So I didn’t do P90X like I thought I was going to do. Instead, I got up and popped in my Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred video. Jillian Michaels is The Biggest Loser trainer and is a really tough woman who yells at people and motivates them to do better. Now, The Biggest Loser has some 400+ pounders on the show and I only really want to lose another 10lbs. But, she’s motivating and really tough and I thought I’d spend the $10 to buy the video and give it a try.

So I gave the video a try and after doing P90X for so long (I’ve been loosely following it these last few months) I figured it might be too easy. What can 20 minutes really do? There are 3 levels of videos each advertised to be 20 minutes long (it really was more like 27min but who’s counting, right?). I chose to try Level 2 and it was great! I was so pleasantly surprised and felt challenged at this level. It got my heart rate up during the strength training and jacked it up during cardio and lowered it a bit (catch my breath) during the ab workout. She does circuits with 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of ab work using only a small hand weight (I used a 3 pounder) and a mat. You don’t need much to get started, so there shouldn’t be too many excuses!

Jillian reminds you to that if you want to get results in 20 minutes you have to “push through” it. That helped me get past the burning shoulders and the seemingly unending pushups (obviously not my forte). After finishing Level 2, I felt like I could still keep going. Considering that I normally workout for at least 40 minutes, I still had some time left. I quickly got the dvd going again and did Level 1 for another 10 minutes or so before I had to call it quits to get started on the lunch-making part of my morning.

Overall, Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred is a good workout. I will be doing it again and this time, I think I’ll give myself enough time to do 2 full sessions. It’s not P90X material, but it’s enough to give a little variety in my routine.