Review of Beachbody PiYo Day 2

Day 2: Define Lower Body

Day 2 of PiYo was Define Lower Body. This was my first time doing this workout. I was pretty scared going into it. I'm 270 pounds. Yoga and Pilates have never really been anything I thought I could do. I got this workout because I wanted to try Shakeology and getting it with a challenge pack meant I got the best deal. The PiYo challenge pack was on sale so my logical brain forced me to get this one since I didn't think I'd ever get it for that same price again. I loved the structure of Les Mills Combat and wanted to get back to that structure, so I decided to give PiYo a whirl and see how it went. 

The Workout

The workout is just under 21 minutes. It started off with a 2 minute and 37 second warm up. There is a timer on the screen that shows you how much time is left in the workout and how much time is left in the segment that you are doing. Timers in the past have driven me crazy, but I grew to love my timer in Les Mills Combat. It was nice having it in this, but I spent so much time with my head facing downward that I barely noticed the timer in this. 

So the warm up starts out with some squatting down while doing some arm circles. We did some stretching of the arm up over the head. Then we did the PiYo Cross. We didn't learn this in the introduction video. I would have liked to learn this one slower. There was some rounding of the back and squatting while doing some arm stuff and moving left and right. It was a bit much for my brain that early in the morning. We went back to the squatting and arm circles and then back to the PiYo Cross. Then we did some folding in half and some leg stretches. More squatting with arm circles. She talked about form for a good portion of it. More PiYo Cross! I still don't think I did it right. More folding forward and leg stretching. 

The next segment was 4 minutes and 10 seconds. It was called Heat Building. We did some more folding forward before we dropped down into plank position on our hands. I love plank on the hands! Then we did some pushups. I'm not so good with tricep pushups! Okay off to Downward Dog. I love that Chalene's Downward Dog doesn't look very pretty! She bends her knees. We stood back up and did more folding forward and back into plank. Then we did Updog and back to Downward Dog. Then back up again. More folding and back to plank. Back to Updog and then Downward Dog. Then the fun began. We got into High Lunge with our hands up in the air! We dropped down into the lunge as our arms came out to our sides. This was hard without a mat. My feet slid. Then we went to runners lunge. Then back to Downward Dog. We repeated the lunge on the other side. She spent more time on form and where we should be feeling the movements. Back to plank and then Downward Dog.

The next segment was just under five minutes and it was called Warrior Series. We started off with Warrior 1. We did some lunging in Warrior 1 with our arms up over our heads. Then we went into Warrior 2. We did some lunging in Warrior 2 as well. Then we went to Triangle. I had a hard time with this little segment because I'm not familiar enough with all of the poses even though I did the tutorial. It's hard to remember them all in one day. Then we went down to low lunge again. We then went into Warrior 1 again. Then Warrior 2 again with some lunging. Then Triangle again. Back to Low Lunge! Then Downward Dog. We went back into Warrior 1 with the other leg forward. We went through it all again. 

The next segment was just over 4 minutes. We went back to the Warrior Pose again, but then quickly went to Pyramid Pose. It just seemed like Warrior 1, but leaning over. Then we went into Warrior 3 which involves balancing on one leg. I'm not so good with this. I did have to use my window seat. We then went into Half Moon which was easier since I got to have one hand on the ground. Then we had both hands on the ground in 3 Point. She talked more about form with this which was helpful. We then crunched down and put our weight on our arms and she called it Crouching Crow. We didn't do that one for long. I kinda liked it! We then switched sides and did it again. 

The next segment was just under five minutes. It was the Down Dog Series. We did some plank position into Up Dog and then went into Down Dog again. We then put one foot up. Then we opened our hip out. Then we got down onto the floor and did Pigeon. I'm not sure if I did it correctly, but I did feel the stretch. Then back to Down Dog Split which has the closed hip. Then we opened the hip up again and back into Pigeon. Back to Down Dog and then we did it all again with the opposite leg. We ended in Child's Pose. She seems to think we should be grateful for doing Child's Pose. I might be doing it wrong, but it just doesn't make me all happy happy to do Child's Pose. She then did a little Shakeology commercial. The workout started with a Shakeology commercial too. 

I felt all nice and stretched out again after doing this workout. I didn't have Jell-o legs and my legs didn't give out on me on the way to the shower, but I felt like I got a good workout in. I'll get better as I do it more. Although, you don't do this workout for very long. I think it's only in there two or three more times. Tomorrow is Define Upper Body. I'm kind of excited to try it! 

BodyMedia Screen Shot

I'm not going to post the website screen shot because to be honest, I'm not even sure I could tell the difference between the workout and me getting my food ready for the day. I was sweating and my heart was pumping, but I didn't get much of a calorie burn on this. It was a short workout so that's part of it, but there's not just a lot of movement going on. It's all slow and controlled. Here is the workout tab though.