June's cross training challenge

It's the end of June, which means that by now I should have checked another month off of my New 2 U Cross Training Challenge list.

In May, I was down to the wire, squeaking a skipping drill in on the last day of the month. This month I planned better, but held off on posting.

To be honest, I was hoping to have something more exciting to report than another review of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.


But Ms. Michaels is compelling.

Without Kim's challenge motivating me to try new things, I would have thought all the JM hype was just that: hype.

Back in February, for Kim's challenge, I tried two cardio kickboxing videos. One was (quite honestly) awful. The other video was by Jillian Michaels. That comparison was my first indication that JM's workout videos might be better than average.

So, after months of reading 30 Day Shred hype, I decided to take the plunge and try one of the workouts. I started with Level 1. (What? No, I did not pay for the video series. I streamed it from Youtube like every cheap frugal blogger should.)

The verdict: This 20-minute workout packs quite a punch! (No cardio kickboxing pun intended...)

Michaels begins with a dynamic stretching warmup, and then rotates through a series of strength, cardio, and core exercises, moving quickly from one to the next. The exercises are basic (e.g. push ups, squat with overhead press, jumping jacks) but the combination, timing, and number of repetitions left me sweating and sore.

Quite frankly, I was shocked at how sore I was. While I might not be the slimmest reed in the pond, I lift weights three times a week. My guns... ahem... show. If you told me, beforehand, that a 20 minute exercise video would leave me noodle-armed and aching for two days, I'd have challenged you to an arm wrestling contest.

But sore I was.

Maybe I over-estimated the weight I should be using, not knowing how many reps we'd be doing? Either way, the workout kicked my butt.

I am not going to go through the entire 30 day series - running is still priority #1 - but I will re-do Level 1 when I need to mix up my lifting routine, and I'll be checking out Level 2 and Level 3 in the near future.

For a list of other cross training I've tried since January, scroll to the bottom of this post.

What cross training would you recommend I try in coming months?