PIYO Challenge Diary: Week 8 of 8

The good news is that week 8 was a complete turnaround from week 7; I had my energy back, and I was back to loving PiYo. Honestly, I was feeling so disappointed during week 7 because I went from feeling pretty great about the workouts to not wanting to do them at all. Maybe I should have given myself a few days off, but I was so focused on the fact that I was two weeks away from finishing the schedule.

From Tuesday on I was back to feeling good. I was marking off workouts, counting down to the last one where I could say: I did it!

Here comes the bad news...

I had to work Sunday morning. It only happens every few months, and most of the time - not every time, but usually - we're done by late morning/early afternoon.

But of course this Sunday there were delays starting, so we had to wait around. It was somewhere around noon when we finally got started, and then it was around 5 pm when we finished. I was tired and cranky, I had other things to do, and I didn't want to go back to that place where I was begrudging the workout...Of course the last one would be Drench too, which is the longest workout on the schedule. So I decided I would do it on Monday.

Monday, of all days, we were late leaving work.

I could have done it today, but I kind of feel like the moment has passed. This week was already planned out in my mind. So I'm skipping it.

Technically, that means I've missed two workouts, because I missed one a  couple of weeks ago as well. And, it took me 9 weeks, because I was sick in the middle. So you can call that a fail if you want. I actually am okay with it. It's the consistency that is important, in my mind anyway. It's not like there were 8 weeks and then it's done forever, I actually am rolling right back into another round of PiYo, though I will be doing a bit of a hybrid this time around, at least to start; we'll see how it goes.

So somewhat of an anticlimactic end to my PiYo Challenge, but there it is.

As for the results - I do feel like I have increased my strength and flexibility. In the beginning, I was often getting muscle cramps in my foot, and/or my hip when doing the workouts - those have all but disappeard. I have lost a few pounds. I haven't done measurements yet, but I doubt there is a huge difference (to be fair, my eating was not very consistent, as usual). I do think I can see a slight difference in my upper arms, but probably no one else would notice.

That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but for me it was a success because I wanted to do the workouts, I stuck with the program for 8 weeks, and I enjoyed most of it. I feel proud of what I was able to do, and that I was able to improve. I want to do more and get even stronger. I definitely feel a bit of a confidence boost. All that, to me, adds up to success.

I forgot to post my August workout summary last week - too busy counting down those last workouts...Better late than never!The gap right at the beginning is where I got sick at the end of week 4.

August
02: PIYO Sweat
09: PIYO Sweat
10: PIYO Strength Intervals
11: PIYO Sculpt
12: PIYO Sweat
13: PIYO Core
14: PIYO Drench
16: PIYO Buns
17: PIYO Strength Intervals
18: PIYO Drench
19: PIYO Core
20: PIYO Buns
21: PIYO Sculpt
24: PIYO Sweat
25: PIYO Sculpt
27: PIYO Sweat
28: PIYO Core
29: PIYO Buns
30: PIYO Drench
31: PIYO Strength Intervals