Lousiann McDole leads the new DePauw Fitness class 'PiYo.'
CHRISTA SCHODEL / THE DEPAUW
Instructor Lousiann McDole brings an intensive, one hour workout experience known as PiYo to DePauw students.
Thinking about the PiYo class ahead of me I didn’t know what to expect. I assumed it would be relaxing and calming much like the yoga classes I have taken in the past. Despite being slightly worried about my ability to do PiYo, I threw on some leggings and made my way to the Lily center. After setting up my yoga mat and taking a healthy dose of Gatorade, our instructor McDole started talking about what we could expect from the class.
“PiYo is all about flexibility, balance and strength," McDole said. "It gives you the long lean dancer body that everyone idolizes. It's going to be hard, but you can hate me tomorrow."
Immediately my mind flooded with images of Beyonce and Iggy, thinking that this one hour class was going to get me that “hot bod.”
Starting off was nice -- lots of deep breathing and stretching to warm up our bodies. Being naïve, I assumed that the stretching was going to be the bulk of our work out. Boy was I wrong! Almost immediately, fast paced music began playing and our instructor took off, beginning the actual workout. I did my best to keep up. I started getting my body into various yoga poses while doing what felt like the worst cardio of my life.
As the class progressed, the difficulty kept getting worse and worse. A third of the way through I started to notice the sweat pouring from my body. I would say anything that I drank within the previous 24 hours started seeping through my pores. Needless to say I was a hot mess.
After a few more intricate poses, I looked up at the clock expecting to see that the hour was up and that I survived PiYo. Instead I discovered that only 30 minutes had passed. I realized that my bottle was getting near empty. I had to start rationing my Gatorade for fear of passing out on the mat.
Looking around I was shocked to see how calm and put together the other seven ladies in the class were. It was like they did this everyday of their life. The girl next to me gave me a very encouraging smile, which helped me push through the last five minutes.
After we worked out, McDole had us lay on our mats, with the lights off just breathing. This confused me, because we were still trying to workout, however my exhausted body was thankful for the few minutes of rest. It was probably the most relaxed I've been during my first few weeks at DePauw.
While PiYo was a difficult exercise class to take, I think it was very beneficial to me. Hopefully I can make it out every Sunday to take the class. Who knows? Maybe it will get me one step closer to Beyonce’s body.