Killer Body by Jillian Michaels - Lower Body

The lower body workout for Killer Body is by far my favorite. This one is just like the other two; she has two girls, one doing more advanced moves and the other doing modified versions. One is Natalie from 30DS. She also has Golden, who is 25. Jillian makes jokes that she’s going to enjoy “beating up” the 25-year-old. ;) 

Circuit one had a three-way pendulum lunge with front raise, lateral raise, and a hammer curl. Then she has weighted good mornings with an overhead press. Then she squat jacks into a star jump, which I loved. Then the fourth move is called, Statue of Liberty, which is basically a single leg squat while holding weights in one hand. She has you repeat these, and then your minute cardio interval is a long jump, and then running back twice, and then zigzag jumps upwards and backwards. 

In circuit two, she has you get into static chair pose for 30 seconds. Next is sumo scissor hops, which I was familiar with from RI30. I can totally tell a difference in my endurance! Then she has you doing curtsy lunges with an overhead press, and then lunges on a straight line with weights in one hand. The cardio was standing donkey kick into a rockstar jump. The cardio interval for this circuit was a lot of fun, and boy did it sure get my heart rate up!

I think circuit three is the one I enjoyed the most. It had standing donkey kicks, Supermans (first time without weights, and the second time with weights) and then into Warrior 2 post and reverse warrior from yoga, and then Warrior 3, also from yoga. The cardio with split jumps where you bring one knee up like a high knee, and the other leg would go back like a butt kick. 

Circuit four had sissy squats, surrender lunges, sumo hops on toes, and then weighted deadlifts. For the surrender lunges, she had Golden (the advanced girl) going from being on her knees to hopping up from her knees to her feet. I can’t see myself ever being able to do that without breaking my neck, so I followed Natalie. The last cardio interval is a jumping squat into a jumping lunge. Phew! After a full minute of that one, my poor legs were really cooking!

With that said though, I LOVE the lower body workout. It doesn’t have any mat work, and that might be why I like it so much. DDR is mostly on your legs, and obviously I love that, so that could be why I love this lower body work out. But I really do adore it. By far my favorite workout on the DVD and probably my favorite Jillian workout I’ve come across on all the DVD’s I have. And while it’s fun and my favorite and I love it, by the end, I’m a total sweaty mess! It’s still tough! 

Coolest thing? I remember how I couldn’t do jumping lunges with the 30 Day Shred. I SURE CAN NOW! Woo hoo!

Interested buying a copy? Follow the link to buy on Amazon.

Killer Body by Jillian Michaels - Upper Body

The upper body workout for Killer Body is tough, but doable. Like every Jillian Michaels’ workout, she has two girls, one doing more advanced moves and the other doing modified versions. Many of the workouts I’ve seen in previous Jillian DVD’s but there were a few new ones that I’ve never done before. 

Each workout had a warm up, and four circuits, and then a cool down. After each circuit is a full minute of cardio. The first circuit has walkout pushups, forearm pushups, rocking cobra, and then a single arm row with a static lunge. Repeat that, and then go into your minute cardio interval with crossover jacks. 

The second circuit consists of wide rows into a fly in a squat, renegade rows with a pushup, and a lat pull into a chest press and then a chest fly into a headbanger, all in bridge pose. The cardio is jab cross and then a rockstar. I loved these! 

Circuit three is this horrible move with traveling pushups and then a crossover pushup, static good mornings with a low row, tricep press into a sumo squat and then a tricep press into a bicep curl into a shoulder press with a squat. And then the cardio is single arm burpees. Oh man. By now my shoulders were BURNING. That single arm burpee is tough, too, especially with your shoulders taking such a beating. 

Circuit four is a pike press into a pike pushup, a bicep curl into a side lunge with a forward press, tricep extensions in a stationary lunge and then a bicep curl with a squat into a punch. The last cardio interval is arm circle kickouts. And then the cool down. 

Phew! Tough. But doable! I like this one a lot. I also have to comment on how funny and likable the two girls are, but I totally loved Mimi! She was super funny! During the single arm burpees, as she's standing back up, she was waving, which made me giggle. And at another point, during those awful traveling crossover pushups, she's shouting call 911, and I giggled more. So a tough but doable and I like it a lot more than the core workout that comes tomorrow. Mwa-ha-ha! If you're interested in buying, you can learn more on Amazon by clicking here. 

Killer Body by Jillian Michael's DVD

I’ve had Killer Body by Jillian Michael’s for a little over three weeks now and have done each workout six times. I’m going to review the DVD as a whole here, and then link to my opinions on each workout below. If you're interested in picking up this DVD, click here to check it out on Amazon.

