"Making the cut" in March

[Susan]

I decided to do the program from the book "Making the cut" (Jillian Michaels). My husband and I have been doing the circuits regularly as a compensation to running, but never did the whole 30-day program seriously.
Winter is long and I thought an intense month before the bike season (hopefully) starts won't do any harm I will be exercising at home.

Has anybody done the whole program too? Did you get any results, did you like it? Does anybody want to join in ?

I will cut back on running in March and do the program as intended along with watching my diet more carefully to be fit for spring and maybe shed some more pounds. I'm curious how it will turn out.

The first day yesterday was quite hard. Despite knowing the circuits, it was harder than expected to do them twice and to pause as little as possible between exercises. Today I am quite sore

I'm excited about the new challenge and thought I would use this thread to post about the program regularly and share how I am doing.

[Susan]

As expected, the second day was quite hard being still sore from day 1.

I notice that while I can get along with most exercises, some are extremely hard for me without knowing why exactly. I HATE Mountain Climbers for example even though I am ok with planks and other cardio exercises but the combination... 30 seconds into the exercise (which should last 1 minute) I am always checking the watch being sure one minute has to be over.
I also don't get better at Pull-ups (chin-ups?). Could do zero a year ago, can still do zero without supporting some of my body weight with my feet.

[Susan]

No one is interested in my thread - I'll spam you anyway!

Today was supposed to be an off day, but I won't be at home over the weekend and therefore will have two off-days.

So I wanted to do the day 4 workout today. In the morning I was so sore that I had some difficulties sitting down in the bathroom and while walking around during the day I noticed some muscles I never knew about in my thighs. Thus I was a bit unmotivated at first and wanted to do the circuits only once, but when I got into it, I got somewhat overambitious and did them twice anyway.

Now I will lie down in front of my TV and will not move until tomorrow morning

[tulip]

I think it's cool you are writing about it, like a journal. I am not familiar with the program, and anything with Jillian Michaels kinda turns me off, but if it works for you, then that's just fantastic. Just be aware of any hurts to avoid injuries that can happen from exercising very intensely all of a sudden.

[lauraelmore1033]

I tend to find Jillian Michaels annoying too, but your thread has me kind of intrigued. I might check it out. BTW, I can do exactly 0 pull ups too...

[Susan]

I should have explained the program a bit in the beginning: It's a 30-day program (including off-days). Every day includes 5 circuits that you can/should do twice. Parts of it are like a HIIT training but there are also parts where you just hold a position for a certain time or do strength exercises.
Most exercises are body-weight exercises, some require dumbbells and a Body Ball. The program is intended to be done at a gym, but I changed some of the exercises so we can do it at home (required items: Dumbbells, Body Ball, Thera Band, Aerobic step, Resistance Band, Skipping Rope).

I don't come across Jillian a lot doing the workout, I just use the 30-day plan now that I know the exercises

While I have been working out very regularly already, this program is quite intense. I have another 10 pounds to shed, I thought it would maybe help to change my routine. Also I hope the added strength will help me when the bike-season starts.