Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred [DVD]

For background, I am a 39 year old man who was moderately fit before starting this and no stranger to exercise, but not very consistent and parts of my body definitely needed tightening up.There are 3 workouts which take around 30 minutes each by the time you've done a quick warm up and stretch and got the DVD going. The workouts are progressively harder and there are no rules about when to move on - you just start the next level up when you feel like a new challenge. You do one each day for 30 days straight. All you need is a bit of space and some hand weights. I used 3kg, my wife used 2kg. For some exercises I could have easily lifted more and for some this was quite a challenge. This is definitely a fitness/toning DVD though and in no way a strength/bodybuilding DVD. Space-wise you need to be able to take a large stride forwards and backwards as well as jump as far as you can left to right.The routines are split into 3 mins strength, 2 mins cardio and 1 minute abs. Each workout has three different routines (so 18 mins exercise in total with no resting, plus a warm up and stretch).Workout 1 is moderately easy after doing it a few times, although I was still grunting and groaning at some of the strength exercises.Workout 2 is a big step up in hardness and I spent most of the 30 days doing this. The cardio for this really made me work hard.Workout 3 is another step up, although not as much from 1 to 2. The Strength, Cardio and Abs all seem to get mixed in for this workout - sometimes you are using no weights and loads of ab work for the strength section, but then weights for the cardio or abs.There is some killer thigh work in workout 3, and I found it better to alternate between 2 and 3 for a few days until my legs had got used to the shock.I have to say I really enjoyed doing this DVD, and got good results out of it. I am definitely a lot more toned and feel a lot fitter. Although hard work, I got quite addicted to it and looked forward to doing it most days. I wouldn't normally do 30 days exercise in a row and wondered if it was going to put too much strain on my joints but I was fine with it and enjoyed the consistency.I paid about a fiver for it which I consider exceptional value. You can watch/do the first workout YouTube, but the second and third get taken down straight away so I presume this is an unofficial promotional technique by the producers - it certainly worked for me as I wanted the rest of the workouts. Worth trying if you are wondering if you'll like her style.There are only two minor downsides for me:1. It's definitely aimed at women - the presenter and both assistants are female and Jillian addresses the audience assuming they are all female. To be fair, this is probably the vast majority of the target audience but it would have been nice to see a guy doing it as well as the exercises are certainly suitable for a man.2. Every time you start the DVD you have to wait for Jillian to blather on about the workouts, how the DVD is structured, etc etc. Fine for the first time but you can't skip this or fast forward it, and it gets really annoying to have to sit through this intro for the 30th time. It probably only lasts about 2 minutes but it frustrated me that I couldn't just put the DVD in and go, and being petty as I am it put me in a slightly annoyed mood for the start of my workout! Probably not something that would bother more tolerant people but I considered knocking off a star.All in all very happy with this DVD though and would thoroughly recommend. Delivered the results I wanted and was exceptional value.

Ok this isn't going to be a full and complete review, purely because I only got the DVD yesterday. I've given it five stars for now as after my first session, it is worth that. I'll re-review after the 30 days and see if it is still worth that number! So, my DVD arrived yesterday morning and I stuck it in the player almost immediately (I've been eagerly awaiting it's arrival since I ordered it!) I naturally did level one as I'm going to do this thing the way it was intended- 10 days on each level. By about 2 minutes in I was puffing and blowing like a 'brokken-winded oss' (say it fast) and about 5 mins in I ended up with a stitch and was dripping sweat. In hindsight, I should have probably waited longer for my breakfast to settle before doing it to avoid the stitch thing, but I didn't. I'm not the fittest person out there but nor am I the least fit either. I'd say I was somewhere around average I suppose. But I could manage the whole of level one without stopping or doing the beginner modifications, which I'm a little proud of haha.Now, it IS hard work. I found myself making some very strange noises and shouting at the Jillian in the TV at times, but she also kept me going and made me want to push myself rather than give up, which is brilliant. Some people might find her style a bit irritating, but I love it- she's firm but fair. And very honest! And once I'd finished the workout and recovered a little, I found myself itching to do more, which for me is amazing. Usually I do a workout once and then find I have to push myself to find the motivation to do it again the next day. With this one, however, I can't wait to do it again today, despite the slightly achey muscles. I think it helps that it is 'only' 20 minutes long and is pretty fast-paced. Just as you are getting to the point where you feel you can't carry on, Jillian changes the move or says something that makes you carry on rather than give up. And the 3-2-1 approach helps too, because you know that once you've done a set of moves once you're either half-way through that part or you've done it and are moving onto something else, you're not just repeating the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.As mentioned above, today my muscles are aching a bit, but not so much I can't move and don't want to do the workout again. I'm a bit stiff but I can feel that I've worked hard yesterday and want to do the same again today. It's a good ache rather than a horrible, painful ache and I'm sure it'll loosen off once I get going again. Overall, yes, this workout is knackering. But it's worth it if the results turn out to be as advertised and I end up nicely toned in time for my holiday. This is not the sort of workout where you prance around for 20 minutes without breaking a sweat, this is a workout where you really do work out for the whole 20 minutes. You can't go into it half-heartedly, you've got to be committed to get the results you want. I'll write another review when I've completed the program and let you know my own results!