PIYO Challenge Diary: Week 5 of 8

So, after an unplanned week off due to being sick, I was back on track this week. Here are my thoughts at the half way point:

The Good:

• It helped me to ease back into regular workouts. A lot of the workouts are short, especially in the first couple of weeks, which definitely makes it easier. And knowing I have a schedule to follow, Husband knows that when we get home from work, I'll be doing a workout. Actually, having a schedule to follow has been good for me too - there is no thinking about what workout to do. Schedules don't always work for me - in the past there have been times when trying to stick to a schedule has just made me feel stressed and overwhelmed - can't say it won't happen again, but so far so good.
• I know that I am getting a good workout. But the segments are short, and before you know it you skip on to a different type of exercise, so it feels doable. 
• Burpees! I've always thought I couldn't do them. Any time I have seen burpees demonstrated, it's always been with the feet in a narrow stance; so you crouch down with your hands on the floor, legs bent so your knees are tucked in between your arms and below/against your chest. I totally can't do that. I always want to have my feet wide, so I always thought I was doing it wrong. The burpees in PIYO are from a Sumo squat - feet wide outside the arms. I can totally do that, so I'm just feeling really good that I'm doing burpees. Please don't tell me they don't count, I don't care! 

The Bad:

• Side planks. Pilates roll ups too, but mostly side planks. In the first few workouts my reaction was: these are hard, but I will get better. I could actually manage to hold a few full side planks before I would have to modify and put down one knee. Then I seemed to hit a wall where I felt like I could not even hold the modified ones, so I end up just getting frustrated and giving up (See the Core workout from week 4). And it's not like I can do everything else perfectly - there are quite a few things that I need to modify - but for some reason I am feeling defeated when it comes to the Core moves. This is maybe not necessarily a bad thing about the program - more like JavaChick + PIYO - but...I guess I feel like you can jump into the "hard" really fast with this program, without having a chance to build up to things. I also feel like I don't quite know  how to express this, and maybe it's just me.
• Disk 1 of my set started having problems early on - as early as the second week I think? It would stick in spots. I would take it out, try dusting it off. Maybe the next time it would play just fine. Then it would start sticking again. Now it completely skips segments of the workout. The first time it happened, I wasn't sure, so I just kept going. The second time, it actually skipped two segments, and I knew that was wrong; that time I was able to get it to go back and play the skipped content. Today it skipped again, and I could not get it to play, so I just had to miss one section of the workout. The good news is: I emailed them and they said they would ship another disk. Of course, it will take a couple of weeks to get here and by then I will be almost done.

Honestly, I really like this program. There are a lot of ads on the disks, and in a couple of the workouts Chalene actually pitches Shakeology and Beach Body Wear...I could do without that, but I also am quite capable of just ignoring it.

I like working out with dumbbells. I find it to be very satisfying. But there is something impressive about this type of workout - watching a strong yoga practictioner, for example, or the people in these PiYo DVDs - it looks so effortless, there is a fluidity and gracefulness to it, but it takes a lot of strength. Possibly it is the awkward, clumsy part of me that is attracted to this, but I want to be able to do it!

I guess that's what it comes down to. The workouts are challenging, but I want to keep doing them because I want to get better at it.

Full disclosure on this week:

• I was apprehensive when Core came around again. There are one or two other workouts that do have side plank moves in them, and I hadn't found them any better, even though I've been trying really hard to approach it with a positive attitude. So when I did Core this time, I mostly just ignored what they were doing on screen, went at my own pace, and gave myself a chance to work  on it. I still can't keep up with the actual workout, but I am doing something and I will get better.
• I didn't finish Drench on Thursday. About half way through, I felt like I had something stuck to the bottom of my big toe (right foot). I pulled it off and it turned out to be a piece of skin. Ow. Not quit sure what happened there. Anyway, just a little piece of skin, so no need to wimp out, right? Except that I'm trying to do planks, lunges, downward dogs, and rubbing my toe against the yoga mat. It was stinging and I was trying to remember when was the last time I cleaned this mat anyway? No matter how much I told myself to just suck it up, I wasn't planting my foot properly, and I was afraid I was going to turn my ankle or something, so I finally gave up. Just call me Wimpy JavaChick.

Anyone know what this bird is?