Fleetly Challenge (update)

We're now onto Day 5 of our 30 Day Shred challenge - 16% complete! There were a few kinks to start with, but I think we've figured it out all out now and so far quite a few people have joined the challenge and started logging their workouts! If you missed our previous post on Fleetly and the Where Are My Knees? Fleetly challenge then you can click here to read it.

There was a bit of confusion over how to actually log the workouts, so I thought I'd put together a little guide of how it works. It's quite simple to use, I think the issues were simply because when I set it up I wasn't 100% sure how it was going to work until we started logging our exercises but Samer, one of the helpful staff members at Fleetly, has sorted everything out for us - thanks!

001. Sign up at Fleetly (you can simply link it to your Facebook in one click or create a stand alone login) and follow this link to the Where Are My Knees? Challenge. You can then click to join the challenge. A lot of us are friends over there so feel free to add us (you can see everyone taking part under 'competitors') as friends to liven up your timeline a little.

002. We've created 3 different work outs for the 30 Day Shred - Level 1, 2 and 3 - which you can see linked in blue in the image above. It's recommended to do each level for 10 days but there's no pressure to move up a level if you're not ready. All you need to do is click the workout for the level you've completed that day and the page you're directed to will have a bright orange 'log' button.

003. Next, select the date you wan't to log the exercise on, this is great if you can't get online one day - you can always backdate your exercises, and then select 'start logging'. You will see 'add' buttons next to the individual exercises, click these (you can fill in more detailed information such as how many reps you completed if you're aiming to gain points for your timeline but this won't affect the challenge) and then click the 'done' button at the top and you should see your points in the standings increase!

I hope that helps everyone! If you've got any more questions or suggestions on future Fleetly challenges then please let us know!

We'd also love to hear how you're getting on with the challenge so far! Have you stuck to it, or have you been naughty and skipped a day already? Personally my legs are BURNING! This usually passes by day 6 or 7 though so I'm going to push through it!

Fleetly

A few months ago we were contacted about Fleetly.com, a new website and iPhone app developed to make fitness more fun by making it social and by adding a bit of competition. I've been signed up to Fleetly as part of a their trial period since we first found out about it, but Friday was the first day that it finally went live for everyone to sign up to and I thought it might be of interest to some of our readers!

Fleetly is a little bit like Foursquare in the sense that you log your activities to gain points and unlock medals. Now this itself, in my opinion, would be a little bit boring and not very motivational, so Fleetly have created a 'Challenges' area. If there's something that will make me perform better it's competition!

Challenges are by far my favourite part of the website. There are already some challenges created such as 100 workouts in 2011, a 100 mille running challenge and even a challenge to see who can do the most crunches in 2011. Challenges are great motivation because you can view a leadership table which tells you how far ahead/behind you are from other competitors and there's also a wall where you can leave comments and interact with other people who are taking part.

There's also a section of the website dedicated to workouts. You can create a custom workout to log on your profile or you can pick from one of the pre-made ones. You can even filter workouts by body area or by quickness, see which ones your friends are doing or even find out what the best workouts for travelling are. Each exercise comes with a description telling you how to safely perform it and a video demonstrating it. And you can, of course, track your weight on it too.

The only downside that I can see is that the application is only available to download via the Apple app store. I use Android and I know that I'd be a lot more active on the website if I was able to access it on my mobile and update on the go.

I've gone ahead and set up our very own Where Are My Knees? challenge over on Fleetly. I know a lot of us have had great results from the 30 Day Shred in the past so I've decided to Challenge everyone to complete 30 consecutive days of the shred. All you need to do to compete is sign up to Fleetly and follow this link and join the challenge.

The challenge starts on the 1st of October and is only a bit of friendly competition and a good way to keep each other motivated. Anyone is welcome to join in and please feel free to add me as a friend - it gets a bit lonely over there when you've got no friends! ;)

What do you think of Fleetly? If anyone else has any other ideas for challenges we could set up that would help your motivation, or if you'd like to set up one yourself and share it with us, let us know!

Guest Post - Sarah from Sarahmia

Today's Guest Post was written by Sarah from Sarahmia


Why I Owe Jillian Michaels A Drink*
*Or perhaps a super healthy vegetable juice or something.

