Jillian Michaels - RIPPED IN THIRTY Week 4 Review

First of all, thanks for all your supportive comments and advice. :)

My solution to a crappy week of runs? Mexican food with Sean, one of my besties and her fiance! (Oh wait, that wasn't an option y'all gave...?)

Love her!

And I took it easy today too and just did a little abs/stretching. :)

I don't know why it's taken me so long to finish up the RIT review. These are the other reviews:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4


What I Liked:


- I really liked the whole warm-up, honestly


- The second exercise in the warm-up you are in a side lunge and you move over to the other side without standing up. This sounds easy, but made me really sore. But the good kind of sore.

- The third exercise in the warm-up you do a side crunch/knee lift. Don't know if that makes any sense, but I feel like my obliques get left out way too much normally, so I was happy to be doing this

- All of the ab moves were hard, but good. I've been trying to focus on strengthening my core more, so I really appreciated the hard workout there


What I Didn't Like:


- Uhh how perfect all three of them look while working out. I am a sweaty mess and they look like they're coming out of the salon. Rude.

- Static squats with overhead presses. OW.

- There was a move where you walked into a downward dog (that was a horrible way to describe this) and then you held one knee and up towards your chest and then switched to the other. The switch wasn't very clear so I had to try to balance and watch the tv while still holding good form.... Eh, not impressed.


Overall: I really liked the whole DVD. I loved that every week you changed, but I think one thing I might do differently if/when I do the whole challenge again is to do each week for 2 weeks, increasing my weights the second week. I definitely recommend it for a good, quick, overall strengthening workout (which is perfect for me since I normally work out before I go to work). It's a little hard on the legs, especially when you're trying to add in distance each week, so be mindful of that. Am I ripped now? Nah, I don't think so. But I do think I'm stronger, and I think it's important to note that I only did it 2-3 times a week and I didn't follow her nutrition plan, I ate what I wanted. Oh, and if you're interested, you can buy it here (thanks, Amazon):

Jillian Michaels - RIPPED IN THIRTY Week 3 Review

This is way late, but better late than never, right?

If you missed the review of week one you can read it here and you can read week two here.

She's mean. That's all.

No just kidding.

What I Liked


- I came away sore every session.

- They were in hot pink and black, and I love that color combo.

- The warm-up incorporated weights, which I thought was kind of cool. And I had never done any of the moves in the warm-up before, so win. I love trying new things.

- Static lunges with a twist? I'll take it. And you should too.

What I Didn't Like


- There was a BIG focus on legs. And this little runner's legs were shot by the end of it. I guess that's not bad, it's just kind of hard on my running.

- During the first set of strength moves she did the traditional 3 minutes. Except not. You did the first two strength moves twice like normal, but the 3rd strength move you only did one time. I didn't get it. The first day I did the video I actually stopped working out and hit rewind because I was so confused.

- There was a whole lot of balance moves. And guess what? I'm not coordinated. I can handle one balance move but not two in a row.

Overall: Still love it. I love challenges.

Happy Friday! It's HOT here in Houston. Wish I was back here...

Anyone doing anything fun this weekend?? Tonight hubs and I are going out to dinner, tomorrow we're going to one of my besties river house for a crawfish boil, and Sunday is my birthday!


Is it unbelievably hot where you are too? Houston is a death wish in the summer. But I'll take heat over cold any day.

Biggest Loser Finale

Even though I LOVED Olivia:

I REALLY wanted Hannah to win:

Both images via Google Images.

And did anyone else notice how awkward Jillian looked standing in heels and a dress? Sean and I couldn't stop gawking.

Love.this.show.

Do you watch Biggest Loser?
I didn't until this season when Sean randomly had it on one night. Been hooked since then and definitely cried every episode at some point.

Who did you want to win??
I LOVELOVELOVE Hannah, I thought she was hilarious! I really wanted her to win, but I'm also really glad that her and her sister were the top two, I loved them both.

Jillian Michaels - RIPPED IN THIRTY Week 2 Review

As you may already know, I have taken on Jillian Michael's Ripped in Thirty challenge. If you  missed the recap of Week 1 you can find it here.

I feel like I might as well get this out of the way and say that this challenge may not be entirely fair because I haven't been watching my diet at all the past couple weeks and I haven't been running quite as much either, so my weight has been fluctuating between 5lbs for the past 3 weeks. One of these days I'll get my act together and get my eating under control, but sweets cravings have attacked in full force. (I have sworn off desserts for this week to try and calm down my huge sweet tooth, WISH ME LUCK.)

But back to RIT Week 2 Review :)

I managed to get in all three sessions that I wanted to Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.
What I Liked

- one thing that I really have liked is being able to do something in roughly 30 minutes on Saturday morning and then go on about my day

- going back to last week, I really like the way the 3 minute of strength is broken up with 30 second moves at a time

- I felt that she did a really good job of switching up the moves so that you really weren't doing any of the same moves as week 1 (you did do variations of moves from week 1, but they were a little more intense)

What I Didn't Like

- there were a LOT of variations on planks... I have no issue with this because I do love planks, but it was a little hard for me to transition into the next strength move and never move out of the plank position... and then follow up with the cardio moves being in the plank position as well... these little arms were tired

- at one point she pretends to bite one of the girls butts. little odd. (I felt it wouldn't be complete without a weird Jillian thing thrown in there)

Overall: Still happy. Week 2 is definitely more difficult than Week 1, but that's the point right?

