I have a background in yoga – I took a half-year class my junior year of high school and I absolutely loved it. Since coming to college, I knew I wanted to get back into yoga (because no one wants to acquire the famed freshman fifteen). My roommate and I went to a few yoga classes the first couple of weeks of school to test the waters, and see what we were going to be up to. There was one class that we saw on the weekly schedules that we were both apprehensive about – PiYo. Not only did the name sound strange, but it was listed as a ‘high intensity’ workout, which to me at the time meant that I wouldn’t be able to move at the end of the workout. My roommate actually ended up convincing me to go, because she at least wanted to try it before writing it off as too hard for us to do.

When we went to our first class, our instructor Nicole asked us if we had ever done anything pilates or yoga-related before, to which I told her about how I took yoga in high school but that was the extent of my knowledge. She just smiled at me and told me that there was definitely more pilates than yoga in the class, but she was glad we’d decided to come and see what PiYo really is.

The class consisted of five different “sections”, each lasting from three to five minutes. The first three sections consisted of lots of yoga-esque poses with a twist to them, making them more difficult. These sections were fast-paced and meant to get you the cardio training of a lifetime. The fourth section was mainly abs, which I hated, and still hate to this day. The last section was a cooldown (thankfully), which was by far the easiest and most yoga-based part of the class.

Needless to say, by the end of class, I was sweating buckets. And I mean literal buckets. Sweat was dripping into my eyes and onto my yoga mat, and my face was the color of a tomato. Leaving class, I had a rough time walking down the stairs to get out of the rec center because my legs were so tired.

I’m not a fitness buff, never have been, probably never will be. But this class was one the best things about my first semester at school. Not only did it aid me in my journey of staying away from the freshman fifteen, it gave me some muscle. I went to class almost every week – give or take a couple skipped for studying purposes – and it was a very worthwhile experience. Our instructor worked to make it incredibly fun as well, playing different songs while we worked out and creating different routines often to keep us engaged and not bored with the same material.

I think the best part about the whole experience was that I really did see a change in what I could do, from the first class to the last class. My last class was hardly a breeze, but I was noticeably less sweaty and fatigued, and a paler tomato shade rather than raging red like my first class. I noticed I was able to complete much more of the workout than I was able to when I first started – usually I would duck into child’s pose if I couldn’t complete the last set or two of a section. My last class, I didn’t need to duck out of anything – maybe slow it down a bit, but I didn’t have to completely stop working out because I was too overworked. It was very rewarding and gratifying to see that my hard work was paying off and this was something that my body was getting used to doing.

All in all, I cannot wait until next semester’s PiYo classes start up.