've signed up for a marathon in May, so it would be hard to be doing this after or before a 20 mile training run!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

30 day shred, day 14


Level: 2

Date: December 10, 2011
Time of exercise: 6:45am
Qty (each strength is done twice):
walking pushups:  5, 4  
squat and row:  14, 14* - only 2 more on this second set to finish
medium grip row w/
static lunge:    23, 16
pendulum lunges w/ 
hammer curl**:  31, 28
military press w/
leg extension:  15 ,13* - only 3 left on this second set to finish
chair squat w/
v fly lift  :     23, 15*
weight: -.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 
** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  
I burned 155 calories today doing this 25 minute exercise DVD.  Not bad!  I wasn't too far off with what I thought.  My kids were up all throughout the night, and I finally gave up lying in bed at 6am, so I managed to get in 3.1 miles of running before this.  It seemed tiring to do these exercises, but I also did them last night around 9pm, so it was less than 12 hours ago!  I need to be more consistent when I do these so I'm not doing them so close together.
Lots to do today (we're cutting down our Christmas tree!), so I'm signing off.

Allison

Friday, December 9, 2011

30 day shred, day 11, 12 & 13!

I'm back!!
I took a little over a week off (because even after 7 days, I could still feel a little twinge in my ab muscle, so I played it safe).  I felt in great shape to start this up again (2 days at Level 1 to ease into it, and then today at Level 2).  Apparently ALL my exercises comes in waves because I only ran once during my 10 day Jillian Michaels hiatus.
The good news is that I lost a half pound during that time! No idea how because that covered Thanksgiving and eating out for three days straight while I was in Cali.

I couldn't start blogging 2 days ago when I started this up because my internet was down and just came up today.  I never realized how much we used the internet.  Way too much really, but it's hard to finish up Christmas shopping without it (last year I probably did 85% of my Christmas shopping online, this year I'm closer to 60%).

But I have really exciting news!  Exciting for me anyways.  While in California, some parts of Michigan got a great big covering of snow.  My cell is on the phone list, so I got a call at 3am telling me that my kids didn't have school.  Doh!  I tried to get back to bed, but I couldn't.  I started surfing the internet and I came across the product from BodyMedia.  It's a band that you put on your left arm (I'm sure you can use your right) and you wear it 23 hours of the day.  It measures how many calories you burn a day, how many steps you've taken, how much moderate and vigorous activity you've done, and how many hours you've slept (and how many hours you laid down).  You can also use it to input your calories for the day.  I bought the LINK, which has Bluetooth technology built into it so I can press a button and it will update an app on my phone.  (BodyMedia Link: BodyMedia page , I bought mine online from Costco: Costco's BodyMedia Link  (I'm not a Costco member, so I had to pay an additional $9, but that was a steal compared to what other places were selling it.  I got mine for $179 (plus $9) and it included a year of the website subscription.  My sister-in-law is a member at Costco, but I didn't think she would have enjoyed a phone call that early.)).  Apparently these things are just expensive paper weights if you don't get the subscription to see your activity.  The subscription runs $6.95/month (if you pay for a year) or $12.95 if you pay monthly.

Above is an example of what I see on my iPhone.  The 6 minutes of vigorous activity was the 6 minutes of cardio in Jillian's workout.  Not surprised with how much sleep I get (the website will show when you lay down and when you are sleeping and when you are just laying in bed), but I was surprised with how many steps I took in a day and what they consider Moderate Activity (must be the walking).  I thought I burned roughly 2,000 calories a day, so I was pretty close to that.  Now I just need to eat less!

So that's it for today!  I'll be back to my regular template style tomorrow.  Happy Holidays!!

Allison

P.S.  If I remember tomorrow, I'd be interested in seeing how many calories I burn while doing the Jillian Micheals workout.  I estimated 120 calories for the 25 minutes.