I’ve got a bit of a love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels. For those of you that don’t know, she’s the perky, intense, American lass that fronts the 30 Day Shred workout DVD. I’d never watched The Biggest Loser so I had no idea what to expect beyond what the WAMK girls had been tweeting. Let me put my abilities into perspective: prior to doing the Shred I’d been going to the gym two or three times a week for five months. Before that I’d spent 27 years effectively sitting on my rapidly expanding behind so I was by no means an intense gym goer, but I wasn’t exactly the couch potato I used to be either.

Was it going to be insane? There were tales of people not being able to walk after the first workout, people in pain for days and people giving up after day two so when I put the DVD on for the first time I was more than a little apprehensive. People talk about the 30 Day Shred a lot. There’s a hashtag on twitter, it’s all over the Weightwatchers forums and there are varying degrees of pain but everybody says if you stick with it the results are amazing. & you know what? It’s totally true.

Don’t get me wrong, 30 Day Shred is hard. Not the exercises particularly (although the side lunges with an anterior raise can still burn in hell for all I care) but more the constant grind of it. You wake up on day four knowing there’s another twenty six days to go. Even when you hit day fifteen being halfway feels like scant consolation when you still have to do enough plank exercises to reasonably assume you could now pass for a pirate ship. It's hard to motivate yourself to do it. I tried hard to remember why I was doing it in the first place – I wanted to tone up my arms and abs, and I didn't want to have to get out of my pyjamas to do it.

I had some extra motivation for my challenge – I’m extremely stubborn and my fiancé promised me he’d buy me something nice if I finished it. I watched the girls on twitter drop like flies after day ten or twelve (or some on day two or three) and I thought “That’s not going to be me.” For some people that isn’t enough of an incentive but boy did I want to be the one to actually finish.

Most of you will know but in case you don’t, the Shred is broken down into a few component parts. There are three levels and each one is designed to be followed for ten days at a time. I did this, although there are people I know that skipped to level two quicker or did level one for longer, it’s really up to you and how you feel you're progressing. Each level targets a different area of the body tho so it's worth doing them all if you can.

Each level comprises of a 25 minutes workout and within that there are three circuits. Still with me? Each circuit has three minutes of strength exercises, two minute of cardio (often the most fun part) and one minute of abs. I found the ab exercises the easiest to do for the most part, and the most effective.

After day eight I measured myself and I’d lost a whopping six inches from my measurements. I was expecting that to carry on over the 30 days but in fact by the end I’d only lost another couple or so – it would appear the first week is pivotal in the loss. I did find, however, that the muscle tone really began to show through in level two and by level three it was really obvious. It’s been three weeks since I finished my 30 days and my abs and my arms are still rock hard, I’m not kidding. I also think it’s increased my metabolic rate a little because I’ve come off Weightwatchers now but am still managing to maintain my weight pretty well, even tho I’m eating a bit more junk than I was whilst I was dieting.

My top tips for completing the Shred are:

•  Dedicate an area of your house to it. If you have to keep moving things out of the way to work out you probably won’t. I did mine in a 2 x 3m space next to my bed, it really doesn’t need as much space as you think!

• If you can, invest in some proper weights. I bought a set from Asda about four years ago for £10 – it has three sets in different weights so I could use something heavier if I felt like I could handle it and drop back to the lighter ones if I was struggling. If you can’t afford it at least try and use varying weights to make your workout harder. By the time you hit level 3 you should be using something heavier than a can of beans to really make it count!

•  Try and do it somewhere with a breeze, or a fan. The Shred is sweaty work, people. If you’re not sweating, you’re not doing it right.

•  Do it as soon as you can. I'm not really a morning person so I did it when I got home from work. The days where I waited until later in the evening were much harder than doing it and then having my evenings free.

•  Stretch! Make sure you follow the warm up and the warm down. She includes them for a reason – it's not worth the aching you'll get if you skip them all the time.

•  It’s okay to follow the lower impact moves. I found that day 5 of each level was where I found my feet – before that I would try and follow the regular ones and adjust it down until I was comfortable.

•  Level 2 is the hardest level, unless you’ve got a very strong upper body and core muscles already. It’s okay. It will end and level 3 is much easier.

•  It’s alright if you miss a day. I didn’t because I wanted my shiny something at the end but if you do, don’t beat yourself up about it, just pick up the next day and carry on. You don’t have to start again if you have a one day break.

So. That’s the Shred, in a nutshell. Would I do it again? Absolutely not. Jillian Michaels almost killed me and 30 days in a row once around is enough for me, thank you ;) But would I recommend you try it? Completely. You can finish it. Just be dedicated, motivated and most of all stubborn. The results will be worth it, I promise.

