Ripped in 30- Week 4

We are stronger in the places we are already broken.
Jillian Michaels quotes Ernest Hemingway and proceeds to make me unbreakable all over my body because she how broken I am.
Looking back I have never seen a Week 4 workout in all the stuff that I have done from her line. 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack both have only 3 levels so I knew Week 4 is going to be a killer.
Am I the only one that is gleeful the harder the exercises are? Nope, the thousands of focused, determined individuals that work out to her tough tune are sure to love it. You know by now that I had my Throwball tournament (Did I speak of anything else?) over the weekend. The longest rallies, the toughest point by point fight and thanks to Jillian I did not zone out until the very end where my exhaustion went beyond social niceties and I would have slept in the wide open field given a chance. :)
This Mother of all workouts is everything she promises it to be. I have slowly and surely seen a tightening of my bicep/tricep muscles, my thigh and shin muscles. My tummy still needs work. I have another post on that lined up when I can get to it.
Sweet Spots- I can't even talk about the warm up being easy. The slow leg swings were definitely not easy.
Tough nuts- The video if full of them. Squat press and rows, Burpees (my eternal bane in life- if it were a person I would be trolling them on Twitter), Chaturanga pushups (side note- a couple of yoga based exercise routines in this week) and last but not least plie hops with scissor kicks (don't ask me! I did the easy version and knocked my heels together)
In the end more than the exercises, I believe that I have grown more motivated and determined, It's not easy doing these exercises alone, let alone daily. I am supremely proud to have walked out on the patio, huffed and puffed myself red and proven to myself that all I need to be the best version of myself is work on it and be me!

PS- Started No more Trouble Zones ( my muscles are still twitching from the 50 minute exercise video. Post about it soon)

Ripped in 30- Week 3

The penultimate week. No closer to getting ripped but definitely seeing the muscle tone. Had my annual physical- my HDL has never been this high! All because of the exercise that I have been doing :) feeling fantastic about that!
Going a little nuts this week Jillian really brought in the tough moves. She said she wanted me to curse her name and I was. But all in all my muscles were definitely working. The warm up segment was a little different in that they were three warm up exercises repeated twice almost like the exercise circuit!
Sweet spots- Say what??
Tough nuts- Duck walk, stork stance with reverse fly. rock and roll jump with reverse crunch, one legged hops (this was particularly daunting because I did not want the exercise to impact my knees), table stance with tricep dip.
All in all was a challenging week. There were a couple of repeats from 30 day shred- jumping lunge that felt much easier this time around. Seriously looking forward to next week which starts tomorrow. Final week also coincides with the weekend of tournament so pulling out all stops on this one next week.

Ripped in 30- Week 2

Was..huff..not...puff..prepared!
Continuing to indulge in self torture I went ahead with Week 2 of Ripped in 30. You know what kills me? The models that serve in the beginner/advanced pose demonstration make it seem easy. Even the beginner modes do the advanced level pose while Jillian herself asks them to do the beginner level poses! Man..way to show off.
With the same 3*3, 2*2, 1*1 mode of circuit levels, a lot of the exercises are variations of the basic poses. Incorporating more than one muscle group during the exercises are the easiest way to burn more calories.
Oh yeah! She makes no bones about even waiting for the actual exercise to kick butt. One in the warm up actually has a leg rotation kick..the kind you see in movies with martial arts. Felt immense pride doing that..hopefully the body later will thank me :)
Sweet spots- Jump rope with kick outs, Alternate table with ab hold
Tough nuts- Crow push ups (I know!!), Stork pull ups (whats with the fauna?!), Side lunge with leg hike (like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant)
At one point she talks about building endurance. I see marked increase in endurance. During throwball practice sessions, which easily go on for 3 hrs now, I am able to see higher levels of stamina, greater arm strength and throw, even breathing and faster reflex and movement. Heyooo!
Side note- Now I have my team mates warming up and cooling down too! Score for team spirit..the team that stretches together, sticks together!

Jilian Michaels Ripped in 30- Week One

Ok! Five months into the year? I am already planning my Halloween costume..where is the time running?
Disclaimer One- Throwball tournament coming up and I wanted to be stronger for that
Disclaimer Two- I was in no way, shape or form prepared for my ass being handed to me
Disclaimer Three- Really badly handed to me!

I am a fan of Jillian Michaels, you'd know from back when I did 30 day shred. So for the April vacation (which actually I need not have worried about, 'cos the food in the resort just spoiled me out of shape anyway), I started out with the 30 day shred and was inconsistent about it. I finished the 30 day shred in maybe 45 days :P (I know! I know! Read on though..) On an impulse I decided to rent out more Jillian Michaels DVDs. I got 4 DVDs! One week shred, Banish fat boost metabolism, Ripped in 30 and No more trouble zones. I have no idea what I was thinking, I was probably in food coma and out of my mind.
I am happy to say that I had to return the first two due to me working on Ripped in 30. Some other comatose idealist (a prayer for their soul and body) had placed them on hold so it went back to library. :P

So Week One! Having done 30 day shred program, I was mentally prepared for it to be trippy, but boy was I underestimating! This program comes in 3 circuits too, with the same 3-2-1 formula of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes cardio and 1 minute abs. It was basic moves, getting the form right and it still killed me. I was sweating worse than I did after a 5 mile run, and in under 30 minutes!! It was life draining, mind numbing and soul crunching- meaning it was awesome! I loved it..(Side bar- Kamal Hasan once said that only with the ache of muscles you realize how truly sweet pain is)
While 30 day shred had 2 exercises in all strength, abs and cardio moves, this one had 3 for strength, 2 for cardio and abs.
My mistake- the weighing machine still does not have batteries. :)

One thing that she really stresses is the meal plan, which unfortunately had a lot of meat in it. So I am trying to eat healthier with less processed food and lot more vegetables and fruits.