31. Lee Holden Qi Gong: Five Elements Energy Balance
…june 2022…
1.
JESSICA SMITH: 4 Mile Walk - Mile 1. I wanted to revisit Jessica’s music choices so did a quick mile. Ummmm!. P.M.
Yv2: WISI
2.
…rest day…
Peak Fit System w/Michelle Dozois. I bought this series from Mary on 12/26/17 for $27.00. This will be my first time doing any of the workouts. The intro describes this series as Metabolic Circuit Training. The goal is to keep going until I feel the need to move on.
Week 1
3.
PEAK FIT: Pure Strength 1 (virgin). Yesterday, I went through almost everything in my basement looking for the Peak Fit rotation calendar as I recalled looking at it about 6 months ago when I removed the DVDs from the original packaging and added them to multi disc DVD cases. Today, after I finished PS1, I found the rotation calendar in the only place that I didn’t look which was front & center, on my shelf of VIP workout books. I really enjoyed PS1. I love that it has a lot of core work through out the workout. I love the countdown counter and beeping noise as it gets closer to the end of a block. I love the production quality and the music isn’t bad either. The band that came with the set is hard to move, plus it looks like thick rubber (imagine if it snapped) and was coated in powder when I first took it out of the plastic bag. I’m not a fan of it so I used Cathe’s Boss Bands instead which worked great. I used lighter weights today because I wanted to get a feel for the workouts first. I like Michelle, she is very professional, her cueing is great and she is just awesome. Definitely impressed. The first workout should have been the Fit Test but I’m not doing that and today’s workout should have been Pure Cardio but I’ll do PC tomorrow. I’m glad I found the rotation calendar. P.M.
Yv2: SS
4.
PEAK FIT: Pure Cardio (virgin) + LEE HOLDEN: Qi Gong Five Elements Energy Balance, short version, 22mins (virgin). Loved Pure Cardio. I heard some Cathe CTX Cardio Kickbox music. Love that the impact is mixed and that the higher impact doesn’t go on forever. I loved that the base moves used a lot of kickboxing type moves. Michelle is an almost new instructor to me, although I have a few of her workouts. I have the CIA Power Bar VHS workout that Michelle did with her sister years ago but I probably only did that workout 1 time, years ago, and don’t recall anything about it. Anyway, Michelle is quickly becoming one of my favorite instructors. I loved the short version of Energy Balance too, it’s a standing meditation. I can’t believe I stood there for 22 minutes and that I was able to focus and clear my mind as Lee walked me through the postures. Lee describes it as, “standing postures of power that correlate to the five elements”. Love! P.M.
Yv2: RIO
5.
PEAK FIT: Dynamic Flex, 29 mins, (virgin). Another winner. Loved this. Good music and it started with a standing flow, then floor using the band (I used my Cathe fabric band again). I also tacked on a 5 minute segment of
Core Dynamics #4. Michelle suggested doing the full Core Dynamics workout or adding one of the 5 minute core segments at the end of the other workouts and I may do that in order to try each segment in small blocks. Loved the segment that I did as well. Y’all know how much I hate working my core but I may need to focus on that as well since having a strong core makes everything else feel easier. My Jessica workout is supposed to be delivered today so am hoping it will be delivered soon so that I can do it today.
6.
PEAK FIT: Cardio Strength 1, 60mins (virgin). Another good one. The only con is the first block is the warm up, starts with squats and squat presses and 3 minutes in, we’re doing burpees. Granted the burpees are not at a Cathe speed so there’s that. So, note to self: do a pre-warm up. Oddly enough I felt warmed up by the time we got to the burpees but I’m not going to push it so likely will do a pre-warm up going forward.
P.M.
JESSICA SMITH: Walk a 5K, w/u, M1, M2 of Steady Walk & 1/2 of M1 of Fast Walk (virgin). Beautiful scenery, Jessica looks so vibrant & heathy. I love Jessica’s energy & positivity. I loved the warm-up. I thought the music was just ok, louder than other Jessica’s that I own. I probably would have liked the music more if there were more variety to the step patterns. Lots of marching in place, step touches, double step touches, hamstring curls & knee ups, all going front & back, side to side. These type moves are hard on my left hip flexor which is the only reason I no longer do Leslie workouts. One of the reasons that I love Yv2 is because of the variety and that movements are across all planes of the body and not just front/back & side to side. I have done Yv2 workouts hundreds of times and never feel them in my hip flexor. If (never say never) I were to do 5K again I would only use 1 mile at a time probably as a warm up. I may send this to my sister. As I sit here typing, my left hip flexor is a little tight. I probably should have done the cool down just to see what type of stretches it has for the hip flexors and if doing the stretch would have made a difference in how my hip flexor feels at the moment. Ummmm!
7.
…rest day
8.
PEAK FIT: Cardio Interval Burn (virgin). Another winner, great series so far.P.M.
Yv2: SS
Week 2
9.
PEAK FIT: Pure Strength 1. Loving this even more, used heavier weights this time since I knew what to expect, love it, perfect amount of reps. I just love Michelle’s whole vibe and these are great workouts. As a system, these workouts are very balanced with the added bonus of having good music that is perfect with the choreography. P.M.
Yv2: MYB.
10.
PEAK FIT: Pure Cardio + Si6: Slim & Limber. Still love, I love that PC is not crazy hard with too much impact. Soaker hose type sweat = steady state for me. Every time I do S&L, I channel my friend, ASAS.
Maybe she’ll pop in sometime.
11.
PEAK FIT: Cardio Strength 1 - the endorphins are flowing. Second time thru, I’m digging the non traditional warm-up because I was really warmed up by the time we got to the blocks with the peaks. I was mopping sweat off my face. My towel was actually damp after I was done.Time to refill some electrolytes. I also settled on a challenging light to heavy weight so will do progressive overload each time I do these workouts.
