JOYN Focused Power 4.1

JOYN 

If you have never heard of JOYN my dear fat friends, you are missing out!  They have body-positive, fat-positive, joyful trainers leading those who want to participate in joyful movement.  I found JOYN as part of my HAES (Health at Every Size) work.  Note: JOYN does require membership for some videos and Focused Power is not a free offering, but they have tons for free.

HAES has meant a lot to me.  I let go of the cultural standards for my appearance and focus on my health.  I'd left behind my need to make choices based on cultural norms a hot minute ago.  I care about my health.  I do not mind at all if I am healthy but remain fat.  I want to be strong.  I do not want to spend my late years fighting illness from my younger years.  My health requires I eat fairly clean to feel well and force myself to move when my natural tendency is to be still and in my head. 

Focused Power 4.1

Anyway, back to JOYN and today's Focused Power 4.1.  It is a 23 minute streamed video.  I watch it from the JOYN app on my Firestick for TV.  It is led by one of their fun and enjoyable to watch instructors, Kanoa.  She does not have a bio on the instructor's portion of the website, so I can't tell you much about her.  I realize I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt here but, I think it is unfortunate that she has 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1,3.2,3.3,4.1,4.2,4.3 of these Focused Power videos yet they do not have a nice bio for this lovely fun woman.  I chose Focused Power 4.1 to start because I was curious about the agility and plyometric exercises.  I am 5'10' and 284 pounds (thank you VSG as this is 60lbs gone in 5 months) I have never been agile and I had never heard of plyometrics so I was curious. 

BTW, Alexa says that plyometrics is a form of exercise that involves the rapid stretching and contracting of muscles to increase power.  Honestly, I'm not sure why this video would be labled plyometrics because for me it is like any other low-impact aerobic workout.  I'm not educated in such things though.

I decided to give it a go.  I have been away from my strength routine since our pool water became too cold to do water workouts.  Strength training in the pool has been my go-to strength workout since the surgery.  I'll share my pool strength workout in a different post.  I've been away from exercise for about a month and 15 minutes into the video it became obvious as it was wearing me out after 2 times through the routine.  The routine is about 6 bodyweight exercises each done for 30 seconds then quickly move to the next.  Modified jumping jacks, shuffles, modified mountain climbers, etc.  I enjoyed myself, it was easy to follow, and didn't require more space than I have in my family room.  I didn't like that I really needed a stool to do the mountain climbers and it wasn't mentioned as a modifier to use the wall until she had already started.  I like it when instructors let you know upfront equipment and modifiers.  Overall, I would suggest checking this video out for beginning movement, getting your heart pumping, and feeling the burn in your hip area.  

The Focused Power series on JOYN has a system that includes a . (dot) to indicate how tough the version of the video is intended to be.  Thus, 4.1 was easiest, 4.2 would be moderate, and 4.3 harder.  I was going to start with 1.2 because based on the labeling I thought it would be a total body workout in medium difficulty.  I admit I was disappointed to start 1.2 and find it is only lower-body but for 30 minutes.  In order to get my full-body strength workout, the Focus Power series would require about an hour of my time to do 1.2 and 3.2.  I'll give it a go but that is a lot for me to try and keep the dog off of me and the kids out of my business.  After today I may have to back it down to the easier to help my body catch up with where I had been a month ago.   

My plan is to next check out JOYN Dance Crush #1 and let you know what I think.

🕊 PEACE 🕊