My journey with 20 Second Fitness Week 3 Review: Feeling Stronger and More fit!

Yes, it’s that time again! It is time to report my experiences with week 3 of using the 20Second Fitness program! I had such a great impression of this program after week 1, and week 2! I’m so excited to tell you about week 3!

This last week I was a little let down. Not by 20Second fitness, but by myself. I had started to develop shin splints, so I had to take down the intensity of which I was exercising, and then by the end of the week, I just couldn’t do some of the exercises at all. So I don’t think I got as much benefit from this week as I could have, had I not developed the shin splints.

But how great is this; I emailed Spencer and explained my predicament of struggling with the shin splints and he gave me great direction of some exercises I could substitute in place of the exercises that were causing the pain; instead of jumping jacks, cross country skier and star jumps, you can use rope pulls, bicycles and Russian twists.

He also gave me a great exercise to do each morning to help strengthen my shins, so I can soon return to the program as it is organized. Basically you walk on your heels each morning with your toes pulled up towards the ceiling; basically walking as though you’re a duck. This will stretch and strengthen your shins. So far it has been helping, and hopefully by week 5 my shins will be strong enough to no longer have to substitute the exercises.

How many of you have used a program where the very co-creator was willing to help you succeed? Like I said last week, Spencer is such a down to earth guy, and he is very easy to follow on the videos, and easy to work with too!

My other set back this last week was that I had a sick kid. It really put me off my schedule, while I was busy taking care of my poor boy and his fever, I missed my opportunity for my morning workout before the baby woke up. (She is one that doesn’t play well when I’m exercising, she likes to get in the way. So I can’t exercise much while she’s awake). By the time we had the kids all put into bed at night; I was then left with the struggle to talk myself into the workout because it was late, and I was tired. But it helped having the husband here, as he still had to do his workout as well.

So we did our workouts together for those few days at night. I didn’t feel like I got as much out of the workout as I could have if I had done it in the morning when I have more energy to put into the workout, but we still did our best and it’s better than just saying, “I’m too tired, I’ll do it tomorrow.” And besides, it was only 8 minutes! If my workout had been one of the typical 30-45 minute workout videos I used to use, there is no way I would have been able to talk myself into it.

As for the actual workouts this last week; they increased in time again. The workouts for week three were between 8-10 minutes each day. Starting with a body specific workout for 4 minutes and then progressing into the heart pumping set for 4 minutes. And occasionally there were days when there was an extra workout at the end for only 2 minutes.

By the end of the first 4 minutes, I had definitely reached the desired muscle fatigue; and sometimes found it difficult to keep pushing through the heart pumper set, because at times my arms felt as though they couldn’t hold my weight any longer, or my legs felt as if they were made of jelly. Now some may think this is a negative, but on the contrary, it really testified to me that I’m getting the intense workout that I need.

When you do your typical workouts, how long does it usually take you to reach complete muscle failure when lifting weights or strength training? 10 minutes? 30 minutes?

How about when you get on the treadmill or the elliptical; how long until you have done enough cardio that you are breathless, your heart pounding, and your muscles completely exhausted? 20 minutes? 45 Minutes?

And yet, I’m able to achieve all of the above, just by doing the high intensity intervals in 20Second fitness. And all with only 8 minutes a day! I get the needed strength training, and the important cardio, all in just 4-12 minutes a day!

Are you curious about what the workouts would be like? You can get a small taste from this short 1 minute demo vi
deo:

Results!!!

Now I’m sure you want to hear about results right? Who wants to work their “behind” off and not see results? This is what has happened over the last 3 weeks. For the first 2 weeks, I was constantly sore. Once one set of muscles recovered; we focused on a new set of muscles which then took over being sore. Every day for the first 2 weeks, I had at least one set of muscles that were stiff and sore. But they were the good kind of sore, and not so badly that I couldn’t climb stairs or take care of my family.

After the first week; my appetite increased a bit due to burning more energy; so I had to take special attention to my diet to ensure that I wasn’t eating more than I should, or if I still felt hungry that I was eating high nutrition and low calorie foods, like fresh foods and vegetables.

After the first two weeks, I was told that I looked differently. I looked more solid and trim. To my amazement I actually hadn’t lost any weight at this point. In fact I actually gained a few pounds. My husband had to remind me that this is actually pretty common when you go from a sedentary lifestyle to a very active lifestyle; as you build a lot of muscle quickly and muscle weights more than fat; but muscle is also very crucial to burning that fat.

Well, I’m excited to tell you that now at the end of week 3, I’m down all the weight I had initially gained and then some! My muscles are more toned, and you can actually tell I have biceps! I have more energy than before I started the program, and of course it really helps improve my daily mood.

We’re not half way through our weekly updates on 20Second fitness! Only 3 more weeks to go on our reports, but I can guarantee you I won’t be stopping there. The great thing about 20 second fitness is that once you complete the program, you merely start over again with Week 1’s disc and cycle through again. There is enough variety in the combinations of exercises to keep it interesting and prevent you from getting bored because you know your video by heart by the 3rd week.

Next week our intensity increases even more and we have a whole new combination of workouts and I can’t wait to see what’s in store! I hope you will join us next week for our Week 4 progress report!

Don’t forget! If you are ready to get started with your 20Second Fitness and make a change in your life; you can get free shipping when you use the code: “jade louise designs”