PIIT28 – 1st Week of March

Now that PIIT28 is out and being done, I wanted to give my impression of the actual workouts and see how the program stacks up to similar kinds.

3/1/16 PIIT 1.1: Abdomination

I was so happy and excited to join in on Cassey’s live video! I had never watched a live video before. Not when it was live anyway. Her hair got so messy! Such a little thing and yet it made me super happy because it was a real sign that she’s just like everybody else. She always looks perfect in her Youtube videos and in her DVDs so to see her not looking perfect was great. I like seeing my instructors sweat and get tired and look imperfect. By the end of the class, they looked like me!

While the PIIT28 videos in the Portal only guide you through one round of the day’s workout, Cassey led us through the entire thing in the live video. By the way, that video is available on Facebook now so you can still work out with Cassey and the other instructors even if you missed it live. It’s entitled “Starting piit28 1.1: ABDOMINATION like now! Join in!!!” and is under the All Videos section. Sorry, I couldn’t figure out how to link directly to the video, but it’s easy to find.

She also included the warm-up that we do before every workout and the Total Body Flexy cooldown/stretch that we are instructed to do after the Abdomination workout.

The first round was good but hard. After the 2nd round, I was huffing and puffing and was totally needing a break. Strangely enough, Cassey wasn’t kidding when she said it was all downhill from there. I was able to work harder in the 3rd round and was seriously huffing and puffing by the end and trying to slow my racing heart. The amazing thing was during the 4th round though. I was able to push myself harder than ever! How that happened, I don’t know. Usually I’m about ready to die long before then and can barely move. This time I got a rush of adrenaline and managed to work harder than ever. It was great!

I was riding an endorphin high for hours after. Of course, when the high wore off I totally crashed but I was still happy. Super sleepy, but totally happy.

The move I had to modify the most was the Plank Jack. I’ve always been awful at this move. My entire body gets super tired super quick, especially my abs and shoulders. It’s an awesome move because it’s super effective by seriously working your entire body. This move means serious business.

Plank Jacks – Jump your feet out and then back in

3/2/16 PIIT 1.2: Perfect Legs

OMG! So awesome. If my reaction to these workouts keeps up, I’ll know that Cassey has hit on that wonderful sweet spot that triggers the endorphin release. I should be dying by the end of the workout but by that last round I’m full of energy and just want to give it my all! Don’t get me wrong. I’m huffing and puffing and there are times I want to fall over. There are times I have to take mini breaks and moves I have to modify.

The Frogger Hops were the worst but, whereas I didn’t even want to try to manage them in the beginning (I walked them out the first 2 rounds), I was able to do so in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Not the entire time perhaps, but in 5-15 second spurts.

Frogger Hops – Jump your feet from plank towards your hands then back to plank

3/3/16 PIIT28 1.3: Ultimate Upper Body

Today was an upper body day. I’d like to say something whose initials are B and S but I try not to cuss in this blog. Yeah, the upper body was the focus. Did we only work upper body though? Does Pilates ever only work on one part of the body? Nope. Uh uh. I don’t think so. But the focus was on the arms for the strength training segments. And boy do my arms hurt!

Out of the workouts so far, I found this to be the most difficult. This is my first “negative’ review. It was full of push-ups. I’m all right with push-ups to a certain extent but I don’t like them. Why? Because they’re HARD!

The hardest move was the end move. The Piked Hops.

[Haven’t found suitable pictures for this move. Check back later.]

I’m seeing a pattern here for the moves I find most difficult. Are you? Whole body floor cardio moves. Seriously THE MOST difficult moves I can do are these types of moves. Serious moves, serious results. There are two modifications for this move: 1) bend your knees when you hop, 2) walk it out instead of hop.

Really, this workout was seriously good but also seriously hard. I hated it but I’m sure my arms will be all, “Look at us! We’re so strong! Booyah!” later on so this is a love/hate relationship. Again I had to pretend to be an instructor to push myself through the workout. This tactic really helps for me seeing as how I want to be an instructor.

3/4/16 PIIT28 1.4: Lean Body

I like total body workouts, but I never thought I’d think it was easy. In comparison with yesterday’s arm workout, however, this was easy! I pushed myself through all the moves and powered through it! This time I listened to music so I was able to concentrate on the music instead of having to pretend to be an instructor to get through it.

The Jumping Lunges were too much for me. I didn’t even attempt them because I have a pain in my tush (ha ha). Last spring/summer I pushed myself too hard doing jumping lunges and pulled a muscle in my butt. Laugh all you want but it HURT! And it kept me out of business for too long while it healed. I recognized the warning pain this time and stuck with regular Alternating Lunges rather than jumping ones.

Jumping Lunges – Jump to switch sides

3/5/16 PIIT28 1.5: Cardio Camp

It hasn’t even been a week and I already feel stronger! I could get through the moves a lot better now though I was still mopping the sweat from my face. There was only one move I had to tweak and that was because I had no indoor exercise shoes.

Let me explain…We don’t wear shoes in the house. My running shoes are super dirty from walking around in muddy and dusty areas (dirt roads all over the area we live). My indoor running shoes are with my husband because I forgot to ask him to bring them down to me. My workout area is in my bedroom.

It’s not a good idea to do cardio moves barefoot but I’m very careful (famous last words before she breaks her ankle) so I haven’t had a problem so far. In today’s PIIT28 workout, however, there’s a move called Clap Unders required too much oomph to have a careful landing. Too much for my ability level anyway. My left arch wasn’t having it so I modified the move and walked it out instead of jumped.

[Haven’t found suitable pictures for this move. Check back later.]

It’s just as well that I walked that one instead of jumping – the rest of the workout more than made up for it. And I was able to continue to work harder on the other moves. All’s well that ends well. Next time my husband visits though, I want my indoor exercise shoes.

Tomorrow is a rest day so I’m signing off on this first week today. What a week! My body is sore and feeling absolutely GREAT! I am LOVING this program! I’ll continue next week with more PIIT28 days to let you know how I continue to feel and think about the program etc.

Click on the above picture to buy the PIIT28 program

*NOTE* I’ve taken out the gifs of Cassey actually doing the exercises because they came from the PIIT28 package and I don’t want to accidentally infringe on copywrite laws. The pictures here now are screenshots from some of her free POP Pilates/PIIT Youtube videos.