Working On My Fitness

Back in the old days when I was a fiancée and planning the wedding of my dreams (I could say "our dreams," but who would I be kidding?), I had several favorite wedding blogs and sites I would follow for inspiration.  It was there that I learned hip bloggy phrases like "swoon worthy" and "STDs (that's Save The Dates), and that, if I allowed myself to look long enough, I would find enough pictures of perfectly beautiful nuptials to inspire 365 dream weddings for Dr. Husband and I.   One thing I saw mentioned on a couple of different blogs would prove to be a gold mine in preparation for the wedding and way beyond.  It was this:

I know...not the wedding blog image you were expecting...not a soft and lovely photo of a delicate pastel bouquet...not a stack of picturesque pink macaroons...not the simply glamorous letter pressed wedding invitation on hand-milled paper with the kind of calligraphy that has the perfect number of flourishes and loops.  No...it's Jillian Michaels...hard. core. ass kicking and name taking.  The 30 Day Shred has to be the most referenced workout DVD on the Wedding Wide Web.  Brides were swearing by it and I had been toying around with the idea of getting myself in the best physical shape of my life just in time for my wedding day. 

So, I went to Amazon.com and looked it up to see what other people had to say about Shredding.  I didn't expect much from a 20-minute workout--I have to be honest.  But hundreds of people were giving testimony to the power of Jillian...not to mention, the DVD only cost $9!  I put that bad girl in my shopping cart so fast I think it counted as some kind of exercise.  When she arrived in the mail a few days later, the Shredding commenced and I quickly realized what all of the hype was about.  The 20 minutes flew by as I moved through 3 phases of 3 circuits each including 3 minutes of strength exercise, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of ab work.  I swear that in a matter of days I could see some definition in my upper arms and I was SOLD.  Oh yeah...and I got those arm muscles despite the fact that I couldn't find my little purple hand weights and so used cans of beans instead.  (Don't tell Jillian.)  Also, I think you're supposed to do the workout every day for 30 days, but I didn't abide by that.  Still, I saw results.  People were commenting on my "fitness" and I told everyone who would listen that it was all thanks to a lady (?) named Jillian, my TV and DVD player, and 2 cans of green beans.  Even some of my guy friends were trying it (but using much heavier weights, of course).  I spread the word to my Mom and passed on my copy of the DVD to her as I had the workout memorized by then.  She's been Shredding like mozzarella ever since and I'm so proud of her! 

Well...when the wedding day came, I felt I had actually made that idea I had been toying around with come to fruition.  I don't think I have ever felt so confident about my body as I did then.  Luckily, it stuck with me through the 5 days of gluttonous perfection that was our honeymoon.  Then, I moved to Albany and that seemed to be the only "moving" I was doing for a while.  In lieu of searching the web for wedding planning inspiration, I found myself googling phrases like "newlywed weight gain."  I managed to get myself motivated enough to re-create the Shredding workout in our new living room, but Ian would sit there with this look of sheer terror on his face out of concern for the new flat screen television and anything else of value in the living room that might be jostled in my wake.  It was so easy to give up.  But then...Santa came and gave me back my will to Shred and this time it was even stronger because The Good Doctor vowed to get Shredded, too!  Since January 3, we've been Shredding three times per week after work.  (We have to feed Abby dinner first or else she'll lick us to death during ab time.)  Ian is a huge motivating factor for me and we've even advanced to the Level 2 workout this month!  It truly is a great exercise program. For those of you who haven't tried it yet...I double dog dare you to.