Archive | Jillian Michaels

Weekly Workout Recap: Soreness is Godliness

This was the week of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Last week, after trying out Paul Katami’s Ultimate Kettlebell for Beginners, I was wrecked and can barely walk and it felt good! I noticed the soreness was in my leg muscles (hello, squats!) and not my back so I knew I was doing something right in terms of form.

Getting Stronger

I feel myself getting stronger. I can actually do a burpee without feeling like I am going to fall on my face. I can probably do about 3-4 and rest a bit and do a bit more. Of course I want to get to the point where I am doing unmodified burpees for the entire 30 second duration of that particular circuit.

I’ve decided that I will be doing Ripped in 30 after this augmented 30 Day Shred program. And then after that, I will be doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution (more on that below).

Getting Smaller

I am pleased to report that the pants I am wearing is nice and loose. These are my favorite new corduroy pants that fit snugly before. Now that I am a bit slimmer, it’s nice and loose. I mean, not baggy, but like comfortable loose. I like it.

This sounds stupid and is probably hyperbole, but I am feeling like the fat is getting cut down especially in my tummy. You know how you get giant rolls in when you sit or bend? Instead of bunching up like thick curtains layered with fat, it’s a bit thinner! And when you pinch my tummy, the rolls are not as giant and floppy. Huzzah!

Hitting the Motherlode!

Cathe DVDs

Ever since I started, I have been on high alert to build my training video collection, had set up price alerts, and had been scouring the various second hand venues for videos (online and offline). It’s sort of a morning ritual now. One of the sites I check is an internal classifieds portal at my job where staff are able to post and purchase things. By golly… I hit the motherlode!

I spent $50 bucks for over 50 training dvds. WOWOWOW! We’re looking at less than $1/piece. This person was looking to downsize and wanted to get rid of stuff (I got some kitchenware for cheap too). She has some of Jillian Michael’s DVDs as well as her Body Revolution and Body Shred programs. There was some Beachbody stuff like P90X (which I already have), 21 Day Fix, Insanity, and some series and trainers I haven’t heard of but will definitely be getting acquainted with like Cathe Friedrich, Jari Love, and Denise Allen. Unfortunately, no Paul Katami (who I really like as a trainer as well!). But holy cow. I can’t believe my luck!

Daily Observations

1/2/17: Since today was the last day off before going back to work, I was planning on doing Banish Fat Boost Metabolism, but as I could barely walk from the kettlebell soreness. I opted to try out JM’s Killer Arms and Back, Level 1 instead since I assumed there would be less leg work. I was wrong! My arms and shoulders did get a decent workout but I half-assed on anything that had to do with my legs.

1/3/17: Back to work today. I am still sore as heck from the KBs but I still did the BFBM that I missed the previous day. Unfortunately, it was a bad workout. I had eaten a before working out and waited an hour before starting. That was probably not enough time since I got a bit crampy in the middle of working out and felt nauseous (wanting to throw up on a few occasions) by the end of it. I did take it easy due to the soreness and the general feeling like crap.

1/4/17: Funny how muscle soreness works. Once day you’re dying and the next day when you wake up, you’re fine! (for the most part) I was going to wimp out and do yoga today, but since the soreness has subsided a great deal, I decided to get back to the 30 Day Shred, Level 1 and also Paul Katami’s Ultimate Kettlebells for Beginners (only the swings part of the intro video).

1/5/17: I did 30DS1 and it does feel noticeably easier. Not sure why, but I was feeling particularly impatient and I wish that time has already jump forward 3 months so I can have those results already! I had to remind myself that it hasn’t even been 2 weeks and that I will get there eventually.

1/6/17: Another blah workday. 30DS, Level 1 once I got home from work. At least it’s Friday!

1/7/17: Finally the weekend is here. With more time, I did NMTZ instead of 30DS1.

I also realized that I have been screwing up my push ups since forever. I finally noticed as I was “modifying” one of the plank exercises, and then realized that I kind of didn’t need to. This particular exercise called for me to keep dumbbells in front of my shoulders so I can pull it (row?) from the plank position. When I did, it was EASY (relatively). I was expecting to struggle like I do with push ups since its a similar position, but it was indeed easier. Then it occurred to me why other “modified” plank positions were easy, particularly the ones where I am alternating my hands and pulling to the side. It’s because  I have been doing push ups WRONG for a very long time. Most of this is due to my really narrow frame. I widen my hands out like I have a normal frame and that makes push ups so much harder for me. Idiot! Here’s a helpful video for anyone interested:

1/8/17: It’s Sunday, day 14. I did BFBM and the intro video of the Ultimate Kettlebell Workouts for Beginners. Both workouts went well and I feel good!

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Weekly Workout Recap: The First Week for the Rest of My Life!

This was a big week for me, since it was the very FIRST week of my workout program.

I delayed the start since I had the entire week from Xmas to New Years off and it made sense to start it on the Monday following Xmas. I had decided to do a mix of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred with the Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and the No More Trouble Zone videos, when there is  more time to work out.

Looking forward to this week!

A nice garish color combination! Probably why it only cost $15? 

Before starting, I treated myself to a pair of KSwiss Sneakers (X Lite Tubes) that I intend to only use during my home workouts. It was on super sale for $15 on Amazon, score!

