Jillian Michaels - RIPPED IN THIRTY Week 1 Review

As I said here, because of Britt I decided to try out new the Jillian Michael's Ripped in Thirty (RIT) DVD.

I was pretty excited to try it out because, so far, I have been impressed with her DVDs, and I love the idea of getting a total body strength workout in a fairly short amount of time.

I'm a longtime fan of her 30 Day Shred, though I'd be lying if I said I made it through an entire 30 days. I tend to get bored with things if I do them for too long and I like to have structure. With the Shred DVDs there was the leeway to move up to the next level when you're ready, which means that I eventually got less and less dedicated to it. That isn't to say, however, that I don't still use the DVD - I LOVE going back to the Shred, and have been frequently alternating between the Shred and Jackie Warner's circuit training.

Right off the bat one thing that really appealed to me about RIT is that there are four solid weeks, and each week you move up a level. The structure is good for someone like me who is a list-driven, check it off my to-do list, kind of person.

Britt was trying to fit in four sessions a week, but I knew for me that three was more realistic. I don't like doing back-to-back days of strength training, so I decided that I would do Week 1 Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday and that I would do my training runs on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, with one or two days of Pilate's/Yoga thrown in for good measure, and if possible also a day of hills/intervals/tempo runs.

Last week was a total success in that Monday/Wednesday/Friday I did my scheduled training runs and Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday I did RIT. I also got in one day of Pilate's and one very rough tempo run.

What I Liked:

- the way the DVD is set up is similar to the 30 Day Shred, where it alternates 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs. You start with a warm up, then do three different circuits of the 3-2-1 module, and then you cool down

- unlike the 30 Day Shred, the 3 minutes of strength is broken into three 30 second strength moves that are repeated upon completion of the third strength move. With the Shred, you alternated 30 seconds of one strength move with 1 minute of another, more complex strength move. For me, the RIT is a better set up because some of the moves (like the side lunge with front arm raises) are really hard for me to complete for even 30 seconds (much less an entire minute)

- none of the moves are ever repeated in any of the weeks. you do a certain move (say push-ups) one week and then you will never do push-ups again (so she says, time will tell)

- by Saturday I could tell that I had improved because some of the strength moves that started out being hard for me I was able to complete without stopping

- like her other DVDs, Jillian has two girls working with her that show you a beginner way to do the moves, and an advanced

What I Didn't Like:

- It says that the sessions are 20 minutes, but in reality they are longer than that. I couldn't figure out why I was starting at 5:40am and ending at 6:15 or later (these are rough estimates) until Saturday when I did the DVD through Sean's laptop and I actually had a timer showing me how long it was running. This isn't a HUGE complaint, because I don't mind the extra time, but be prepared to spend a little longer than 20 minutes doing the DVD

- Jillian has a tendency to do really awkward things (like making one of her girls talk straight into her sports bra)... It was a little disconcerting the first time I saw it because I focused on that rather than the actual move I was supposed to be doing... little weird


All in all, so far I'm really happy with the DVD. I did my first day of Week 2 today, and it was definitely nice to change it up from what I was doing last week. I love fitness DVDs because, in all honesty, a lot of times I'm way too lazy to drive to the gym in the morning, but I love strength training, so it's nice to be able to work up a sweat in my own living room (or hotel room)

Stay tuned for a Week 2 recap next week!