Friday, October 16, 2015

Jillian Michaels Shred It With Weights - Level 1

So here I am with another Jillian DVD review. With this though, I don’t have the DVD. Level 1 is on Youtube and I’ve been doing that! I do plan on buying the DVD when I can find it. 

So, here’s the rundown of Shred It With Weights and here’s my review! As always, Jillian has two girls doing the advanced and the modified versions and this time it’s Basheerah doing advanced and Maddie doing the modified. In this workout, you can use a dumbbell, which is what Maddie used, and Jillian recommended 3-8 pounds and Basheerah used a kettlebell. I’m not quite sure of the weight of the kettlebell though. I have a kettle bell I bought years ago and it’s ten pounds so that’s what I used. For this,  I’m proud to say that I used the advanced version the whole time! Woot! Is that a non-scale victory?! ;) I will say though that I don’t think I noticed much difference between the modified version or the advanced version when ti came to the moves, just heavier weights. 

After a warm up that included arm stretches, butt kicks and twists holding the kettlebell, and different ways to warm up with the kettlebell (doing halos holding it is one I specifically remember, but drawing a blank on the rest, you’re really to go. This workout has three circuits. It runs around 25 minutes from warmup to cool down. Circuit One has you down on the floor in bridge, pressing the kettlebell up, and then back up for kettlebell swings, and then deadlift rows. She has you repeat that on the other side and then adds in bent leg deadlift which reminded me of bodybuilders, which Jillian even said it was reminiscent of. 

Circuit two has a squat swing with a pass. You squat and swing the kettlebell up with one hand and then pass it off to the other hand. It sounds scary and it kind of is. I still have this fear that I will accidentally lose my grip on the kettlebell and send it flying through the TV or a window, but that hasn’t happened yet! hahaha. Next she has you doing a rack, squat, and press. Then she has you doing rows in a static lunge. These I’m used to, but going up to 10lbs, I definitely feel it more than I did with the 5lbs!! Repeat of the opposite side, of course. After this, she has you down on the mat to crunch and holding the crunch pressing the kettlebell up. 

Circuit three has windmills with the kettlebell (which in this blog I’ve called triangle press previously. It is slightly different as you twist your arm and I guess that’s where you get the idea that you’re “windmilling” the kettlebell), turkish get ups, and this horrible awful move that I love to hate where you squat down and jump up, rotating to the side, holding the kettlebell. OH. MY. GOSH. It’s hard. It gets my heart rate up. I groan every time it’s time to do that. But it works! After you repeat on the other side, she has you do snatches. On this, I’m also a little terrified something terrible is going to happen, haha. It’s where you throw it up with one arm and immediately pull it down. As if your arms weren’t burning enough, right? :D After that one, you get your much deserved cool down. :D

So I really like this one! I’ve been looking for it at my local target and I looked for it at Walmart and no luck yet. I might have to order it online. I started doing this one rather than another Jillian DVD because I wanted to do a bit more strength training since I was getting a lot of cardio in (I recently bought a treadmill and I have been running on that A LOT until I hurt my foot of course. More on that in another blog post) and I felt like maybe needed something with more emphasis on strength. I can say that I really love this workout and am looking forward to finding the DVD to buy to try level 2. I feel like I get a good workout even though it’s fairly short. 


Thanks for reading! Click here to view this DVD on Amazon to learn more. 

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