*All opinions are my own, I am not being reimbursed for my review/time, etc. I paid for the DVD. Always check with your healthcare provider before beginning any new exercise plan, etc, etc. I am not responsible for any injuries you may obtain from completing this exercise program.*
To preface this for you, about two and a half years ago I was going to the gym 5 days a week for cardio doing walk/run intervals and then got tired of that and found the 30 day shred which I managed to do 5 days a week for....28 days before I started having some nasty elbow pain. So I took a couple days off and tried again, only to have the same elbow pain along with both knees starting to hurt (round 3 is a lot of plyo exercises, thinking jumping/high impact). So I stopped exercising. Bah! Why did I let myself stop completely?! Anyhow....fast forward a year and I was doing a lot of outdoor walking and the occasional exercise DVD. Nothing too tough. Then I started having jumper's knee problems and walking was painful. Skipping a lot of details I've eliminated achy joints/knees by changing my diet (a whole other topic - ask if you want info). I knew I wouldn't be able to get back into the 30 day shred right away without feeling like a failure, so I was researching what I could do, something that would motivate me to stick to it so I could get back to the Shred (which I love by the way). So I came across this Beginner Shred on Amazon which I hadn't seen or even heard about. I was excited! Apparently it came out in September 2014. There were a few reviews on Amazon, but nothing compared to the amount that the 30 day Shred has. I purchased it at Target, they had it for a higher price, but when I showed them the Amazon price they price matched and gave me my 5% discount because of my red card. :) So there you have it! Now I'm logging daily and hoping that if I put it out there I will hopefully feel the pressure to complete it. Even if no one reads my blog! Haha! Maybe I'll inspire one person. *shrugs* doing it for myself anyway!
And in case anyone is wondering, no I didn't measure myself and I'm not focusing on my weight (Remember, muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less volume). I am focusing on becoming more fit, gaining some muscle tone, and living a healthier live style. Now I am hoping that along with that comes a drop in inches and weight, but that's not my focus this time around. That said, my BMI is on the upper end of the "normal" range for my height and I'm usually right around the middle of the range when I feel my best.
This DVD has been recommended for the older population as well as someone returning to exercise or just having a baby, etc. However I will note that there are a lot of squats and lunges in the first level and about half of the level one exercises are completed on the floor. If you're obese or older and out of shape I would recommend starting with a walking program - Leslie Sansone has some great ones that you can try for free on Youtube before purchasing. This is a great beginners weight/strength training, not so much a great beginners exercise - start with something a little easier like the walking before you start this - that's my recommendation anyway!
So here goes! (The days are going to be a little off because I had a couple of days in before logging them here. I'll probably end up doing 2 days at a time.)
Day 1 of Level 1
For some reason I thought this was going to be easy. LOL not so much. Had to take a couple rest breaks and water breaks. Great set of exercises and it's easier than the 30 day shred but still tough workout. Thankfully it wasn't as much cardio and I felt like I could handle it better than the 30 day shred where I got winded in the warm up. I started out with a set of 3 pound weights but for the shoulder presses (what she calls anterior raises during the chair squats) I had to change to 2 pounds so that I could maintain my good form. For one of the exercises I ended up using 5 pound weights because it didn't seem like a challenge enough. For most of the leg exercises I was able to do the advanced version but my arms are so weak that I was having trouble sticking to them. I also had to do all modified push-ups which was no surprise but I was definitely not able to keep up with their pace and I think I ended up doing 4 push-ups the first set and then like three or so the next time. For the plank (she calls ab hold) I did that on my knees the whole time because I could really feel it in my abs and I wasn't going to even try to do it on my toes but I can see the future being able to do that. Seems like a very doable DVD that I can keep up with and hopefully not have to pause it so much the next time. I look forward to sticking with this for 30 days and then hopefully moving onto the 30 day shred and not feeling like a complete failure starting at the warm-up!!
