On Fear and PiYo

Thursday night marked my return to fitness. I had been working on a big project for my day job that had kept me in the office until 7pm or later each night for most of January so fitness was put on the back burner in favor of sleep. My eating stayed in check and overall I came out relatively unscathed, but I feel my muscles losing their tone. I knew I couldn't keep sliding by any longer. The project ended and I needed to get back on the exercise horse. I had a Groupon that would get me two months worth of classes at a place near work. I was excited about the idea of having some options and not having to stick to the same routine. I decided to try PiYo. The write up on the website didn't give many details other than it was great for weight loss and toning. I enjoy both of those things so I signed up for their class at 5:30pm. I was nervous. I knew it was partially due to not knowing the lay of the land, having to find a new spot in a new locker room, not knowing where the studio was, etc etc. I also had to keep reminding myself that the studio would not be 105 degrees, and I would not want to vomit-that was strangely hard to keep in mind after months of Bikram. I also knew the root of the fear was about moving on in my journey. I have worked hard at maintenance all of these months, but really, it's time to move forward.

I walked into the place and it was a bit meh. By meh I mean it was kind of bare bones, had a strange layout and the young (slightly inarticulate) staff didn't even require me to fill out any kind of personal information. Hmmm...hope I don't break my arm here.

So class begins and most people have their shoes off. Ok, I guess this is a barefoot class, good to know. Everyone grabs grungy black yoga mats from a cubby. Ok, I will get one too (although I have my own  CLEAN mat and would have been happy to bring it). I adjust my my mat with standard etiquette only to have a late comer plant herself directly in front of me adn the mirror. Bad Karma, late comer, bad Karma. So the playmate and cheerleader instructor announces that this class is a Pliates and Yoga combo for people who are too ADD for Pilates and Yoga (her words, not mine). Ok...I like pilates and yoga...so..this could be cool. I also should have totally figured out what the class was by the title. However, I also think that the best place to find a good class description would be in the description on the studio website. I digress. The music bagn and we were off like crazy monkeys without a real warm up or any instructions or corrections on form. We just had to follow the pretzel-y playmate and cheerleader instructor jarring our necks every which way to see what we were supposed to do in the very cold room. It definitely kept my heart rate up and I have definitely been sore for days so I know my muscles were worked, but my neck is a mess! I left very concerned and wanting to call the Pilates and Yoga police (does that exist?!) Friday I did some research and PiYo is an actual fitness practice, but I found my experience to be extremely dangerous. I'm sure there are places and instructors who teach it well, so I would like to think I just happened on the worst place to take it. One thing I learned from doing so many months of Bikram is that form and breathing are vital. We did not focus on either.

Imagine doing this for the very first time (with no level one option) in a dim, freezing room with loud music making it so you can barely hear the playmate and cheerleader instructor.


This new place offers some Zumba classes so I am going to stick to those. Yeesh. I just don't trust them and I do not like feeling that way about a fitness studio.

However, three cheers for me for getting back on track!