I’m going to try to wade through the sea of gimmicks and false promises to see which ones come out on top – or in reality, the ones I’ll actually want to do more than once. And there seems to be an obvious place to start: Jillian Michaels. She’s the trainer you love to hate, but the one that hates you enough to love you back. You may have seen her on The Biggest Loser for the past gazillion seasons and she also happens to have five out of the top ten best-selling workout DVDs on Amazon. Who knew? Well, probably most of you, but whatevs. Let’s get down to it with her flagship workout: 30 Day Shred.
The Basics: This is a pretty low maintenance workout. You just need some hand weights and a mat. Also, the DVD costs less than ten bucks. Now you can splurge on that overpriced workout top you had your eye on.
The Workout: Jillian wants you to feel like you are going to die. She said it, not me. And she’s not kidding, this workout packs a serious punch – pun intended? It’s broken down into three self contained levels, each one about 25 minutes (closer to 30 with warm ups and cool downs.) Each level is broken down into three segments, and each segment divided into circuits. This description is quickly turning into some math lesson I didn’t pay attention to in high school. Anyway, this is supposedly her exclusive 3-2-1 system of strength-cardio-abs. Whatever. I like the segments, they help break it up and move this quick little workout right along.
The moves are easy to follow and Jillian is even kind enough to offer the exercise newb adjustments to make things a little easier, until one is more adequately “shredded.” Donning shorts and only a sports bra so you can’t ignore her abs, she explains that the moves combine muscle groups so you’re burning more calories at once. She uses her two faithful servants to demonstrate the moves and also illustrate how awesome you can look if you just work out hard! Sorry, I’ll never be the 5’11” Amazonian with legs up to here, but thanks for trying to encourage me, Jill! Niceties aside, expect more of the Jillian you know and love, the one reminding you that you won’t get results by “phoning it in at the gym” (how does she know I do this?!) And that you aren’t allowed to take breaks during a twenty minute workout, okay? So grin and bear it. And that is just what you’ll have to do. By the time you get to levels two and three the intensity is kicked into high gear. With moves like mountain climbers and walking planks, my heart rate was sky high and I was dripping more sweat than Whitney Houston in concert.
The Bottom Line: I love this DVD! The price is right and the short intense workouts are awesome. Jillian does a pretty good job of keeping you moving and engaging you and I found that her “no excuses” rants actually helped me work out harder. While this tough love approach may not be for everyone, it’s a helpful reminder that working out hard has its benefits. I’m not sure if I would do the whole 30 day thing, but it would be a nice addition to running or the elliptical. I’d love to hear if anyone has actually done it for 30 days. I’m sure you’d feel pretty awesome. Bottom line, I’m definitely keeping this in the rotation. We all need a little voice in our head to kick things into high gear sometimes, and Jillian’s sounds pretty good. Even when she’s yelling.
I should probably note that I am in no way a fitness expert. I’m also not affiliated with Jillian or any other exercise person/method/etc. I’m just a girl who is trying to burn off the fro yo I ate last night.
I just found this article, but wanted to chip in – I’ve been doing 30 Day Shred for 24 days, though not all in a row. There were a few days I had to skip for various reasons. I do plan to do it for 30 days, but just with some rest days in between. I am still on Level 1. I’m doing this purposefully to lose weight, so I am not very in shape, yet this is a workout that I can do and makes me feel good. I don’t get bored since it is the 3-2-1 system and while Jillian can get annoying, the only time I tried to mute her and listen to music, I didn’t finish the video. So apparently she is saying something I need to hear. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who wants a good, intense 20 minute workout. I’ve also lost 8lbs, and this is pretty much the only exercise I do – I walk my dog for about 0.75mi and sometimes I do another, cardio-dance video. But usually I just do this.
I do not believe that it is humanly possible to do this vid 30 days in a row. Maybe it’s because I hate working out. Maybe it’s because I think that walk-out push-ups are the devil’s push-ups. Or, maybe it’s even because there’s this part where she says something along the lines of, “Are you feeling like you’re going to barf right now? Don’t worry, that’s just fear leaving the body.” What? Anyways, I do like to do this workout every once in awhile, I just couldn’t do it every day.