12.
PEAK FIT: Dynamic Flexibility + Core Dynamics #3. Love, love, love, love!
13.
PFS: Cardio Strength 1. Did I mention that all these workouts have wonderful cool downs? CS1 felt harder today. Some idiot in my neighborhood decided to shoot fireworks at 4:19 and 4:36 this morning. Who does that?
14.
rest day…
15.
PFS: Cardio Interval Burn. What can I say, I still love it!!!!
Week 3
16.
PFS: Pure Strength 1 + LEE HOLDEN QI GONG: For A Healthy Heart, short version, 21mins (virgin).
x2. The short version of ..Healthy Heart is excellent. Will be great as an add-on or as a meditative pick me up. Love.
Lee Holden Qi Gong For A Healthy Heart
3 versions:
Extended version, 52 mins
Long version, 36 mins
Short version, 21 mins
I did the short version this morning, loved it! Soothing music, beautiful scenery as usual, on a beach, rocky shoreline, filmed as the sun was setting, just beautiful.
Short version:
Starts with hand to chest & belly, deep breaths
Spinal cord breathing
Knocking on sternum
Igniting inner fire and then a side to side flow doing this move (my hands got hot)
Heart to the sky
Bouncing/shaking
Gathering heart qi
Floating hands up, flick hand, float hands down
Grasping the bird’s tail
Coming home to the heart
The lotus blossom
Cloudy hands
The lotus flow
Another gathering qi flow
Taoist prayer position
Ends w/ hands in prayer position
Again, I loved it and plan to do this short version often. Nice flow and I felt so good when done! The qi is strong today!
17.
PFS: Pure Cardio + Si6: Slim & Limber. We had severe thunderstorms and heavy rain roll in early this morning. Should lower the temps a little but will still be hot at 90.
18.
PFS: Cardio Sculpt 1 + LEE HOLDEN: Qi Gong for High Blood Pressure, short version, 20 mins (virgin).
LEE HOLDEN: Qi Gong for High Blood Pressure
Full version - 32:45
Extended version - 44:13
Short version - 20:10
I did the short version. IIRC, Lee said in a preview clip that this was filmed in the Redwood Forest (in a babbling creek). Beautiful scenery. The music is good and you can hear the sound of the water flowing in the creek. It is so soothing. Another winner and I’m looking forward to doing this again.
Short version
Both hands to lower abdomen, deep breaths
Water waves
Spinal cord breathing
Dragon shakes its tail
Repulse the monkey
Embracing the tree, hands low
Repulse the monkey with bigger movements
Embracing the tree, hands mid chest
Waterfall
Pulling down the sky
Pulling down the sky to the six directions
Gather/center energy down the midline of the body
Bamboo in the wind
P.M. Yv2: WISI.
19.
PFS: Dynamic Flexibility + LEE HOLDEN: Qi Gong for Healthy Bones, short version, 11 mins (v).
LEE HOLDEN; Qi Gong for Healthy Bones
I liked QG for Healthy Bones. Postures were more static. I prefer more dynamic movements but I still enjoyed it because it put me in a nice zen state.
Filmed in the Yosemite Mountain Range. Beautiful.
Extended version - 34:34
Long version - 24.52
Short version - 11:14
I did the short version and I plan to try the longer versions next month.
Short version
Starts with shaking bouncing
Shaking/bouncing, knocking heel into ground/floor
Embracing the tree (hands lower then chest height)
Gathering energy at door of life
Flying, flying while contracting muscles on inhale/exhale, some isometric holds.
Ends with a million dollar smile from Lee!
20.
Happy Juneteenth! PFS: Cardio Strength 2 (virgin) + LEE HOLDEN: Qi Gong for Anxiety, short version (virgin). Cardio Strength 2 is another winner. I love these Peak Fit workouts so much that I went out to EBay and ordered the 3 PFS that I didn’t have - 2 Remixes and a Fat Blaster. Also enjoyed another Qi Gong aworkout. I’m looking forward to doing the longer versions next month.
LEE HOLDEN: Qi Gong for Anxiety
Filmed in the Redwood National Forest, in a creek, soothing water sounds.
I did the short version this morning. This has a bigger focus on breath - deep breathing and some focus on acupressure points. I can hear the music which is similar to other music in Lee’s workouts; the babbling creek sound is the star. I liked this one a lot, too! Lee didn’t always say the name of the flow so I described it instead.
Long version - 35:06
Short version - 18:11
Short version
Wave breathing
Hands to sternum, fingertip circles on sternum
Knocking on sternum
Teacup move
Neck rolls (but not too long
)
Wrists, elbows, hands shaking
Drop and shake
Pulling up the earth
Cloudy hands
Cloudy hands - faster
Cloudy hands - slower
Embracing the tree
Hands to heart center, sweeping old energy out flow
Hands to heart center, deep breath up, touch crown
Hands on lower abdomen, tree in the wind
Ends with another beautiful smile.
21.
rest day…
22.
PEAK 10: More Cardio Interval Burn (virgin). This one seems to move faster with more impact straight away, I kept it mostly low impact since I was suffering from a carb hangover (yummy ice cream sandwiches) so I didn’t want to jump, at all. Still got a great workout.
Week 4
23.
PFS: Pure Strength 2 (virgin). Another winner. This one is more straight forward lifting at a slower pace. The men are front & center which is why I think the choreography is more straight forward. Love it! DD & I saw Top Gun: Maverick today. Intense! Excellent!!!
24.
PFS: Pure Cardio + P30 Perfect Flow Timesaver - Mobility Basics Strength
25.
PFS: Cardio Strength 2
26.
PFS Dynamic Flexibility + PFS Core Dynamics #2.
27- 30.
rest days…