(Pretty catchy title huh?)

Yesterday was the final day of the 30 Day Shred.  For those of you that don’t know, it was created by Jillian Michaels who is one of the main fitness trainers on The Biggest Loser (a show I don’t watch).  The workout consists of 3 segments of strength, cardio and abs in a constant pace for 20 minutes.  I believe it also comes with a diet plan too, but since we just borrowed the DVD and didn’t buy it, we didn’t get all the information.

The box boasts that you could lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days through this program.  While I did not, I can’t say that it won’t do that for you since we didn’t use the diet program as well.  But while I didn’t lose much weight at all, I can say that I did gain a bunch of muscle and my abs when from a keg to a five pack (not quite a six pack).  I got lots of questions about the workout as we were doing it, but I wasn’t really sure what to tell people.  But now that it’s over here are my thoughts.

Girls: This is a great workout and it is designed for you.  It’s very aerobic-y and works the areas you want it to.  The arms, abs and thighs.  My wife, who blogged about her 30 Day Shred experience here, just had a baby and did this and looks great!  There is also a modified version of most of the exercises as well so you can easy your way into them.  But either way it’s exhausting.

Guys: While this isn’t created for you, it is still a good workout.  If you can get passed Jillian calling everyone “ladies” then you will probably be ok.  Beware that there are muscles that you have that girls use and want to work out that you don’t use.  These will not be fun.  Be prepared to get laughed at if you are not flexible.  Some of the stretches made me and my manly flexibility look pretty silly.  But after you get through all that the workout is pretty good, if you actually do everything as directed you will work up a very good sweat, and the results will be good.  It’s pretty exhausting.

Final Thoughts: If you are like us and don’t have a ton of time or money to workout at a gym, this is a good workout for you.  At $11 on Amazon isn’t very expensive either.  Start with level 1 and see how it goes.  We shot for 10 days on each level and now looking back I wish I had pushed to level 3 a little sooner (although to be completely honest at when we were moving up a level I was pretty sure I wasn’t ready).  I suspect that if you follow a strict diet and apply yourself for the entire workout for 30 days the weight and toning will be significant with such a short workout and time period.  My only real negative was that my knees hurt and made weird noises throughout the month (and it had nothing to do with me being old).  We are planning to continue using the workout in a 3 times a week plan, but I will definitely be replacing some of the exercises that put negative stress on the knees.

I would recommend this workout to anyone that wants to lose weight and build/tone muscle, can be disciplined enough to do it every day, and wants to save time and money by not using the gym.  Just make sure you don’t do it too late at night if you live in a complex because your neighbors won’t be a fan of all the running and jumping!  (And yes, I know I just completed a girly aerobics program and I’m ok with that.)

Anyone else done the 30 Day Shred?  How did it work for you?