30 Day Shred is how I actually started getting fit again for the first time since high school (since then I’ve lost 24 lbs!). I didn’t do her DVD every day, it was more like every other day, but I loved it. You should try the Biggest Loser: Cardio Max workout next! I like that even more than 30Day Shred…even though it makes you want to die even more haha. Even Jillian’s 10 minute Level 2 workout for BL is 2x as tough as the whole level 2 of 3o day Shred, but it’s SO effective!
I did this for 30+ days, but not in a row, but 4 days a week. I lost 20lbs!
I may have yelled a swear or two at her while working out, but my jeans sure did fit better after 2 weeks.
Here is my question on this. Is there much jumping around? I have a hellish downstairs neighbor who flips out at the smallest noises (like dropping a remote on the floor accidentally). Thus, my working out at home has been hindered a bit. Anyone know what kind of impact I’ll be making with the floor on this one?
I too live up stairs and was worried about making a ton of noise. It did have a lot of jumping like moutian climbers and the like but found it pretty easy to keep the impact on the ground to a minimum. I have also found that her Yoga DVD is a really great workout with less jumping.
I’ve done it for the full 30 days and it worked. I continued with it beyond the 30 day mark but would mix it up by completing levels 1 and 2, or 2 and 3 or 1 and 3 to increase my workout time and endurance. You can also challenge yourself further by stepping up with the weights you’re using.
I’ve done it for 30 days a few times through! The first time I did it, I was eating very clean & taking very good care of myself. Between being really diligent about the shred & supplementing with healthy eating & a bit of running here & there, I lost 9 lbs & 5 or 6 inches the first week on it. I hate level two, but one & three are pretty great. This is my favorite dvd of hers, but I’m also pretty partial to Jackie Warner’s at home workouts (I feel like Jillian is going to track me down & kill me if I don’t finish something up to par, & I swear to god I’ll kill her if she calls me “buddy” one more time, but Jackie is more non-threatening. I feel like she’s on my side, which is important when I’m in the middle of something that makes me want to die), but the shred is always good!
Ha, buddy! I definitely want to try a Jackie Warner workout, too. Good tip!
I have a couple friends doing the 30 day shred and they love it. They’ve been recommending it for a couple months. Now that I’ve seen it on here I must try.
It is definitely worth it to rotate this workout video with some of her others. You get great results, and it may be a struggle at first for beginners to push themselves to continue (they are butt-kicking workouts!) but the results you will see make the gain worth the pain! The various videos target different muscle groups too, so it may help you to see results faster. Also try No More Trouble Zones and Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism. These videos are broken down into circuits, but each video runs for 45 minutes, which makes it easy to mix and match circuits or adjust how long or short you want your workout to last. Jillian is a great motivator and the videos are totally worth it – you just may have to stay dedicated for more than 30 days to see overall results in all areas.
I did this but I never got the feeling of soreness from a great workout. It’s a great workout video if you are already in shape and need a to throw in a little strength and cardio. Didn’t get the results I was looking for. It didnt target any specific areas. I just got the Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones video. I’ll try it out and let u know how that works.
No Trouble Zones is pretty awesome! It’s just longer. If anyone has a Kinect, I suggest Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout. You can decide how long you want to work out, at what intensity, what your fitness goal is, and you can incorporate things like a stability ball. It customizes your workout every day so you’re always doing something different. I am still sore and I haven’t worked out in a couple of days!
I hear ya. I don’t see it as a stand alone thing, either. But let me know how you like the other video. She has so many other ones now!
I hear ya. I love this workout dvd but the thought of doing it for 30 days in a row is just something I can”t commit to (commitment issues much?!?!) But I do love Jillian. Only downside is I wish it had more ab workouts, but I just fill in some of the workout myself on top of the 20 mins with Jillian