It has only just come to my attention that Paul, when he doesn’t know where an item goes, just leaves it in the dishwasher. Now, I know we’ve all been THOROUGHLY SCHOOLED in how we are never, ever, EVER to criticize our spouse’s Alternate and Equally Legitimate Way of Doing Things. But surely this only applies when the spouse’s way is not WRONG. There are many ways to legitimately unload a dishwasher, but I submit that ALL those ways result in an UNLOADED DISHWASHER. Plus, it has been a long time since there was anything to tease Paul about.
I did The Shred for the second time. The nice thing about being a late adopter is that I’ve already read everyone’s stories of ouchie knees and not being able to walk up stairs and so forth, so although I might not avoid these problems myself, I can at least alternate The Shred with other kinds of exercise to reduce the injuries. Anyway, I have several comments:
1. THANK YOU to everyone who mentioned I can TURN JILLIAN’S VOICE OFF. I think it is very funny that they included that as a feature on the DVD. Like they knew we’d want that. I turned it off already, because after only one viewing I was already FULL UP of her telling me that if I wanted a workout that was only 20 minutes I wasn’t going to get any breaks. Well, DO excuse me, Jillian, if I continue to be the one to make the decisions about that.
2. Also, it doesn’t really matter how many times she says it’s only 20 minutes, it’s closer to 30.
3. And speaking of reading everyone else’s reports, I’ve read “You can do anything for 20 minutes!” a zillion quintillion times, and I think it is safe to say “Nonsense” in a firm, Mary Poppins sort of voice. I failed both the “hand in ice water” test and the “clothespin on finger” test in childbirth preparation class, and neither of those were anywhere near as long as 20 minutes. (And speaking of which, I don’t see how either of those prepared us for the sensation of being repeatedly stabbed with a knife in the pelvic region for 27 hours. Though I guess I can see why they would find it difficult to simulate that.) As it turns out, I CAN do the level-one Shred workout, but that’s not because I can do anything for 20 minutes, it’s because it’s a whole bunch of much shorter things. If it were 20 minutes of just push-ups, I wouldn’t be able to do it, because (and here we come back to my main point) I can’t in fact do anything for 20 minutes. /vent And also, it’s more like 30. /vent again
4. I got a yoga mat on Freecycle, and I’m surprised how much comfier that makes the sit-ups and push-ups. The mat is so THIN, I wouldn’t think it would help at all. A large part of it is that it keeps me from having to put my hands and knees on the floor crumbs.
5. Even being aware of the knee problems, and even modifying exercises that seem knee-dangerous, I STILL feel it in my knees. Has anyone verified that Jillian knows what she’s doing?