JM's Fully Fit

In Jillian Michael's "Slim For Life" she spent a lot of time talking about fitness. She said, consistency is the key. A lot of times people wonder if they should workout in the morning or at night to receive optimum results and she said "the best time to workout is the same time everyday. Your body gets conditioned to exercise at this time and adapts to it by releasing energy boosting, muscle-building hormones like testosterone that aid in fitness performance and fat metabolism. (40). She suggests:

• Day 1: Chest, Triceps, Shoulders, Legs with Quadricep Focus, Lower-fiber Abs, Obliques
• Day 2: Back, Biceps, Legs with Hamstring Focus, Glutes, Upper-fiber Abs
• Day 3: Cardio
• Day 4: Chest, Triceps, Shoulders, Legs with Quadricep Focus, Lower-fiber Abs, Obliques
• Day 5: Back, Biceps, Legs with Hamstring Focus, Glutes, Upper-fiber Abs
• Day 6: Cardio
• Day 7: Day off

"I paired these muscle groups together for a reason. Chest, shoulders, triceps, and quadriceps are all push muscles while back, biceps, and hamstrings are pull muscles; hamstrings and glutes generally work in tandem, so it's a pairing that makes training sense." (45)

Her point in doing this, as she later explained, is that muscle need time to rest. Also, you wont put in as much force if your muscle are tired, so it makes more sense to wait until you can work them to their fullest again.

She says Day 1 and Day 4: (Mon/Thurs)

• Dumbbell Chest Presses on a Stability Ball
• Squats with Anterior Front Raises
• Triceps Dips on a chair
• High Knees
• Leg Raises, either alternate or both legs

Day 2 and 5: (Tues/Fri)

• Lat Pull-downs or Bent over High Rows with Dumbbells
• Straight Leg Dead Lifts into Bicep Curls
• Seated Lat Rows  
• I think you can do the Seated Row with a Resistance Band, too, if you don't have a gym membership.
• Butt Kicks
• Crunches on a Stability Ball (46). 

This all sounds great to me and I'd love to make this my routine, but I don't know what half of them are!!! So I went ahead and found videos and linked them to each workout movement. They all look simple enough, and I think if I can remember them, I'll for sure be attempting Jillian's suggestions!

The few tips she gave on Cardio were to NEVER HOLD ON, as you can burn 25% less calories just by holding on to the treadmill/elliptical/stairs (pg 66). INCH UP YOUR INCLINE; "The higher you go, the more calories you burn at any speed, without tacking more time onto your workout. . . Upping the incline burns approximately the same amount of calories as jogging for 30 minutes on a flat treadmill." (65).

So this is a lot of information but I think if it's done routinely, it'll become habit and we'll see the results we want! I don't see why not? Let's give it a chance! I'm just nervous about being at the gym, checking my list of workouts to perform that day, and then scouring to find the correct machine while being paranoid that people I used to know (whom I run into at the gym from time to time) and watching. I shouldn't care, though! I'm getting in shape and I'm gonna look so great once I'm done! This is definitely going to be a power weekend for me. Like in video games when you hit a power bar, and getting added speed for 30 seconds... This weekend will be my power bar for the weeks ahead. I work all weekend so I won't be indulging or drinking, the weather shouldn't be bad to the point that I cant drive my beater car to the gym, and I'm finally feeling better from that awful sickness! Just finished my antibiotics yesterday!