JILLIAN MICHAELS BODYSHRED™ – with Jillian!

I’ve had the opportunity to do some pretty cool things as a blogger, and without a doubt one of the coolest opportunities happened this past Wednesday when I got to take a JILLIAN MICHAELS BODYSHRED™ class at GoodLife Fitness taught by Jillian herself!  Crazytown.

I was a little nervous leading up to the class having done workouts designed by Jillian before (from one of her books) and it was super tough!  Not to mention the fact I had a good idea that  there was a high likeliness of mountain climbers being involved.  I hate mountain climbers.  And burpees.  But mostly mountain climbers…

When Jillian arrived on the scene everyone was so excited!  When she saw us she said, “Look how excited you all are….you fools!” I’m still trying to decide if she meant we were fools to be excited to see her, or to be excited to be killed by her 😉  she was really personable and smiling the whole time and let her personality show.

Once in the room we were told to grab a set of hand weights and find a spot.  I quickly searched out a pair of 3lb weights (I wanted to be able to move the next day!) and found myself a spot.  I was glad I chose the three pounders because when the class started the reps were quick and there were a lot of them.  I don’t think I would have been able to perform them with good form with a heavier weight so I was glad I chose what I did.

JILLIAN MICHAELS BODYSHRED™ itself is a 30 minute class, but in order to allow us the best chance to be successful (especially for those like me who had never done it before) Jillian took the time to go through all of the circuits we would be doing, explained the format of the class, how long each circuit was, as well as how she would be cueing us throughout so we knew what was going on before the class even started.  She was really nice and cracked a few jokes during the demo, and she made it clear that she was interested in quality over quantity when it came to the individual exercises, and offered up variations for different moves making them accessible for all participants.

I really appreciated her telling people, “there’s no shame in that game” when it came to opting for a modified or less intense version of an exercise.  So often we get caught up thinking we need to do everything “textbook” and that is the perfect way to get yourself injured.

“It’s all pretty straight forward….hard, but straight forward”

The next thing I knew the warm-up was long gone and I was knee deep in my own sweat!  To say taking a class with Jillian Michaels as my instructor was surreal is an understatement.  There were about 60 people in the class so it was a pretty small group making the experience that much more amazing.  Most times when you get the chance to take a class with a trainer like Jillian you are one of a few hundred participants, in comparison this very much felt like a “regular” class.  I admit that anytime I had to stop for a couple seconds I would look around to make sure she wasn’t nearby first 😉

As I mentioned earlier, Jillian provided lots of options for the exercises, and that, to me is the beauty of JILLIAN MICHAELS BODYSHRED™class. You can have people of all different fitness levels in the same class because everyone works out to their appropriate level.  I was sweating buckets.  I had sweat in my eye and running down my arms, but when I looked around I saw lots of other sweaty faces and sweaty handprints on the floor but at the same time you could see lots of variation in exercises with participants choosing the option that worked best for them, while still challenging themselves.

The energy during the class was awesome.  The music was perfect for the class, and Jillian walking around during the class helping to encourage us to work harder, telling us how many more reps of an exercise we had before moving on to the next really kept me motivated. There is one thing for sure, when Jillian Michaels is standing 3 feet away from you and tells you, you have two more burpees to go, you better believe you do two more burpees!

And my nemesis the mountain climber did make an appearance.  And so did his even more evil big brother the “hanging mountain climber”.  Holy crow.  That’s all I have to say about that.

Without a doubt we worked every part of our body in that 30 minutes, and by the end my arms were a little shaky (but not too shaky to get a high-five from Jillian!!) and my legs had a hard time carrying me down the stairs afterwards.  And while I would certainly sort this class into the intense bin, it is still doable.  There was no point where I felt defeated or like I didn’t belong there.  I was challenged, and there was lot of room for me personally to improve, but I was still able to get a great workout at my current fitness level.  And yes, I guess I’m reasonably fit, but I don’t typically do many HIIT workouts like this, so in that regard I’m very much a novice.

blurry post-workout shot thanks to my shaking arms 😉 

I didn’t get a chance to meet up with Amanda Debison who was the giveaway winner from my previous post, but I didn’t see anyone there who didn’t look excited to be in the room with Jillian so I really hope she enjoyed herself!

Working out with Jillian was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but reaping the benefits of her JILLIAN MICHAELS BODYSHRED™ class doesn’t have to be!  JILLIAN MICHAELS BODYSHRED™ classes are available exclusively at GoodLife Fitness which has clubs all over Canada!  Check out their website to learn more about this fantastic new class and to find one near you.

Disclosure: Although this post has been generously sponsored by GoodLife Fitness, the opinions and language are all my own, and in no way do they reflect GoodLife Fitness.