Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

* See my update from 10/11/14 at the end of this review for more thoughts about the program. ~~ BACKGROUND INFO ~~ I ordered the Deluxe version of this set when it first came out about six weeks ago, and so far I really love the workouts; I find them to be fun and challenging. Although I love yoga, it's hard to fit it into my workout schedule, so I ordered this in the hopes that it would help me add in some much-needed flexibility training. For that purpose, I really like it -- but it's definitely a program where you'd want to add in more training. Before PiYo came out, I watched an interview with Chalene, and she even said that PiYo works best as an add-on to other programs. As a bit of background, I consider myself to be an advanced exerciser, and usually work out with instructors/programs like Cathe Freidrich, Shaun T, Fusion Fitness/Dream Body, and Sylwia Weisenberg/Tonique. (I'm also not affiliated with Beachbody in any way.) Since I had been doing a lot of intense workouts before the PiYo set came out, I decided to back off a bit, and I've been mixing the PiYo workouts in with the Fe Fit in-Home Workout DVDs for Women with 28 vidoes workouts. All of the workouts from both PiYo and Fe Fit are about thirty minutes long, so I've been doing one of each each day -- and have been getting better results that I was getting with my more intense workouts. My husband even commented on my increased arm definition. The two have been working really well together for me, but I know other people who are combining PiYo with other programs and who have also been getting nice results. As mentioned in my review title, if you prefer to do more traditional yoga and pilates workouts, you may not click with this set, but if you're looking for a fun way to mix in more flexibility and non-traditional strength training, you'll probably like these. ~~ THE WORKOUTS ~~ The times that are listed on the first printing of this system are incorrect, so here is a quick listing of the workouts with their correct times: * Align -- 40 minutes; gives you an overview of the program and the proper way to do the moves * Define: Lower Body -- 29:05 minutes * Define: Upper Body -- 18:48 minutes * Sweat -- 36:51 minutes * Core -- 30:18 minutes * Buns -- 28:19 minutes * Strength Intervals -- 21:52 minutes * Drench -- 48:08 minutes * Sculpt -- 26:37 minutes * Bonus workout: Turbo Fire Low HIIT 20 * Bonus: Hardcore on the Floor -- 33:30 minutes; bonus workout if you order the set directly from Beachbody * Bonus: Full Body Blast -- 29:09 minutes; done with gliders; part of the Deluxe set or you can order this and Strong Legs separately; this and the Strong Legs workouts are my favorites; if you love using gliding disks, these two are worth the extra cost * Bonus: Strong Legs -- 25:09 minutes; done with gliders; part of the Deluxe set or you can order this and Full Body Blast separately ~~ GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE WORKOUTS ~~ Chalene leads each workout, and there are three background exercisers in each one, one of whom is a modifier. I love Chalene's Turbo Fire workouts but never quite clicked with her with Chalene Extreme -- but I love her personality in these. She's very positive and encouraging, and she always encourages you to use good form. The cueing isn't as great as it could be throughout all of the workouts, so sometimes I have to look at my TV to see what she's doing if she's not completely cueing the sequence. Chalene also mirror cues, which is really nice and makes following along much easier. Just be careful about going at your own pace. In one workout, Chalene encouraged us to "go lower" while in a sumo squat; I usually always listen to my body, but, very foolishly, went lower -- and ended up with a bad pull as a result. Since then, I've paid better attention to where I'm at with my flexibility, and can tell that I'm slowly making progress. There is also a countdown timer in the lower left corner of the screen so you know how long is left in each workout. ~~ EQUIPMENT ~~ One of the great things about the PiYo workouts is that all you need is a mat to do all of the workouts. If you order the bonus FBB and SL workouts, you do need gliding disks, but otherwise a yoga mat is all you need. Some of the workouts are done barefoot, but in most of them Chalene has you wear athletic shoes. They are basically all bodyweight workouts, and so even though you don't use weights, I have always felt nicely challenged when doing these since I struggle especially with upper-body strength. ~~ MUSIC ~~ I love the music on this set -- but it's so low that it's really hard to hear! When I turn up the volume to hear the music, Chalene's voice gets way too loud. It would have been great to have had a "music louder" option on this set. ~~ MY OVERALL IMPRESSIONS ~~ We all have different tastes in instructors and programs, but, as I mentioned at the start of my review, I find these workouts to be a lot of fun and a nice break from the more traditional weight and cardio workouts I'd been doing. My only concern is that I'm not sure how I'll continue to use these once I change up my workouts and move back to doing hour-long workouts again; since these clock in at about 30 minutes each, they'd be too much for me personally to add on to longer workouts since I usually only have an hour to work out each day. On the Beachbody website, there are hybrid rotation calendars that combine PiYo and Focus T25 and P90X3 (and I'll link to these worksheets in the Comments section of my review since Amazon doesn't let us link to outside products/sites in the main body of reviews), but if you're used to do longer workouts, it'll be hard to fit these in as add-ons. I personally feel like I'm getting stronger, more flexible, and more defined because of this set. It's not an intense workout like Insanity or Focus T25, but I seem to be getting better results (partially because I'm sure my eating is more in check) with these less-intense but still challenging workouts. Hope that helps! If you have any questions, let me know in the comments section, and I'll do my best to answer them. :-) UPDATE ON 10-11-14: After having this set for a few months, I can honestly say that doing 2-3 of the workouts each week has made a tremendous difference in my arm strength and flexibility. When I've been consistent about adding these workouts in a few days a week (and I just do whichever ones sound like fun), my arms have more definition and I have been able to do things like full-body triceps push-ups, which I've never been able to do before. My flexibility has also improved. I'm really impressed with this set, and the gains I've made by adding these workouts in.