Title: PiYo
Creator: Chalene Johnson
Year: 2014
Publisher: Beachbody
Synopsis: PiYo is a fusion of powerful Pilates- and Yoga inspired moves with an amped-up pace, for serious fat burning cardio, strengthening, and lengthening – all in one! Now, in just 60 days, you can get the intense core strengthening and lean muscle development of Pilates, the complete body sculpting and stretching benefits of Yoga, and the heavy duty calorie incineration of cardio – with one low impact, high intensity program!
Review: From the creators of Insanity, the highly renown and intense cardio workout, comes PiYo. Designed in a similar way, this too is a 60-day workout program intended to define and sculpt your body without the need for weights, super intense cardio or jumps.
In the very neat PiYo package you get 8 varied workouts on 3 DVDs, an alignment breakdown, the ‘Get Lean Eating Plan’, the carefully mapped out PiYo calendar and a measuring tape to track your progress. PiYo promises to give you rapid results without the frantic fitness regime of similar programs out there, so I was more than interested to give this a go and see just how it does that.
As a Yoga teacher I must admit I was a little dubious about this Pilates and Yoga fusion workout, knowing already the incredible benefits of Yoga I was interested to see how this program would be delivered. If you are expecting to begin each workout with meditation and finish laying on your back with deep breathing then you can forget it, PiYo has been created purely for the physical body and targets just that.
Taking out the strengthening and stretching poses from Yoga and some great core and body conditioning moves from Pilates and combining these with low impact routines that really work the body from head to toe do cause you to break into a sweat. The program is laid out perfectly to enable you to get the most out of each workout. As the workouts get more advance, your strength and flexibility will have improved too. I was amazed at just how quickly I noticed results.
PiYo aims to burn up to 1000 calories per session and I believe if you work to your maximum you would achieve this as it works the entire body, gets your heart pumping and your muscles firing. I personally loved this program. It pushed me to work hard and I actually felt the areas of my body that each movement was targeting, and the great thing was I didn’t feel totally exhausted by the end of it. There was no dread as I grabbed my mat and prepared myself for the session of the day as each workout is led so well by Chalene Johnson, enjoyable to do and doesn’t push your body or your comfort zone too far beyond unreasonable, unreplicable limits.
In a statement about PiYo, Chalene Johnson says “I wanted to create something that was dynamic and made people feel athletic and have a strong core, but with flexibility too. I wanted to wake up in the morning and not feel beaten up.”
Chalene Johnson has well and truly stuck to her promise. She has created a workout that people of all fitness levels can do. There are options throughout to modify certain exercises and you are encouraged to work within your limits.
Each workout focuses on a different area and includes Define: Lower Body, Define: Upper Body, Sweat, Core, Buns, Strength Intervals, Drench and Sculpt. The routines will include Yoga poses you may recognise and also PiYo’s own movements such as beast, PiYo plank and PiYo cross.
Summary: A fantastic at home fitness program that will work your entire body. Whatever your fitness level, you’ll able modify this workout to your needs and won’t feel overwhelmed by the intensity of the sessions. You may even enjoy working out, because I did, and acquire more energy to carry you through your day. PiYo is easy to follow and you don’t need to be a fitness expert to attempt this workout. You will be guided safely through each session and when buy the PiYo package you even get free online support.
Program rating: 9/10
Favourite quotes:
- “No weights, no jumps, just hardcore results.”
- “We’re going to use your body to sculpt your body.”
Feel free to find out more about what PiYo can do for you via Beachbody, Facebook and Twitter.
