Shred On

I feel like I’m the only person in America that had to work today. In my head, everyone else in America slept late and laid in bed in their pj’s playing Candy Crush until 10 am.

On top of that, I successfully forgot to pack a banana for my mid morning snack. It’s pathetic how much that throws off my day. I had other things I could eat. They were equally healthy. They just weren’t a banana. And a banana is what I am used to. Mid morning. Every day. It’s sad how adrift I felt without it. While eating tasty grapes that can and should have sufficed. But didn’t.

My legs are also in a pathetic state. I’m attempting to do the 30 Day Shred. Again. I’ve tried it several times. I once started and then lost interest before I could even finish the first day. And by lost interest, I mean I lost interest in attempting to kill myself completing Level 1 while completely out of shape.

Caught in the act by the paparazzi.  Beautiful.

Having run 2 half marathons relatively recently, I figure I should be in shape enough that Level 1 should not feel like death this time. I also figure I’ve been in the market for a little motivation recently and nothing motivates me quite like having an actual goal.
Day 1 was okay. But I apparently have some seriously weak thighs and am amazed they can hold me upright all day every day after seeing how quickly the squatting and lunging wore them out. I recruited my husband to Shred with me and, lo and behold, he seems to sort of like it. Or at least he likes it more than just running which he hasn’t been impressed with.

Old school sweat band in place, the Italian Stallion is ready to work. 

I think he likes that the Shred’s full of lunging and squatting. Dude thinks lunges and squats are the key to a long, happy life. He regularly tries to convince me to befriend them. Jillian adds in weights while you’re lunging and squatting. It’s a known fact that Italian Stallions appreciate weights. Winner winner chicken dinner.

Squatting with children.  For those days when your kettle bell has walked off and you have to make it work.  

We’ve done the Shred 2 days in a row now. My husband uses way heavier weights and does the harder version of the exercises and seems to be getting a good workout. But for all I know he’s just trucking along to be sweet to me.  I’m just hoping he likes the Shred enough to convince me to keeping Shredding once I hit the wall that always ends up making me want to quit.

He makes me laugh everyday.  Above average awesome when his crazy mug makes me laugh during a a hard workout when I want to die. 

I successfully strung together 4 days in a row doing it back in October. It may not sound like much but I’m here to tell you I could barely sit down to go to the bathroom by day 4 and I thought I was literally going to fall down and crack my knee cap mid lunge. I was attempting to do Couch to 5K at the same time and decided it was jeopardizing my ability to be successful so the Shred had to go.
But I’ve tried it at least 2 other times and only completed 1 day each time. And that doesn’t even include the time I bought the DVD and then couldn’t even be bothered to stick it in the DVD player for 3 months. I apparently thought I was going to shred by osmosis.

We did Day 2 of the Shred last night and this morning I had to be careful walking downstairs and my gluteus maximus is making itself known every time I take a step. We’re only on Level 1. I’ve never even seen Level 2 which is beyond ridiculous. I’m trying not to think about how hard it may or may not be. But I’m determined to get there on Day 11. Legend has it there’s a Level 3 on that DVD, too. I’ll believe it when I see it.

When I saw that Holly and Amber were doing a 30 Day Shred July challenge I figured it was a sign from the universe to go for it. Before photos and all. I even took before photos of the Italian Stallion. I’m going to call party foul if that dude drops 20 pounds and gets ripped in 30 days while my Jelly Belly remains perfectly intact.

I can't help it if my core is made of galvanized steel and yours isn't.  Now let me get back to wearing this funky old school sweat band and getting more ripped than you. 

But for now, shred on.