30 Day Shred Recap

I’ve been meaning to write about this, but with the out-of-town weekend I just haven’t gotten around to it.  I finished up Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred on Thursday and I took my measurements to compared them to the measurements I took on June 8. 

Now, I wasn’t expecting too much because I was already lifting weights 3x per week before I started the Shred.  I did see some changes in a few areas.

• In my bust I lost 1/4 of an inch.  Not much, but something. 
• In my waist I lost an inch.  Not too shabby!  I definitely could see my waist slimming down as the month went on.
• I actually gained a quarter of an inch in my hips.
• My arms both stayed the same, but that is without flexing them.  I didn’t measure them while flexing, which would probably show a difference.
• My legs both went up…left leg gained 1/4 of an inch and right leg gained 1 inch.  I feel like my legs became more toned though. 

So, overall, not much of a change in the measurements.  I think if I were to do it for another month I would see some change.  But, I am cutting back on the strength training for the rest of my Half Ironman training schedule.  I’ll probably cut back to 3x a week using my weights.  I will incorporate some of the moves from the Shred, because I found lots of them to be good. 

Strength training is an important part of any training program and I’ve learned my lesson of not incorporating lower body strength training into my plan.  Just because you are using your lower body for your cardio doesn’t mean that the lower body doesn’t need to lift some weights or do some resistance training!

I highly recommend the 30 Day Shred, especially for people who haven’t really been doing much in terms of strength training.  I’m sure people would see a big difference in measurements over a 30 day period if that is the case.  For those who are already including strength training in their exercise programs, I recommend the Shred for a change of pace and for a new challenge.