Jillian Michaels didn't have to put up with this

I am doing Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, and being up to Day 3, I am hurting.  I have always felt goofy working out in front of my TV in my living room, but this time I choose not to feel goofy and I'll just let Jillian "kick my butt", or whatever they say.

Right now, going to a gym or joining a class would be so inconvenient and difficult to arrange.  And do you want to know how easy it is, working out in front of your TV at home?  Well, I'll tell you.

During the warmups, I tend to hit Woody repeatedly in the head with my arms, especially during the "windmill" moves.  I stop, put Woody on the couch, do a few more windmills, hit Woody in the head a few times, stop, put Woody on the couch, do a few more windmills, hit Woody in the head a few times, stop, and put Woody on the couch.  Then it's time to stop.  Mixing the exercises up like this is a technique called muscle confusion, and Jillian uses it a lot.

Within the first minute of cardio, Jessie starts crying and moaning.  "I don't like jumping!" she says.  "Mum!  I hate jumping!"  This makes me a little bit grumpy.  She should try having a few kids, having a quarter-full bladder and then doing some jumping jacks.  She'd soon see what hating jumping is all about.

The section on Strength is filled with the sound of children grunting and moaning, rolling about on the floor and saying they can't do push-ups.  That's fine by me, because while they're whinging about not being able to do pushups, they are not noticing that I can't do any either.

For the 30-Day Shred, I have taken my small yellow 1kg hand weights out of the box for my use.  MY use.  I have deliberately left the 1.5kg and 2.5 kg weights in the box because as Jillian says, "We don't need any injuries.  Not part of the program."  But while I'm doing strength, Buzz can open the box, take a set of the heavier weights out and start using them, leaving it wide open for Woody to grab the other set of weights and dangle them over my head just as I've got down on the floor to do Abs. 

When Jillian said, "No injuries!" I bet she was thinking of some poor soul rolling their ankle, not being concussed by a falling 1.5kg hand weight while trying to do ab crunches.  *** Thankfully, it has not happened.***  It could have happened, but the worst so far has been interrupting my routine yet again to lock the weights away. 

Once the weights were safe and inaccessible, I got back to oblique crunches.  I lay on my back with one ankle crossed on the other knee and one arm out to the side.  Suddenly, that arm became the pillow for two little heads as they lay beside me, pressing into me as I tried to raise my chest up to my knee.  At least it stopped my arm from coming up off the floor.

Buzz is such a helpful soul.  During the routine, he often pauses to turn to me and repeat what Jillian says, with demonstrations.  "She said you have to keep a little bend in your elbow, Mum.  Like this."  "You have to keep your knee straight."  "She said she doesn't want any of this..." accompanied with a demonstration of The Wrong Way To Do It.

By the warm-downs, the children have often given up and gone to sit on the couch to watch me.  But Buzz is often still watching, giving directions and offering helpful advice like, "No Mum, you're doing it wrong."

It's all so convenient, working out at home.