Losing weight with P90X

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P90x With My Wife and Twelve Year Old

By Tim Pannell On June 8, 2010 No Comments

Well……..once again it’s been far too long between posts.  My work schedule has become…let’s say…..not very routine lately.  Yesterday my wife, my twelve year old son and I popped in the P90X Chest and Back DVD and worked out together for an hour.  My wife has been working at a full time job the last couple of months that required her to be at work by 6 am everyday.

To say it put a crimp into our daily P90X workouts is an understatement.  I struggled to stick to the workouts once she was no longer able to do them with me.  It was truly so much easier getting up in the morning  and starting out with P90X when she was doing them with me.

Her sister was also doing them with us everyday.  She ended up having her gall bladder removed about a month ago and came down with pneumonia last week…..not a good month for her.  Eventually she will join us again.  It was always fun working out with the ladies.

My wife starts a new job this week with more reasonable hours so we will be getting back to our daily P90X rituals.  The twist yesterday was adding our son into the mix.  Most of our kids have been ultra skinny, just like I was when I was a kid.  Our 12 year old is the exception.  From the day he was born he was always in the 100 percentile for both height and weight.

He is a man child to say the least.  He looks like he was born to play football.  Even though he looks like he could be 14 or 15 he’s just 12 and consequently behaves like a 12 year old.  He actually started doing P90X on his own last week.  He popped in the P90X Back and Bicep DVD and was off to the races.

He did pretty well with it.  Yesterday was a different story.  He struggled with the push ups and was getting pretty down on himself.  It made me remember back to the first time I did the P90X Chest and Back Workout and how hard……near impossible it was for me to do a single diamond pushup……..or divebomber.  I can now do over 20 diamonds and yesterday I did 15 divebombers.

I too was extremely frustrated the first time I struggled through the entire workout.  All I could see was this huge mountain I had to climb and I struggled to believe that I’d get the results I was looking for.  Fortunately for me I found great improvement in my overall abilities rather quickly once I stuck with the workouts for a couple weeks.

I’m hoping my son will see improvement quickly as well as he fights the temptation to give up and quit when things get difficult.  My wife did really well for having had basically a 2 month layoff.  She was able to do 1 or 2 P90X workouts every week or so.  She was really excited to get back to the routine though.

So…..here I am again…hopeful that we are going to be sticking to this morning ritual 6 days a week.  It should be a lot of fun for everybody.  It’ll be especially nice to be able to get the 12 year old developing good workout habits at an early age.  I’ll keep you posted on his progress.

Have a great day!

P90X – Chest & Back – I Love This Workout

By Tim Pannell On May 15, 2010 1 Comment



Today my wife and I did the P90X Chest & Back workout together.  We both love it!

It has been a rare occurrence for us to be able to do P90X together . Her work schedule has been really difficult this last month.

She has to be at work by 6 am so she hasn’t been able to do any of the P90X workouts for over a month.  I haven’t been able to consistently workout for over a month either.

My big problems have been health related for the most part.  I did have 2 weeks when I was shooting photo assignments and was away from home and did a poor job of staying on top of my workouts.

I did push ups and crunches , but that was about all.

Once I got home i tried getting back inot the flow, but struggled this last week.  I finally went and played racquetball on Tuesday night just to try to jump start myself back into doing something physical.

It was fun to play again, although I pushed myself too hard and pulled a muscle on my right side.

It felt better this morning so I decided to put in the P90X Chest & Back DVD and do it with my wife.

Her sister can’t workout for a while since she just had her gall bladder removed.

It was nice to be working out with my wife again….it just makes the whole thing more fun to do.  We both noticed a drop in our ability to do the exercises.

My numbers dropped off by about 25% on half of the exercises and stayed the same on the rest, but I was a lot more out of breath than I was a month ago when I was doing P90X on a more consistent basis.

I know I will be sore tomorrow, but it’s a good sore.  I love feeling the muscles in my body and these workouts really do bring that about.

