Week 8 of LIIFT4!

LIIFT4 - WEEK 8

You're on your last week of LIIFT4! Congratulations! You can crush this week and finish this workout program! This week is another shred week, so it's similar to week 7. Let's get going! 

Week 8, Day 1 - Shoulder and Back Circuit 

After your warmup, you start the block on the floor with rotating chest press, decline press, dumbbell pullover, and then you hop up for wide rows. You do each move for ten reps, and of course, you do each move three times. 

Block two has you on the floor again starting with 10 reps of chest press. You're back up for flies, dumbbell rows, and then reverse flies. Ten reps of all moves, for a total of three times. 

Your burnout round has you doing 30 seconds of each regular pushups, back extensions, and wide pushups and you do this three times. This is the same as last week. 

Your core component has you doing dumbbell prayer crunch and floor to ceiling leg lifts. Enjoy your cooldown!

Week 8, Day 3 - Legs 50/50

Happy leg day! After a brief warmup, you jump right into block one with alternating side lunges, pulsing squats, and then hip thrusts in bridge pose. You do ten reps of each a total of three times. 

On block two, you start with front loaded squats, deadlifts, and then calf raises. Remember to switch your calf raises each time, starting with regular calf raises with your toe forward, then bringing toes in for pigeon calf raises, then duck calf raises. 

On block three you're doing ten reps of goblet sumo squats, and 10 reps of single leg reverse lunges for a total of three times.

The HIIT portion is just like last week. Instead of 60/45/30, you're doing 30 seconds of each HIIT move, which is sumo jumps, triple bear, and full catchers jump for a total of three times.

The core component consists of flutter kicks and alternative leg lifts in plank for 30 seconds. You repeat each of them three times total. Enjoy your cooldown and rejoice that this is the last leg day in the LIIFT4 program!!

Week 8, Day 3 - Shoulders and Arms Circuit

After a warmup, you start your quad set with 10 reps of shoulder presses, hammer curls, upright rows, and skull crushers. You repeat each one for a total of three times. 

In block two, you're doing front raise, wide curls, lateral raise, and tricep kickbacks. Ten reps of each for a total of three times. 

Your burnout round has swimmers for 30 seconds, so you may be able to go a little heavier than you did in weeks 1-6 since you're only going at it for 30 seconds rather than 10 reps, full bicep curls, and then you're on the floor to kill your arms completely with tricep pushups. You repeat that three times in total. 

Your core component consists of side reaches and dumbbells extensions. You do each of them for 30 seconds and then you get to enjoy your cooldown. Tomorrow is your last day!

Week 8, Day 4 - Full Body HIIT

Congratulations! You're on your final workout. The whole team is here and even Joel is gonna work out too, so the room is filled with cheerleaders to get you through this final workout int his program. After your workout you start with 60 seconds of soccer run, and then 45 seconds of pushup mountain climbers. That's a new move, but it's just like it sounds. You do a pushup, and then four mountain climbers. You repeat each one three time total. 

Block two has you doing sumo jumps for 45 seconds and then plyo pushups for 30 seconds. You repeat them all three times. 

For your third block you're doing single leg plyo lunge jumps for 30 seconds, and then you're doing pushup knee tucks for 15 seconds. As usual, you repeat these for a total of three times. 

Your burnout is a killer! You're doing all those moves you just did for 30 second each, so you're doing three full minutes of intense cardio with no breaks. Soccer run, pushup mountain climbers, sumo jumps, double plyo pushups, single leg plyo lunge jumps, and pushup knee tucks right. You get to do the burnout twice! You can do it! 

Your core component consists of prayer crunches, straight leg windshield wipers, and rocking planks. You do each for 30 seconds three times total. 

You are finished! Yes! You did it. You're awesome. Congratulations on completely this program!! Personally, I loved LIIFT 4. I noticed major changes in my body, especially in my legs. They feel muscular and feel a lot less flabby. I'm proud of them, even if stronger looking legs weren't something that I was necessarily expecting! I definitely feel stronger. I was able to go up from 15lbs being my heaviest weight to 20s. I wish that I could have found heavier weights easier (the pandemic made it really hard to find weights!) to see just how heavy I could go because on some moves I really feel like I could have gone heavier. 

Jillian Michaels Six Week Six Pack - Level 2

Look up cruel and unusual in the dictionary and you may very well see Jillian’s face. I’m not even kidding. I’ll be honest: Level 2 scared me. I did another program in between Level 1 and 2 because it intimidated me so much! But finally did Level 2 and I’m not going to lie. It was hard, but it’s also probably one of my favorite workouts. And here’s the rundown! Basheerah and Matty are back. Matty is still the modifier and Basheerah is the advanced, but Jillian has Matty hold on to a weight, which was the main modification in Level 1. You start with your warmup, like always, and it’s your regular warm up except…THERE ARE BURPEES IN THE WARM UP. Well, not exact burpees, but up-downs which are basically a burpee without the jump at the end. Isn’t that a bunch of crap? ;) Who thinks of burpees in the warmup. Oh. Yeah. Some crazy lady named Jillian. ;). A few other moves; lunges, squats, that sort of stuff to get your muscles loose and then you begin to torture yourself. It’s all worth it!

