I did Level 3 of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred for the first time yesterday. And man, what a killer!

If there were a word to describe that workout it would be plyo. All the jump moves made this workout super tough. Not to mention all the exercises from the plank position. Those are hard! You don’t do as many weight exercises because you’re holding your own body weight up.

Of course it didn’t help that the floor I was working out on was kinda slippery (not the wet kind of slippery). Makes it really hard to sustain that plank position!

When I finished I was out of breath, but not more so than Level 2. I hadn’t watched the workout ahead of time — like I usually do — so I didn’t know what was coming. As a result, I missed some of the reps watching Jillian, Natalie, and Anita. I did have to modify a couple of the exercises. I have no issue with that because it gives me something to work towards. By my birthday, I will have done Level 3 almost 10 times.

Although, I will say that after I “finish”, I’m going to be keeping this DVD in my rotation. I can see myself doing this workout a lot. And hopefully I can find another workout featuring intense intervals that I can add to my library! If anyone has any suggestions, let me hear ’em! I’ve got 3+ months until I can run again! 🙁

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Jillian Michaels kicking my ass. Remember?

Well, she still is! I’ve just finished Day 6 of her Level 2 and, while I can tell I’m making progress, it’s clear that this woman knows what she’s doing! My body is adjusting to her maddening workouts. I don’t want to say “it’s getting easier”, because the word “easy” really should not be used in reference to this DVD. I know I said Level 1 was kind of easy, but that was different!

Certain exercises or cardio bursts, that I couldn’t complete in the first few days, I now can. Progress! I still finish each workout breathless. I love that feeling! I can’t imagine what I’m going to feel like when I get to Level 3!

I’m going to do Level 2 for one more week (3 more days since I only do “30 Day Shred” M-W-F) and see how I feel (look?). I love how challenging this workout is! I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks and I can see results in my abs and arms. I’m tall and thin, and the only place I have any fat is my midsection. However, if you ask my mother about that, she’d say “Fat?! What fat!?! You wear a size 5!” What she doesn’t understand is that I once had a 6-pack! So, anything other than a completely flat stomach is, to me, due to fat. I’m seeing definition that I haven’t seen there in a while. I think my body agrees with this type of interval/circuit training. I never thought I’d be able to get any results from a 20 minute workout, but I guess it’s all about intensity!

I seriously have workout A.D.D. in that I always want to try the “next thing” to see how it is or if it’s effective. I did that badass arm workout for like a week before something else caught my attention. That workout is Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. If you’re not familiar with Jillian, she’s the in-your-face trainer from NBC’s “The Biggest Loser”. She packs a mean punch but gets the job done!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I made an overdue trip to CollageVideo to see what was new and what people were buying the most. Turns out that Jillian’s new workout “30 Day Shred” is the current #1 best seller over there. I read the reviews, watched the preview, and decided I wanted to try it.