Why this Yoga Hater is Rethinking PiYO

My world is pretty black and white. When things present themselves, I tend to be all in or not interested at all. (I may have a tiny flair for the dramatic.) And this view tends to spill into my workout world too. If I am working out I feel like I need to be sprinting, jumping or lifting heavy weights (and sweating like crazy) to achieve anything or "feel" like I worked hard.

Holding down dog for 60 seconds. Not so much.

In fact....I am a yoga skipper. Many of the programs I use have a yoga day built in for an active recovery day. Typically, I either take the day as a rest or throw in some extra cardio (although now that I have the 21 Day Fix I will put in Pilates Fix. It's surprisingly one of my favorite workouts from that program. Go figure.) But the holding of yoga poses just doesn't do anything for me. In fact, it makes me really stressed out. I can't clear my mind and when I try to, the laundry list of things I should be doing, need to do, really need to do or should have remembered to do yesterday creeps into my brain. Then I start thinking about how long I really need to stay this way. Wonder what I should cook for dinner. Think about what I ate today versus what I should have eaten. How I could have managed my day better. What the kiddo is doing because she is being really quiet. I wonder if she is getting into trouble. Correction I wonder HOW she is getting into trouble. The dogs could really use a nice long walk too...where can I squeeze that in. And on. And on. And on.

So yoga for me is NOT a nice way to relax and clear my mind and make my life better. I leave a frazzled mess. Feeling like I didn't get in a good enough workout and am frantic to get a million things done throughout the rest of my day, jumping from one task to another like a high strung puppy on amphetamines.

I was really excited when I saw that my favorite trainer, Chalene Johnson, was coming out with another program. I couldn't wait to see what it was....I love her lift heavy, crazy cardio mentality. So imagine my dismay when I heard it was PiYo....which was a pilates and yoga mix hybrid. Really. I mean come on. I was disappointed but figured it would be one bandwagon I would stay off of and moved on.

But as we creep closer and closer to the launch date of this program I am seeing stories like Deidra's coming out of the test groups.  (Check out her full experience with PiYO here: http://deidrap8.blogspot.com/2014/06/piyo-results-beachbody-test-group.html ) She is a a Beachbody coach (one of my teammates!) a nurse and mom of 2 who is working towards her first NCP figure competition.

On top of seeing great results from the test groups, I was able to participate in a LIVE PiYO class. I figured I would give it a shot. See what I had to lose and if I hated it I knew I wouldn't be adding this to my workout DVD library.

And it was fun. The music was dancy and upbeat. There was no holding of moves but flowing through moves that are often used in yoga. Fast. Working up a serious sweat. I was busy trying to keep up with what was coming next so there was no hot mess of thoughts trotting around in my head to make me crazy.  (So I am thinking this may be an AWESOME substitute for Yoga X [Sorry Tony!] and the other yoga scheduled into other workouts that I just don't do.)

After seeing all of this and experiencing a PiYO workout for myself. I decided to give PiYO a shot. As I am embarking on an elimination diet and limiting what I can eat to figure out if a certain food has been messing with my system, one thing I noticed is that especially at the beginning, my stamina in my workouts wasn't what it always was. I don't have the want to jump and get crazy. I have been doing things like Pilates and Barre Legs (both part of the 21 Day Fix) because that is what my body has been craving. So PiYO might be a great fit as part of my life right now.

If I start to get that want to lift heavy and go hard, I will incorporate PiYO in with other programs. (That's another perk to this program. You can fit it in with whatever you are doing.) I will make a hybrid schedule or tack it onto my short workout days. That is the plan for now, at least until life throws me a curveball and I need to rework it.

So what is PiYO Exactly?

A combination of low impact yoga and pilates inspired moves designed to improve your flexibility, stamina and strength. It pulls all this together to give you a cardio workout. So it is going to be a challenge without jumping and other crazy cardio moves that beat up your body. You will sweat. You will get definition. You will improve your strength and get more flexible. All without pounding your joints.

It is a 60 day program. The workouts range from 25-45 minutes and you use your own body weight so no equipment required.

The program will include 8 workouts (plus a bonus workout if you order from a coach) and will be launching at Summit THIS WEEK!  is available NOW! And on promotion when bundled with Shakeology until the end of July.

Get your copy here.

I will also be running a PiYO test group starting July 7th! If you want to join me on this journey fill out the application below.

Fill out my online form.

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