With every painful raise, I knew I was doing good, improving a part of my body that had lagged behind the rest. In a very obscure, masochistic sort of way. But in hindsight, I realised that my shoulders rarely get worked, and they're such small muscles anyway (I had to use my 1.5kgs, while I use 4kg for most else), so it was actually kind of nice. The only mercy came with the double jump rope between the jacks and twists. Shoulder presses, V-raises, plank jacks and plank twists - not so bad on their own, but when performed in the same circuit, ouch. If I'm honest, it was the shoulders that hurt the most. Yes, I was still pushing through with deeper movements and bigger weights - weights I didn't even own 3 years ago - and not once did I drop down. So I'm sure it wasn't just overconfidence. That was in part because the movements were those I'm not used to, that aren't hard enought to make it into other DVDs but not easy enough to make it into others, and when workouts are split into levels, the movements are grouped up and many simply just don't quite make the cut, be it for variety or because there's another move that will do the job just that little bit better, or is perhaps a bit more adaptable.ДЄnyway, my point is, I struggled, and that continued into the second week despite having been put quite firmly in my place on the first and second day. The moves that made up level 2, however - not so easy. The moves that made up level 1 were easy for beginners, but also easy to modify for advanced. Level 2, however.not quite the same story.

I made sure level 1 was still a challenge - I even gave the jumping jacks Tabata speed (personally, that's 28 jumping jacks in 20 seconds my record is 30). That's not to say that I didn't give level 1 my all I chose the heaviest weights I could manage, I made deeper ranges of motion and moved faster, and that did the job.

Had I started with any other Jillian Michaels workout, I'd have certainly been frightened off. In short, it was clear how I was able to stick to it that first time around. Jumping jacks, crunches, chest flyes - no problem for experience, right? And, actually, a pretty damn good place to start for those new to it. So, I figured that going back to my roots, to where my efforts for fat loss turned into a passion for movement and fitness, would be a piece of cake - forgive the inappropriate pun - if 2014 Kim could do it, 2017 Kim could blow it out of the water.ДЄnd while I used level 1, which I gave only a week's use with the intention of putting a little more time into level 2 and 3, that was certainly the case. I first used the 30 Day Shred 3 years ago - it was my first 'real' workout - and since then I have bought, used and worn down almost every Jillian Michaels DVD there is. What confidence I had in level 1 was certainly set back in line during level 2.

30 day shred level 2 calorie burn