Does Jillian Michaels Lie?

For anyone who's not familiar, Jillian Michaels is one of the trainers on the popular weight loss reality show, The Biggest Loser. I'm not a huge fan of hers but I think she's sincere and dedicated.

Some time ago she came out with a workout video called The 30 Day Shred. The concept of The 30 Day Shred is that by mixing cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and an intense focus on the abs you can noticeably change your body in 30 days.

There are three fitness levels but I'm still stuck on level one. I can't imagine how many deceptions I'll find in levels two and three considering all her truth stretching in level one.

I'm sure she means well and I suppose there's an issue of my hearing what I want to hear or just hearing the first part of a statement and embracing it only to have my high hopes dashed seconds later.

Jillian starts out the video introducing her two 'best' girls - Anita for the beginners to watch and Natalie for the more accomplished exercise buffs to follow. Jillian tells us if we want to look like Natalie, just keep our eyes on what she does and do the same thing. Now I know for sure no matter how much I watch Natalie, I'll never be as tall as her or have the same complexion; but, I know that's not what she means.

The fibs I'm talking about crop up all through the video. The video starts with arm crosses and a windmill type exercise to warm up and we go right into 30 seconds of jumping jacks. There are a couple more easy warm up exercises and then another 30 seconds of jumping jacks. The good news about this second set is that Jillian clearly states that that's it for jumping jacks. And in the next 20 minutes of this video, we're going to do jumping jacks THREE more times! Deep down I know she means that that's it for jumping jacks during the warm up but I can't help it. I get excited when she says last set of jumping jacks and even though I know they're coming, I feel betrayed during the next three sets.

And then there are the lies of expectation. There's a time during the squat and press when she says "remember, if this is too hard for you....." and you're expecting "don't do it" but instead you get, "watch Anita". That's a little disappointing.

Also there's a time during butt kicks when she says "if you think you're going to die," and you're already hearing, "stop for today" or "take a nap" when she disappoints you again by saying, "stick with Anita".

Or how about after an ab muscle exercise that she ends with the word, rest. The st is barely out of her mouth when she says okay guys, jump up, grab your weights...... without skipping a beat. There's no room for rest in there.

Somewhere in the middle of the side lunge with shoulder raises she announces that we're almost done with strength. This is going to be it for workout one. So I think workout one is almost done but she meant that the strength part of workout one is almost done. Sure I might be looking for cues that aren't there but she's giving them to me too.

But in all honesty there are things that Jillian says that I do take as gospel.

Like when we're doing push ups, she reminds us that there's no resting here. You don't get to work out for twenty minutes and take a break if you want to see results.

And when we're jumping an imaginary rope she admonishes us that so often people don't think they're strong enough. That they are told just take the stairs. Jillian says that's a false message of lethargy that's not doing you any favors. You are capable of working out!

And the ultimate truth of this workout is that when you finish, your heart rate is up and you're sweating profusely. I don't care how old you are, that's got to be good for you.

Tomorrow I will have done level one of The Shred ten days in a row and that's the goal I told myself I had to reach before I could peek at level two. And I'm going to eventually get through all three levels because ultimately I love the Shred.

I love that it's twenty minutes and in our heart of hearts we know we can do anything for twenty minutes. I love that it changes exercises constantly and covers cardio which we need and strength which we want.

And if truth be told, I think it's Jillian's little deceptions that keep my mind slightly distracted so that I finish the whole workout every time.

I think maybe Jillian Michaels knows exactly what she's doing throughout the entire video.

True Confessions

This is new for me. I've read True Confessions Tuesday blog posts with great interest when they're posted by other confessors but I've never really felt compelled to join in. Now I really do have a confession to make - actually two.

I've been doing Weight Watchers for a couple of months now on an increasingly halfhearted basis. And that's what my results have been - halfhearted. I started out fine but then I guess I realized that I might be successful if I wasn't careful so I became a Weight Watchers faker. And I started losing a few pounds a week. Did I say pounds? Ummmm No. I started losing a few ounces a week and then sometimes I gained a few ounces. And I cheated and cheated.

