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PiYo Review: Find Your Flexibility

piyo-picIt had been nearly a year since I’d worked out, and I felt like I needed something to make me feel better. If you’ve glanced at any of the other FBG sites, you’d notice that I’ve been going through quite a bit lately and have had little opportunity to work out. This time, I made room. I decided that for the couple of months I had to spare, I would do my best to feel better about myself.

So I took on PiYo. This term — PiYo — was not familiar to me when I first started, so I looked it up online to make sure it would be something I would benefit from and enjoy. After a short video watch, I was convinced that this would be sufficient for the time I had allotted to workout (60 days). I was glad that it was low impact because I needed that from past experience.

I did see in the video that it was led by none other than the Turbo Fire woman herself, Chalene Johnson. I was a bit hesitant because she was a little too cheerleader-y in that series, but I’m glad I stuck with it.

The workout combines moves in Pilates and yoga (hence PiYo), but in a much more fluid and constant motion. You are not standing or sitting still for very long while doing the moves, but you can feel yourself gaining flexibility. I was glad that it promoted more fluid motion because I’m not the kind of gal who likes to sit still when I work out. I have to be moving all the time. I feel like I’m getting more out of it or burning more calories, I guess.

Chalene leads the audience through a warm-up in each video that gets the body moving. I liked her explanations much more in this series than in the Turbo Fire series. She takes the time to make sure you know what you are doing and to modify it if something is not comfortable. She even has a fundamentals video that explains alignment and such to beginners.

She shows a modifier in each workout so you can work your way up to the more advanced moves at your pace. I certainly used the modifier moves in the beginning but eased my way out of those within a few weeks.

The program begins with short, 20-minute workouts for the upper and lower body. You need little to no equipment for it, which was good because I went back and forth to the lake with it a couple times and it was nice to be able to just haul the DVD and a yoga mat with me. There are even workouts that don’t require shoes. That was a plus for me. Yay — no shoes for a workout! After a couple weeks it moves into longer workouts, but none lasted more than 45 minutes, and that was only one workout. Most of the workouts were at or less than 30 minutes, which is great for people on the go.

The series has a total of seven workouts, all of which work different muscle groups and parts of the body. They ranged from a 20-minute upper or lower body workout to a much more intense 45-minute workout called Drench — and yes you were sufficiently drenched at the end. She also had a good one called Sweat and even threw in some HIIT training in the Strength Intervals workout. (And did I mention, no equipment?) There were times I wished I had small weights around to make an exercise a little more dynamic, but overall I didn’t miss them.

There was a lot of variety in the workouts, which was nice, and I liked that they were not terribly long, as we are all on the move and it can be hard to find the time to fit in a workout. I certainly felt better after I worked out and noticed I gained some flexibility.

The series comes with its own eating plan guide, too. I was mostly in it for feeling better about myself, and becoming more flexible rather than cutting calories to lose weight. I needed to make sure I was not going to shock my body when I stopped the program. But the guide was a good one for people who are looking to continue the series past the 60 days.

FBG Rating (Out of 5):
Instruction: ★★★★
Long-Term Likeability: ★★★1/2
Music: ★★★
Fun Factor: ★★★★
Meets Expectations: ★★★
Overall: ★★★1/2

Fit Bottomed Line: PiYo is definitely a great place to start if you are trying to get back into working out or want a break from all the other workouts that require lots of time and equipment. It’s certainly easy for people on the go as well. If you don’t have a yoga mat and are working in a room with carpet, you probably don’t even need the mat.

Do you like workouts with no equipment and less impact or do you feel like you are getting more out of a workout with weights and more impact? For more info on this program, contact our online bud Carly (who hooked us up with the DVDs for this review) by email, Facebook message or on Instagram!—Kelsey

FTC disclosure: We often receive products from companies to review. All thoughts and opinions are always entirely our own. Unless otherwise stated, we have received no compensation for our review and the content is purely editorial. Affiliate links may be included. If you purchase something through one of those links we may receive a small commission. Thanks for your support!