Saturday 12 April 2014

30 Day Shred - Level 1

   Well, I completed Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred, and let me tell you right now: it was fucking hard. Pardon the language but I wanted to emphasis that. But let me also go on to say that day 1 was the worst, but I stuck with it, and by day 4 I was having a much easier time, and began looking forward to doing it from day 6 onwards. I did two extra days because I really feel like it's making a difference, and I want to get the most out of it.


   Why was it so hard? Because the instructor doesn't give you a chance to rest. It's only 20 minutes a day, but it's 20 minutes of non-stop work, and it is hard. You get a brief warm-up, and then 3 6-minute circuits of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs, and it is tough. She does explain throughout the workout, however,
   I am used to using weights, so the positions and posture wasn't a problem for me, and I've strengthened my back enough already that the dumbbell rows were the easiest move of the DVD and didn't tire my back at all. But that experience was what made it so hard. I didn't go into it thinking it would be easy, I knew it would be hard, but I underestimated how much. I made a few mistakes on day 1, the first of which was choosing to use my 2.5kg (5.5lb) weights, which is what I've adjusted to over the last month, and I'm about ready to move up to 3kg. It destroyed me, and after the first circuit I ended up moving back to my 1.5kg (3.3lb) weights instead. The second mistake I made was trying to follow the tougher, more experienced demonstrations rather than easing myself into it. The moves done during Level 1 are moves that I am only partially familiar with, and that was also my third mistake, when it comes to combining them all together. Experienced or not, I should have started with the lighter weights and followed the less experienced demonstrations. I did pull a lot of muscles, but I still did it the next day, and the day after, and the day after. I haven't yet missed a day.

   As I just said, I pulled some muscles, and I think that that is only partly because of the weights I'd used. I am quiet sure it was also because I was doing movements like push-ups that I don't usually do, and it took some getting used to. I admit that on days 2, 3 and 4, I did the push-ups against the door with my feet about 2.5 feet away from it rather than on the floor because my front shoulder muscles had been really pulled, but by after doing them on the floor again on day 5, I found them surprisingly easy by day 9. But the thing is that, when you pull muscles in the 30 day shred, you still have to continue the next day. I felt like I couldn't do it, but I tried anyway, and by actually continuing and doing day 2, I worked my muscles and warmed them up and they didn't hurt as much any more. My body fully adjusted to the workout after 5 days, but it started getting easier after 3.


Tips:

1. Don't think 'oh this'll be easy' or 'I want to get the most out of this' on day 1 and try to follow the tougher demonstrations. You'll only tire yourself out and hurt yourself. Start off with the easier demonstrations and work your way up.
2. Don't try to use heavy weights, even if you're used to them. Use smaller weights in the beginning to get used to the movements.
3. You will very likely pull your muscles after day 1 because there isn't enough stretching at the beginning or the end of the routine, so when you've finished, you'll definitely want to do more by yourself.
4. When you pull your muscles, don't skip a day. I'd usually say that you should rest, but this workout is designed to be done for 30 consecutive days, and if you let yourself take day 2 and day 3 off because of injuries from day 1, you're only going to find yourself pulling more muscles when you return to it. Work through it, it will get easier. You'll warm your muscles up, and despite what you might expect, you won't find it that hard to do day 2 once you've warmed up.
5. If someone tells you that this is easy, they're probably just trying to encourage you to try it. Definitely try it, but ignore what they say about it being easy. If you expect it to be easy when you begin, you'll probably be quite put off when you find out that it's the opposite.
6. Don't let yourself get put off of the moves. Push-ups are hard, there's no doubt about that, and I could never do them, but they get easy quite quickly, and you will be very surprised by how quickly your body strengthens and adapts to it all.



2 comments:

  1. I applaud you for completing this! I tried it last year, and was so knackered after doing it for about a week I unfortunately gave up. You've definitely made me keen to give it another go. And you're so right when you say don't think it's going to be easy, my gosh it is not! I went into it with a cocky attitude and tried some of the harder things and I think that's definitely why I gave it up, but it's certainly a good work out so I think I may have to give it another go :)

    MissIsGoode
    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! That means a lot ^^ lovely bit of encouragement ^^ And you definitely should give it a go, ESPECIALLY since you've already tried it - you know exactly what to expect. And when I said it's surprising how quickly your body adapts to things, I really mean that. Push-ups are the hardest thing in the world for me, and I mentioned that I had to do push-ups against a door for a few days because I pulled muscles doing it on the ground the day before and I literally couldn't lift myself off of the floor anymore, but when I went back to doing it on the ground, after just three days I was doing really quite well with it! Sure I still had my knees on the ground but you have to start somewhere.
      You REALLY do start to feel like the shred is working after a week or so, too, you do feel leaner, you do feel slimmer, even if it's just your imagination - the important thing to remember at those times, though, is NOT to get on the scales or pull out the tape measure until you've had about 2 days of rest because your body swells and you weigh more.

      I'm blathering. Thank you for stopping by, Issy, and definitely give it another shot! :D

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