Monday, October 22, 2012

I like Body Revolution...but I love 30 Day Shred more!

So I just finished the first two weeks of Jillian Michaels Body Revolution and while I do have to commend it for being a solid program, it is making me long for her individual workouts, like 30 Day Shred and Ripped in 30. 


Even though I am not in peak shape like I was in 2010 and had to rebuild my fitness foundation from scratch, the first phase of Body Revolution is too easy.  Oh who am I kidding--it's boring! 

I think the problem--in no part do I blame the efficiency and effectiveness of the actual system--is that Jillian takes time building your fitness foundation in Phase 1.  That entails isolating body parts (though I do generally prefer this), low impact cardio and tons of balance/coordination exercises.  In other words, my heart rate isn't getting very high and I am barely breaking a sweat.

In order to break up this monotony, I may have pulled out 30 Day Shred and Ripped in 30 to substitute a workout or two, last week.  Let me tell you, it was a real treat!  In the past, I use to write off Jillian's personality as too harsh, her exercise programs as too generic and overall she just wasn't my style.  Funny how things change since I probably consider her my favorite instructor at the moment.  As I was doing level 1&2 workouts from both DVDS, I managed to get my heart rate up, was breaking a good sweat (my basement apartment is pretty chilly too), found the exercises both challenging but doable and enjoyed myself as the time flew by. 

Something I noticed about the first levels on 30 Day Shred and Ripped in 30 is that they are a bit more challenging than all of Phase 1 in Body Revolution.  Based on previewing the ensuing phases, Phase 2 might be more comparable to the mid levels of the aforementioned workouts.  Now Phase 3 might be a different story in itself.  Based on what I have seen, it makes the upper levels of her 30 day workout DVDs look like kindergarten.  I mean, @%$#!  I am sooo not looking forward to doing a reverse pushup.  

So I am not exactly sure how I am going to deal with the rest of Phase 1, but I may substitute the occasional workout with Shred or Ripped.  We will just see how this goes. 

Enjoy your week.  Cheers! 

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