Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred [DVD]

She offers both modified versions of the exercises for beginners and advanced versions for those who want it.
I think it is worth a shot and remember you have to start somewhere. Even if you do even just a little bit of the beginner version of the exercies, that it better than nothing. Take it slow, listen to her about form, and do what you can. Eventually, you will work your way up to being able to do it.
Give it a try and Congrats on starting something new!

I consider myself in shape and I have a hard time with some of the exercises. I am a runner so the cardio is easier for me than most but some of the strength exercises I have to modify. I started it with a friend and midway...Day 15ish she had lost a combined 14.5 inches (waist, hips, biceps, thigh, calf) She modifies some of the cardio and is still seeing results. Lvl 1 is free on youtube so no risk to try it out at least.

I consider myself in shape and I have a hard time with some of the exercises. I am a runner so the cardio is easier for me than most but some of the strength exercises I have to modify. I started it with a friend and midway...Day 15ish she had lost a combined 14.5 inches (waist, hips, biceps, thigh, calf) She modifies some of the cardio and is still seeing results. Lvl 1 is free on youtube so no risk to try it out at least.

Thought I would chime in - I am the friend that smerkord started shredding with. :-) I would not consider myself in shape at all. I started 30DS at 285 lbs. The first 3-4 days were the most difficult for me. Starting about day 6, it started getting so much easier and I could feel a HUGE difference in my body. I generally follow Anita (she's the one doing the modified exercises) and once I felt comfortable I would try to do the non-modified versions. Some of the exercises I was able to, some I wasn't. But each day I pushed myself harder than the day before. I've now completed 20 days straight of 30DS (12 on Level 1, 8 on Level 2) and I feel so accomplished and in MUCH better shape than I was before I started. I highly recommend giving it a try.

P.S. 14.75 combined inches thus far - smerkord shorted me .25 inches ;-) hahaha

ETS: I just wanted to say that it is a difficult workout, but the rewards (and how quickly they begin to appear) completely outweigh the difficulty. I've gotten discouraged because I feel like I'm too big to be doing some of the exercises. But then I end up surprising myself by being able to do one of the harder exercises after a few days and my discouraged feelings turn into super motivated feelings!

I just got the DVD so if you want a buddy to do it with just friend me and we can trade notes

I'm pretty out of shape (just over 200) but we've got to start somewhere right! I'm going to do it tonght when I get home so I'll try to post an update once I've tried it out

I'm on day 4 of level 2 today and I can definitely agree that it is no joke. It is not, however, as intense as say p90x or insanity. I have never done any sort of strength training exercise, all I've done is cardio. So some of the upper body strength stuff is really hard for me, but I push through and try to do a bit more than I did the day before and I am seeing results in my strength, endurance, and waistline. It is actually kind of funny because she starts incorporating moves in level 2 that I never would have even tried and am still halfway convinced I can't do (walking push-ups and plank-jacks anyone??), but then when I actually give it a shot I can do more than I was expecting.

I was just reading a thread that someone else posted about finishing Insanity. They said that it was extremely hard and not always easy to convince themselves to keep pushing play, but they never regretted finishing a workout. Regret would come if you never try.

I just got the DVD so if you want a buddy to do it with just friend me and we can trade notes

I'm pretty out of shape (just over 200) but we've got to start somewhere right! I'm going to do it tonght when I get home so I'll try to post an update once I've tried it out

As an update, it was pretty difficult, but I got through it. I had to modify some of the exercises (mostly just the push ups) and I was dripping sweat when I was done but honestly it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be after some of the posts I've seen on here.