Jillian Michaels - One Week Shred (2014) - UK PAL [DVD]

Oohhh boy, this is not easy. Don't let that put you off, though, because to lose weight quickly and SAFELY it's GOING to be tough. Jillian Michaels has a range of workouts that vary from a beginner's shred and an introduction to yoga with her own JM twist, all the way to kettlebells, insane bootcamp style workouts and, of course, the one week shred. I was very, very dubious about this workout because I couldn't find any decent information on it. Even reviews from other websites were unclear. In the end I had to buy it for myself to find out. The DVD is designed that you do two workouts a day for seven days. It's intense. It's not typically a good idea to do full-body strength training every day as it can have a bad effect on your muscles if done for long periods of time, as your muscles don't get the chance to repair which is when the weight loss and effort REALLY comes into play. The workout is just the trigger, it's the rest that yields results. As such, you should NOT use this DVD for more than a week, regardless of how awesome your results might be. Your body can handle it for that long, but no longer - there's a reason this is a one week shred, not a 30-day shred.*** WORKOUTS *** The DVD has you doing a strength workout every morning - it's full body, so all your muscle groups are targeted. You do a 5 minute warm up of dynamic stretches to slowly raise the heart rate and avoid injuring and pulling cold muscles, followed by a 30 minute strength workout consisting of compoud moves (multiple muscle groups at once), and a 5 minute cool down of static stretches to lower the heart rate and help your muscles recover. You're then expected to use the cardio workout in the evening. This consists of a 30 minute workout and a 5 minute cool down; no warm up is needed as it's more explosive than muscle-focused. And it's tough. You've probably heard mention of one handed burpees. Yikes. So let me assuage your fears: the one handed burpees are advanced modifications. You can also do a normal burpee with both hands down, or you can make it less explosive by removing the jumps and subsequently taking off some of the strain. This is the case with every single move. The reason you're exercising twice a day is to increase the after-burn. Rather than exercising once a day, such as in the 30 Day Shred or Ripped In 30, and leaving about 24 hours between workouts, you're doing it twice a day and aiming for around 12 hours between workouts. This means your body will be in a higher state of after-burn (your body is continuously burning calories after the particularly tough workouts as it repairs itself from the exertion) and for longer. Exercising hard enough once a day can give you an after-burn of about 6 hours, meaning your resting metabolism is higher for that time. By exercising twice a day, evenly spaced apart, rather than having 6 hours of after-burn and 18 hours of nothing, you get 12 hours of after-burn instead, and each stint is separated by just 6 hours.*** BEGINNERS *** Because there are advanced and beginner modifications, this DVD can be used by anyone, whether they're experienced in fitness or a newbie looking to lose weight in a hurry, and while it will yield different results for everyone, it WILL yield results. I'm experienced in fitness and I typically lose around half an inch a month - though lately it's been a quarter of an inch as there's little left to lose. Following the one week shred - which I did for 'fun' rather than in anticipation of an event - I lost half an inch from my waist in that single week. Never have I gotten such amazing results.*** MEAL PLAN *** All of Jillian Michaels' workouts have a meal plan, and I never follow them because there's nothing wrong with my diet. However, in interest of this experiment, this time I did, and I recommend everyone else does, too. The reason for this isn't because clean eating is better, though it is, it's for the simple fact that this workout has been designed alongside certain dietary requirements, namely certain amounts of protein, fat and carbohydrates. By following the meal plan you're guaranteed the energy needed to get through the week as well as still lose weight without exhaustion, you're getting the protein needed for your body to rebuild, repair and, subsequently, change, and you're getting the fats your body needs to digest and absorb certain nutrients as well as keep your organs functioning as they should. It might seem like trouble, but believe me: if you're going to go through this workout for a full week, you may as well go the full stretch and make sure you're eating right. You won't be going hungry, either; some of the meals might seem little, but they surprised me by how adequate they were.*** USAGE *** As I mentioned above, it's the rest that yields results. The workouts damage your body and put a great strain on it, and it's when you're recovering after the workout that your body starts to repair, reorgagnise itself and actually made the changes you want. As a result, rest is CRUCIAL. You won't see any results until you've finished the full week, so don't look for any. Any you do you're probably imagining. You both weigh and measure more after a workout, or after a week of exercising every day, so you should never look for any results until after you've taken a day or two off, as that will give your body the chance to actually make the changes. As a result, if you're using the One Week Shred in anticipation for an event, start using it a week and a half before that time, rather than a week. Otherwise, when the event comes along, you will neither look nor feel as good as you would a few days later. So use the DVD for 7 days straight, starting 9-10 days before the event. But this DVD isn't a one-use thing. In the past I had wished that Jillian Michaels had cardio and strength-specific DVDs rather than the combination, even though the combination workouts are more effective. I just wanted another option. In a way, this DVD provides that. It gives you one cardio-exclusive workout, and one strength-exclusive workout. So even if you don't plan on doing the full shred again, you can still use the DVD and alternate between strength and cardio every day, doing strength Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and cardio on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, taking Sunday off to rest and recover (as counter-productive as that might SOUND). So the DVD is versatile, too.

Call me old fashioned, but the past few offerings from Jillian Michaels have really put me off - I felt that they were too gimmicky and, frankly, a bit boring.That being said, as I credit this woman for getting me into fitness, I still buy all her DVDs hoping that there will be one out there that will be just like her original offerings like 30 Day Shred, Nor More Trouble Zones and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism. This DVD is just that, in my opinion. Yes, it's a little slicker what with the lights and the weird camera angles and the 'shiney-ness', but the concept of working you into a sweaty, panting mess is back! There is an emphasis on working the body again, and not just fancy, gimmicky moves like there were in Hard Body.Other reviews have told you the format - there is a strength workout, and a cardio workout. Both are just under 40mins each, you are meant to do one in the AM, one in the PM. I like to workout for an hour, so I do both back to back. I'm not sure how good an idea this is!The strength workout is great and done in the classic Jillian circuit format. The only thing I'll say is that it's quite high impact - I have dodgy knees and I simply had to either modify or sit some moves out. I must say, although I think this is a good workout, on a personal note, it consisted of lots of moves I just don't like (reverse planks and table top kicks being two of them!) so I can't say I was over-enamoured by it. The transitions are smooth, the exercises make sense and the workout involves a lot of balance work, which really engages the core.The cardio workout - what can I say....I simply LOVE how Jillian works cardio....when the third circuit came up, I was like 'are you serious??'. Its been a long time since I've been that out of breath - and I'm pretty fit! The thing is, none of these moves are particularly difficult to do (butt-kickers, high knees, jumping jacks etc); it's the intensity and pace that will leave you totally done in!The modifications offered are okay, but they seem to take a lot of intensity out of the workout. I wouldn't recommend this to a beginner - it's a bit to intense for someone who hasn't a fair level of stamina and physical fitness already. Although the cardio workout is five stars, I found the whole DVD a bit boring, and I can't see myself turning back to it over and over again - certainly not everyday for a week.And can I just say, I would buy this for Kenta (the male 'back up' from Body Revolution) alone - the guy is just total eye candy!