I want this to be a new healthy habit. I want to feel like something is wrong if I don’t work out. At this point, I want to be a fitness nut. I want to look like the helpers in Jillian Michaels’ videos. I want to be strong and able to do the advanced versions of all these moves! You get the idea. This is a first step in a big change. (pun intended, haha)

Losing a bit of weight

Prior to starting the program, I lost about 7-8lbs, from ~138lbs through intermittent fasting (IF). I cut out breakfast, but kept eating everything else as normal. For the most part, I my intake was about 1300-1400 calories, in some cases going as high as 1600-1700. IF was not terribly hard to implement, although it got a little uncomfortable sometimes when I was feeling hungry in the morning. By the time lunch rolls around 11am or so, I am starving and just about anything tastes delicious which is why I have been getting away with eating salads for lunch.

Losing those extra pounds made me feel a bit smaller and more agile to be able to work out, although I am still flabby and floppy. Once the workout groove gets going, I will focus on eating better and cleaner. Eventually, much like working out, I hope the healthy eating will become second nature.

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Weekly Workout Recap: Planning for Fitness and “Testing” Some JM Videos

Umm.. no way will this ever be me. (*hides*)

I have been thinking quite a bit about the goal that I want to work towards.

Initially, I figured I needed to join a sport of some sort since it would be easier to visualize. So maybe working towards a body competition, you know, the fit ladies who are super tanned in skimpy bikinis? I had a friend who was into it and I know she devotes an inordinate amount of time to prepare for it. I then remembered that I am an introvert and doing anything on stage practically naked is probably not a good idea.

So what about rock climbing, boxing, cycling, triathlons, half marathons, power-lifting, etc.? It dawned on me that choosing a specific sport too soon is too much commitment in time and money for something I don’t know if I will like just so I can force myself into a goal.

I figured I should start with the journey before I determine an “end goal.” So ultimately, I decided that…

  1. I want to get into the best shape I have ever been
  2. I want to incorporate exercise videos into my life as a daily habit (I want to feel weird if I go a day without doing it)
  3. I want to be able to develop my cardio endurance enough so that I can participate in a 5k without stopping, maybe in a Disneyworld 5k!
  4. I want to be able to do a proper pull-up/chin-up, 5 total! (for now)
  5. Lastly, I want to be able to do a hand stand, hand stand push-up, and maybe walk on my hands!

Yes, that’s literally it. Those are the goals for now. I would like to learn how to swim eventually and maybe even do a proper cartwheel. Heck, I might even work up into playing basketball or some kind of adult sports league. We’ll see!

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Weekly Workout Recap: Leading up to the Dieting and Soreness Prep

I will be posting in this format which will allow me to write freely and post it once a week to avoid annoying any readers (my mom, ha!). I would much rather devote the daily energy to working out and and watching what I eat!

During the time leading up to the great big “Sore Weekend,” I was still attempting my daily Fitbit goal of 10k steps a day, which I will regularly reach after walking to and from work and marching in places or pacing around the apartment to finish off the remaining 2k steps or so. If it is a busy walking day where I might clock in 15k steps, I would be sore the next day! So while I was much more active than the previous 5 years, I was still out of shape.

Starting in early November, I slowly incorporated Intermittent Fasting as a part of my “diet” although I feel it would be more apt to describe it as a habit instead. I’ll post a longer entry on it eventually, but the gist is that I follow an 8/16 hour cycle of feeding and fasting. I would eat within an 8 hour window and fast in the remaining 16. It amounts to basically skipping breakfast and having lunch at noon and dinner finished by 8pm. I would adjust the dinner time accordingly depending on when my first meal of the day was. Eating between the lunch and dinner hours are fine too and I do snack as normal. I found that cutting breakfast had removed about 300-400 calories from my diet which was hovering about 1600-1700 calories a day. I was now keeping it about 1200-1300 per day which is recommended for someone who sat around all day as I did.

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Fitness Lifestyle 2017

I did not want to turn this into a journal detailing the minutiae of my day, but I needed some kind of accountability to reach my goal of having fitness and health become an integral part of my life. Starting brand new blog explicitly for fitness was not a good idea since the single events/hobby blogs I start tend to fizzle out after time and get wrapped into this blog anyways.

I also didn’t intend to have this become a New Year’s resolution event post either, but the proximity of New Year’s and finally starting my workout happened to coincide with major events going on. I am honestly not the type of person to do New Year’s resolutions (rolls eyes). I find them silly because if you want to improve something about your life, you should do it ASAP and not let holidays push you around!

My original intention was to start concurrently with the last semester of grad school, but I underestimated the workload for my classes (2 intensive classes + full-time job = not easy). I also accepted a new job offer and was transitioning during that period. The workout start date kept getting delayed, but was always on my mind.

Fast forward to December. I technically started working out on December 9th to get the soreness out of the way as to avoid using soreness as an excuse to stop working out once the program began. I was also heading into a very busy 2 weeks of work at the new job (13-14 hour work days), and I didn’t want to stress over trying to fit in exercising while things were getting crazy.

I decided on December 26, 2016 as the official start date as I would be done with school, I would be done with the work crunch, I would be done with the temptations of Thanksgiving and Xmas, and my work literally shuts down the days between Xmas and New Years Day, so I was home and able to focus.

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