In whole, I really like the DVD. It’s super tough (especially that core workout - UGH!! Core day is my least favorite day!) and when I’m finished for the day I’m a sweaty mess, but man, do I feel accomplished. I will say that the DVD seems fuzzy at times and that the camera angles seem a bit weird and off at times. But once I get a rhythm down, I hardly notice that. Before I bought the DVD, I read reviews on Amazon that said the same thing and some reviews were low because of that. I can see where it might be distracting, but often times, I turn around and am not completely watching/facing the TV to watch the DVD, I’m more listening to Jillian as I work out. So if I were to knock off points for that, I’d maybe knock off a half star. Beyond that, I really do like Killer Body, as much as you can like doing a Jillian Michael’s DVD! She’s so tough! 

What I like about this one is that with it switching every day rather than the same workout for so many days in a row, I find myself getting less bored and I like the mixup. I did Ripped In 30 for two months or so (going through it all in order) and by the time I was done with RI30 and had bought a new DVD, I was ready for a break from it. So that’s pretty cool about this particular workout program. A change every day! 

The Lower Body workout is by far my favorite, and I like the Upper Body workout fairly well. The Core Workout is TOUGH. Phew. Now that I’ve gotten it under my belt several times, I like it a bit better but in the beginning, there were days it would have been easy for me to skip, just because it’s super tough. I’m taking the fact that I’m doing it and noticing major changes in my endurance with that particular workout a non-scale victory! Woo hoo! 

Click below to see in depth reviews of each workout on the DVD.

Upper Body

Core

Lower Body

So with all that said, I really do like this workout and totally recommend it. I did take measurements and haven’t checked to see if there have been any changes measurements wise. There isn’t any drastic changes with the scale either (still have that darn one pound to lose until I hit the big 100 pound loss! Come on, one pound!) but I feel stronger and this weekend I went shopping and had a great time. I bought four skirts and I really and noticing major changes from when I started this journey. Some days I see it plain as day and then other days I feel like nothing has changed at all. I think that might come with the territory, but seeing the changes more often than not seeing them is a step in the right direction! :)

Thanks for reading!

I've bought Jillian Michael's Killer Body DVD!

Yesterday I picked up Jillian Michael's Killer Body DVD. I've decided to blog about it and give my review!

This Jillian DVD is a bit different than the other two I've owned and completed. This one has three workouts, but instead of having levels where you go up once a week or whatever, you do one workout one day, the next workout the next day, and then the next one on the third day, rinse and repeat. Jillian recommends you do each workout twice a week and take one day off. One workout focuses on your upper body, one focuses on your core, and the other focuses on your lower body. I did the upper body workout today and watched the core workout so I know what to expect for tomorrow. I plan on watching the lower body one tonight.

I can say that the upper body workout is pretty tough but doable, and the core workout looks super tough, so I imagine the lower body will be tough as well! But so far so good! As I get these workouts under my belt and see how things go, I will blog about them further with more details! I'm thinking that switching off be a different way to go about things and might help. I was starting to get a bit bored with RI30 - but it was my second go around with it back to back and I think that had something to do with it.

This is a fairly new Jillian Michael's DVD. Have you tried it? :)

Fitbit: Is it worth it or not?

For a while now, I've been seriously considering getting a Fitbit and wondering if it would be worth it. While I have funds to buy things I want, I definitely am very frugal and am very careful with my purchases. I go through the, "Do I want it or do I need it. Is it necessary? Is it helpful." I'll weigh the pros and cons and research it to the death.

Here's the Fitbit pros.
1. I hear a lot of people say that they're motivating - they make you want to get your steps in.
2. It will tell me approximately how many miles I would walk or jog while doing DDR. (The DDR counter tells me it's about 10 miles. Considering they also tell me I burn just over 2000 calories, I think counter has to be flawed.)
3. It has a sleep tracker.

Here's the Fitbit cons and what goes through my mind when I think if it'd be worth it:
1. I'm already motivated to move. I love DDR. I love to hate Jillian Michaels. I love the treadmill. If I don't work out, I feel gross. When I do, I feel great. I like feeling great over gross, so I'm motivated to move. Plus DDR is fun. Jillian has changed my body in so many amazing ways. It's not hard to get up and go.
2. The sleep tracker and the steps/miles counter would definitely be interesting information. Is it NECESSARY? Hmm.
3. I have to be a Lose It Premium member to have it link with Lose It.
4. The price. Right now it is in sale at Target, if I get the Flex, at least. (I've been going between the Flex, the Charge and the Charge HR) It's $80, which makes it 20% off, but even $80 is significant. $80 is a lot of groceries, or a lot of fun stuff at Michael's, and things like that.

I'm not sure I can justify a $80 purchase for something that is INTERESTING but not exactly NECESSARY and that really sucks. I do want one, I really do. But I have to be smart with my purchases. When I start getting careless, I start slipping. Hm. 

I don't know if anyone reads this, but if you do, leave me a comment.

Do you have a Fitbit? Like it? Hate it?
ARE YOU FRUGAL LIKE ME? WISHY WASHY AND INDECISIVE? PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT ALONE!