Like in Level 1, you do one long circuit, and repeat it a second time going at a quicker pace. I held on to one 8lb dumb bell the whole time. You begin stepping into lunge and doing lunge with chops, where you’re basically wood-chopping to one side. Then you go to an oblique crunch with your weight up, touching your elbow to knee. Drop the weight and do jumping jackknives. Yes. Jumping jackknives. Repeat the lunge chops and the oblique crunch on the other side, and then you move on to low to high. This move is where you are holding the weight up high up in front of you over your head, and then twisting and pivoting into a 180, and dropping into a lunge. After that, you do repeater knees with the weight. Jillian takes mercy on you for two seconds - she lets you drop the weight, and then get into plank and do plant twists. Repeat low to highs on the other side as well as repeater knees. Next you do a lunge twist with a pass through, which I actually really liked. Lunge forward and twist, same leg lunge back, and pass the dumbbell under the front leg. Then she had you do light house swings, which I also enjoyed. Swinging your arm out straight in front of you and turning your hip and pivoting on the ball of your foot side to side. Next she has you do bicycle crunches, and after that you repeat the twisting lunge with a pass on the other wise, but instead of light house again, she has you do dumbbell swings, which are like swinging a sledgehammer. That’s always fun, right? 

Now the fun begins. Get into plank. Now. Plank moguls. After that, you have my sympathies, because she has you doing t-stand kicks. That’s where you start in plank and move into side plank, and then kick your foot out. And then back into plank, and do so on the opposite side. Those are tough. It got a little bit better for me when I realized to keep my hands pointed straight out in front of me and not turn my wrists. Otherwise, I’m asking for a broken wrist because I lose my balance easily. After that, you do double crunches, and as if she’s not evil then you do hollow man. And then flip over into mountain climbers. 

And guess what? You get to do it all over again, but at a quicker pace! On level 1, it seems like the quicker pace was almost too much, but this one wasn’t too bad. Even going at my own pace, what I felt was safe, was pretty much on time with the girls. So that was awesome! Not that modifying is bad at all, you still get an incredible workout when you modify, but it kind of kills my ego a bit. ;) 

Seriously though?? I really like this one, as hard as it is! Maybe because there isn’t lot of mat work, which we all know I hate. It’s more standing ab work. With how much I didn’t want to do it, and how bad Level 1 hurt my back, I’m surprised by how much I liked it! I expected this to be a terribly painful experience. It is, kind of. Haha! But it’s one that I like afterwards, which I can’t say I had that experience as much with Level 1 just because how bad it hurt afterwards. I’d say the DVD is worth it just for Level 2. I didn’t take measurements and I didn’t take my weight reliably but I definitely notice a lot of changes in my body. Positive changes! 

Killer Body by Jillian Michaels - Core

The core workout is super tough. I remember on the first day, by the end of the workout, I just collapsed on the floor with how tough it was. I remember shouting and groaning during parts of it!

After a brief warmup, the first circuit has a triangle press, standing side crunch, sumo touchdowns, and then a plank tuck jump. Repeat it and the finish off the first circuit with your minute of cardio with alternating forward knee thrusts.

In circuit two, you do a sit up into a jump squat, which I was familiar with because it’s a move from Ripped In 30. Then she has you go on the mat and do boat sprawls. Then she has you do bicycle crunches in boat pose. Oh man, were my abs cooking after that!! Next  she has you do side plank spinners. After repeating those four exercises, your cardio is twisting high knees. 

Then come circuit three, which I hate. Despise. Abhor. She has you get into an ab hold and do running moguls. Then you go into plank and do elevator planks. Then you get on your back and do a sit up and then rotate into an ab hold with a knee thrust. I hate that move with a passion. And then as if that wasn’t enough, she has you in an ab hold to do dynamic dolphin. It’s several minutes of pure core work! As if that wasn’t enough, your cardio is a three point burpee. Jillian Michaels, you are a mean, mean, MEAN woman. Phew! 

After the rough circuit three, circuit four is much better. She has you on the floor doing a corkscrew crunch. Then she has you go into table and out of table, like she has you do in Ripped In 30. I still have the same problem I did with RI:30 - I HAVE SHORT ARMS! I’ve added textbooks to try and make it a bit more challenging and give my arms a little extra boost. Then she has to doing around the world crunches with a reverse crunch and then a split crunch. After repeating, your cardio is a sledgehammer squat. 

Phew. It sounds easy, but it definitely is not! I think it’s the hardest workout on the DVD. Cool thing though is that I can tell a definite change in my endurance.

Interested in buying a copy? Here's the Amazon link!

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? :)