Then the last couple of weeks instead of doing Halfhearted Weight Watchers I started doing Wholehearted Crazy. Let's see. I ate whatever fast food I wanted. I ate two boxes of Swiss Cake Rolls. I ate Hostess Strawberry Cakes like they were a health food. And then, just to make sure I fell flat on my face, I quit walking.

Nancy over at Bacardimama sent me an email designed to pick me back up and set me on my feet. She said that the girls in the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans were going to start a team challenge and maybe that was just what I needed. I thought she might be right and decided I would join in. And this is where my first confession comes in.

If I was crazy before, I became insane now. I guess I thought I needed a last hurrah. I even drank a bunch of beer which I had not indulged in for a long time. And in the sneaky back of my mind I thought that if my weight was inflated on the first day of the weigh in, it would give me an advantage in showing a loss. At least that was my excuse even though I thought it was kind of unfair. But the one I really cheated was me. If I hadn't put that last couple of pounds on, I wouldn't have to fight through those pounds now just to get to a true loss. That's my first confession.

My second confession involves the Shred that I posted about yesterday.

I was all pleased with myself for getting through it and talking about my jelly legs and sore muscles and stuff and I didn't even know. I didn't find out until today how much I cheated my way through. Of course, this cheating couldn't be helped. I've never done a real push up in my life. I just can't. So I faked my way through. I blogged that I pulled up short in the jumping jacks because I thought it was going to be a longer stretch. Today I found out that, although I knew exactly how long the second jumping jack stretch would be and I did stay with it, I couldn't maintain through the next phase. I had to take a breather.

The good news is that the push ups I faked today were a tiny bit better than the ones I faked yesterday. The breather I took today was farther into the workout than the breather I took yesterday. And I heard Jillian say a lot of things today that I didn't hear yesterday which made for a more intense workout. So it's progress.

And it's all good. I just hope it isn't as hard to get started tomorrow as it was today and deep down, although I think it will actually be harder, I know I'll feel even better about it when I finish than I did today. And that's huge!

Some of The Sweetest Words

"You have just finished Level 1 of the Shred." Sweet! It's not just those words that are sweet but it's also the feeling.

I've heard a lot about Jillian Michaels' Thirty Day Shred. I've heard people say things like, "You don't think you can do it but you can". And, "how much do you hate...er..I mean love the Shred?" I've heard it described as the quintessential workout so I was pretty sure that it would be too much for my old....er.....older body; but, I was determined to do as much as I could every day no matter how little that was.

I faltered a little a couple of times. Once I thought we were going to do two minutes of jumping jacks and, since I knew that was beyond my capabilities, I rested a few seconds. Shortly after that they were finishing up and I knew I had misunderstood. Also the butt kicks got a little long and in one of the sessions I pulled out early. Dang it!

The most amazing thing for me is that I finished! And it really didn't seem THAT bad. What an awesome feeling.

Then I turned off my DVD player and headed for the kitchen and some water. What? My legs feel like what? Jelly? Yeah, that's right. My legs feel like jelly. I have an unusual ache from my chest to my, you know, bottom of my abdomen. Something's definitely going on. And what's this water leaking from every pore of my body? Sweat? Yep, it's sweat. My hair's wet and I'm grateful that I saved my shower until AFTER the Shred. How could I have considered anything else?

I have a pretty confident feeling that these unusual sensations are going to intensify. And I'm wondering if I'm sure that I'm going to walk tonight even if it's only a mile.

But guess what. Jillian says we have to pay a price to get in shape. It's not free. If these are the dues, I'm paying. Every toned muscle, every endurance increase, and every ounce of strength that I can buy is priceless. I'll walk tonight and I'll shred again tomorrow.

I can do anything for thirty days.