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!

Weekend Getaway - Destination: Galveston

Every year Sean's company hosts a golf tournament in Galveston and Sean's branch of the company cooks for all of the golfers. This means that Sean gets a free hotel room and we get to hang out in Galveston for the weekend. It's a win-win, because this means that not only do we get a free hotel room, but I get to take the weekend off from all my normal grown-up responsibilities like grocery shopping and house cleaning (and I avidly ignore that it means that these things will now have to happen after work and such).

I got down there about 5:30 Friday afternoon and Sean and I hung out, went by the silent auction, and schmoozed with coworkers/clients like you're supposed to during these things. We went to Landry's with his coworker and his wife and - in the spirit of being healthy - had a chopped salad with blackened shrimp... it was SO good. I don't eat at Landry's very often, so I never really know what to order. This definitely hit the spot though!

Saturday morning I woke up and debated for a LONG time what to run - treadmill intervals or a tempo run on the Seawall.

The tempo run won, which was a COLOSSAL mistake. Seriously. The only good thing that came out of that run was this:

And this:

I set out to do a 4 mile tempo run with an easy warm up and cool down and harder in between miles (around a 7:30 pace). The first mile was a breeze and I cruised along at about an 8:38 pace. The second mile I was flying down the Seawall, maintaining about a 7:15 pace. This is where I realized I made a GINORMOUS mistake. See, I had to do an out and back 4 miles so that I could get back to the hotel (I suppose Sean could've picked me up, but hindsight is 20-20, right?). I couldn't understand why I was cruising so easily at 7:15 until I turned around. And then it hit me like a brick, literally. Dang that wind was hard. I struggled to maintain an 8:45 pace that 3rd mile, the wind was blowing so ridiculously hard into me. I even had to stop to walk at one point and frequently was taking a step back before pushing forward. By the time I hit mile 3.1 I started walking/sprinting in 1/10th mile intervals.

I think it's the tiredest (is that a word??) I've ever been from 4 miles.

Sean had to leave earlier than expected to go out to the tournament that day, so after he left I did this:

Dedication at it's finest? No, that's more like knowing how many extra calories you'll be consuming and trying to prevent it.

Later on I met Sean and his coworkers out at the golf course and hung around chatting with the boys/their wives until the end of it. Afterwards we went to the company crawfish boil and then to the hotel bar to have drinks with the coworkers/clients/wives/etc.

Sean and I giggled our way through YouTube videos after everyone left the bar (sometimes, we are 5, don't judge).

We went to the cutest place for breakfast - The Mosquito Cafe:

via

I got the vegetable omelet, which came with a side of honey-wheat toast and an apple salad that had sliced apples, pecans, celery and some sort of sauce. Apple salad = win. Vegetable omelet = pretty good. The vegetables were cooked in butter, which was a huge disappointment for me. I don't use butter ever (unless I'm baking) so I was bummed when I tasted it through all the other flavors. Next time we go, I am definitely branching out of my norm of veggie omelette's and trying something else - they had a fab selection of unique breakfasts and I am just hugely boring and hate to break out of my norm.

In other news, Sean and I are FINALLY renovating our guest bathroom. The bathroom makes me sick every time I walk into it. It's puke green and boring and has all sorts of issues with it. But that is a post for tomorrow :)

it's about time.

Um, I've never wanted to blog so badly as when I wasn't able to for the past 24 hours. Seriously.

I'll leave it at that, because I'm sure the Blogger folks were diligently trying to get Blogger back up. I'm ashamed to say I may have considered a break-up if things didn't turn around quickly, but I'm a little impatient and have a hard time remembering that everyone has flaws sometimes. (excluding myself, of course).

Britt (who blogs at FitChickBritt) called out to any Bloggers that wanted to join her in doing this:

via

Being the Jillian lover that I am, I jumped on the band wagon (albeit, a week behind Britt in the 4 week challenge) and started RIT on Tuesday. Holy geeze I'm sore. My little legs have been struggling with running this week because they're so sore. Yikes.

On Wednesday I branched out in another direction and tried spaghetti squash for the first time. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous.

via

I'm happy to report though that it was REALLY good. I've been trying to use up all the fresh produce in our fridge, so I mixed in some baby spinach/arugula, feta cheese, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and fresh basil with a little olive oil... DELICIOUS.

See what I mean?

Perhaps I'll try out being vegetarian... (Sean would die.)

It rained for the first time in FOREVER yesterday (which naturally means that everyone freaked out and drove at negative speeds. Don't think it's possible? Try driving home during rush hour on 290 in the rain. Negative speeds are possible).

But it did result in this:

Beautiful. The rain also resulted in my 5 mile run this morning happening in 64 degree weather. I'LL TAKE IT.

Oh and because I just can't stand to leave them out... how cute are they:

The one of Leo in the bag is an all time fave. Man he's cute! Since Sean was packing to go out of town, he tried to leave with Sean (rude).