30 Day Shred – My Experience

Day 1

After a couple glasses of delicious white wine, somehow I stumbled upon on YouTube earlier that day, really(!) burned into my mind. It was a workout video of Frank Medrano and Antoniette Pacheco. I don’t know how I got there and I don’t know why it appealed it to me, but I basically watched their 2 work out videos at least 10 times that day: “HOT Fitness couple KILLER WORKOUT!!!” (I know, great title, right?!) and “NEVER SETTLE!! COMPLETE BODY WORKOUT ! MUST SEE” (Ouh yeah, baby!)

I absolutely adore Antoniette’s body and strength and it reminded me of the days, that I used to work out routinely which surprisingly caused my body to be in way better shape than now…weird, right? So, I decided, why complain every day about how insecure I  feel about my body, when you have the ways to change it yourself. You don’t need a lot of money, you don’t need a gym membership or expensive work out equipment at home, you DO need to get your ass out of that chair and start working out… REGULARLY!

Anyway this change of mind reminded me of a workout video I saw (but never executed before) on YouTube: it’s the 30 Day Shred Challenge by Jillian Michaels. I believe it’s available on DVD, but you can watch it for free on YouTube, so like I said, don’t waste your money, kids!

So at 1a.m. on the 24^th of January I decided to finally start getting back into shape. I love being strong, I love being toned… I’m not talking body-builder strong, even though I’m not saying anything against that, but it’s just not my cup of tea…, but just not worrying about how you look in your bathing suit or what other people might think of you in that particular bathing suit, is such a motivation for me.

Alright, let’s finally get to the point, shall we? 
I grabbed my yoga mat (you can use towels, or whatever makes it more comfortable to lay on the floor), my barbells (if you don’t have some use full water bottles or fill empty water bottles with sand, help yourself… I know there’s a way!) and I started the first out of 3 levels of the 30 Day Shred: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pc-NizMgg8 .

I absolutely love, that it is super easy to pick up all the exercises on the way. I didn’t have to watch the video beforehand and memorize half of the things to be able to do the workout accordingly and there weren’t any long, annoying brakes that you need to skip over every single time, so you don’t cool down while working it out. She explained and warned about all the things that I would have mentioned too and is motivating along the way. What else could you wish for?

Oh and I took pictures of myself in my bathing suit before my first workout and I’ll be trying to keep doing that throughout the workout, just to show myself that the work I put into it actually pays off! I’d also recommend doing the workout in something that you might not feel super comfortable in: For me it’s wearing short shorts and my sports bra and I’m doing the workout in front or next to a mirror. Personally, I find it motivating to do so, because I can see what I need to work on at all times and it also makes me feel more comfortable with my body along the line. You just get more used to that image of yourself, because honestly at some point I just stopped looking at myself to “protect” me, but seriously it just makes things worse. Plus working out in front of a mirror also shows you, whether your back is straight, your abs are sucked in, etc. It’s definitely a useful way to correct your movements and therefore prevent injuries! And we don’t want injuries, ouuhkay? I hope this was useful in some sort (I did write this at 2a.m., so be kind). 

Lots of sweaty hugs (just kidding!)

Marie

P.S. I have no idea why I wrote this in English.