You can also find Sarah on Twitter if you have any questions.

The 30 Day Shred: Level 1, Completed!

Ten days ago I started Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred. I had no idea what to expect, but have been massively impressed with my progress so far. Yes, it is an intense work out with no breaks, but I find that because it's split into intervals (3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, 1 minute abs) it's not too bad. And it's only 20 minutes a day that you can do from the comfort of your home - what's that compared to spending 1hr+ in the gym? Right.

Days 2 and 3 were the worst for me. I hated them. I almost gave up on day 3 because my calves were too sore. I could barely walk without feeling as if my calf muscle was going to burst out of my leg at any moment. But the pain had passed by Day 4, so stick with it if your muscles are burning! My legs do still burn the most whilst doing the workout, but it's went from complete agony to that reassuring "this is working" type of burn you get whilst exercising. I can live with that.

I can feel a huge improvement in my endurance too, this really started showing at around Day 6. On Day 1 I couldn't do a modified push up, I have no upper body strength at all. By Day 6 I could easily do the full amount of time of modified press ups. I also noticed on Day 6 that I had developed nice little bicep muscles and that my tummy, although it was still podgy, felt firmer and toned.

By Days 9 and 10 I was getting bored of Level 1. I knew the circuits inside out and despite really pushing myself, I wasn't finding them massively challenging. I've skipped through Level 2 so see what it involves, and I'm feeling a bit nervous as it's supposed to be the hardest of all three levels. Most people I've spoken to about the 30 Day Shred say that they haven't made it past Level 2, and gave up half way through it. I'm determined not to do that though - BRING IT ON, LEVEL 2!!

Unfortunately I managed to lose my original measurements, so I'm not able to tell you exactly how much I've lost but I do look a little more toned than I did before and I'm feeling AMAZING. It's surprising how much better just 20 minutes of exercise a day can make you feel about yourself. I'll take some more measurements today and update you all on what I've lost in 10 days time, after I complete level 2!

Have you been doing the 30 Day Shred along with us? Let us know how you're finding it!

'The 30 Day Shred' explained!

I seem to have lost my exercise mojo lately. I've got bored of the gym and I find it too difficult to drag myself out running enough times per week to really benefit from it, so I've decided to try the 30 Day Shred this month.

The 30 Day Shred is a work out DVD by Jillian Michaels, who you will probably recognise from the TV show The Biggest Loser. She's known for her really tough, intense work outs, the 30 Day Shred being the most popular. The DVD works by using a 3-2-1 (minute) interval system that combines strength, cardio and abs to maximize the amount of calories you burn. Each level is a 20 minute workout with a warm up followed by 3 intervals each of 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs, finishing with a cool down.

The internet is full of positive reviews for this DVD. If you can stick it out for 30 days the results are amazing. I track my calories over at My Fitness Pal and they're always discussing 30 Day Shred on the forums and some of the before/after photos are amazing.

I've just completed day 2 of level 1 and I'm really enjoying the work out so far. Jillian can get a bit annoying at times, but it's an enjoyable work out and the fact that there are modified moves (one easier variation if you're struggling, and another variation if you're more advanced) means that nothing is too difficult. Throughout the strength training interval you can be expected to do some lunges, some bicep curls (they recommend using 5lb hand weights - I don't have those so I've been using good old tins of beans at the moment!) and a few push ups. For cardio you do some jumping jacks, skipping and some really fun punching exercises. And finally, for abs you do a selection of different crunches. I find that the cardio does get you out of breath, but after doing some strength training you're not as tired and feel ready for some more cardio.

If you're thinking of starting the 30 day shred, make sure you take your measurements before hand. Most people say the DVD helps them lose about 10lbs over the course of 30 days, but you need to remember that the DVD is focusing on building muscle and toning so you're likely to put on a few lbs of muscle weight, meaning that you'll probably see a bigger achievement in inches lost rather than weight lost.

I'm feeling really motivated to keep this up (looking at before/after pictures really helps!) and will definitely keep you updated with how I'm getting on. I've taken my measurements and I'm hoping for a flatter tummy by this time next month!

Do you want to get involved and start doing the 30 Day Shred? Both Sarah and I are doing it and there are already a few girls on Twitter taking part, and we're planning to keep everyone motivated on the Where Are My Knees? twitter account. We could post our inches/weight lost (if you feel comfortable doing that) on our weekly summaries and give each other that push we need to keep it up! What do you think, are you in?!

The 30 Day Shred is only £5.49 on Play.com at the moment.