Kim might be changing jobs in the next week and we’re looking forward to being able to do P90X together every morning.

It helps us both with our overall attitude and well being.  We both have better outlooks when we’re working out and the benefits show up in just about every aspect of our lives.

Stress is reduced, we get some valuable time to spend together and everything else seems to fall into place.

I’m looking forward to next week……I really do love the P90X workouts!

P90X Workout Failures

By Tim Pannell On May 11, 2010 No Comments

Well……..P90X workout failure is a bit of a stretch.

This last month has been a series of setbacks, starting with illness.

I have been sick off and on for the last 4 months plus.

I chalked it up to having the flu or a cold or a combination of the two, but when it just kept going and coming back and continuing I finally went into the doctor’s office.

I was having a hard time catching my breath on some days and no problem on others…..my throat felt like I had strep.

I just felt like crap most of the time.

The doc determined it was allergies.

Well, after 3 weeks of being on meds I’m finally starting to feel better.

My other setback has been work.  Not that I’m not thrilled with having some assignments…. I love ‘em!!!

They just add a new wrinkle when it comes to doing P90X.

I’ve had a couple of photo assignments the last 2 weeks.

I was in LA shooting a series on community service and back home in Arizona for over a week shooting for a luxury apartment developer.

I brought along my workout bands, but have to admit that I didn’t use them at all.

I did push ups and chair dips and some side tri rises, but that was about it.

I was still pretty tired so I just took it easy.

Now I’m back home and feeling better physically and mentally than I have in quite a while.

It’s time to get back on the horse so to speak.

These last 4 weeks don’t really add up to failures as much as they are setbacks.

Sometimes crap happens that we don’t like.

Things that are more or less out of our control sometimes take over for a little while.

I have had to learn when to take my foot off the gas and just take what life hands me.

In the past I would get injured playing racquetball and just play through the pain and end up doing more damage than good.

In that sense I had a classic “old school” mentality about pain….”just rub some dirt on it and get back out there!”

I would also beat the crap out of myself if I didn’t perform to my highest expectations.

I’m doing my best to not get down on myself when I experience temporary setbacks.

It serves no purpose to dwell on past difficulties……it actually keeps me from moving forward.

Today is a new day.  I’m no longer as sick as I was a month ago…..I still have junk in my lungs, but not like before.

I can breath, I can take in oxygen, I can start back up on my P90X program.

Today will be  P90X Chest & Back.………Bring it!

P90X – No Workout – No Results

By Tim Pannell On April 25, 2010 No Comments

I wrote about last week sucking….that was nothing compared to this week.

I’ve been sick as a dog the whole week.  Needless to say……no P90X.

No workout equals no results……..bummer.

I’ve had a major sore throat, zero energy, headaches, dizziness, clogged ears, congestion and an almost non stop dry irritating cough.

I was miserable.

I’m not one to go to the doctor unless stuff is falling off my body.

This was bad enough that I finally went yesterday.

Here’s the verdict…..allergies.  You gotta be kidding me!

I haven’t had allergies for 22 years living in Arizona.

I’m up here 4 months and have felt more sick  than ever in my life.  This is only the 2nd time in about 8 years I’ve seen the doctor because of illness.

I had no idea that allergies could make someone feel this sick.

In any case, I’m on medication at the moment and after just 24 hours, the sore throat is at least gone.

My ears are still clogged as well as my sinuses, but I can tell it’s getting better.

I was too sick to workout, but I did better this last week with my eating habits.

Smaller and more frequent meals have helped me lose s few pounds.

I guess when I said no results that wasn’t really true.

I leave tomorrow for a photo shoot in L.A. through Wednesday so I think I’ll take a set of the workout bands with me and see if I can squeeze in some P90X workouts on the road.

I’m still pretty tired and worn out from being so sick, but hopefully I’ll have more energy once the effects of the allergies go away.

P90X Setbacks

By Tim Pannell On April 18, 2010 No Comments

This was a crappy week for P90X!   There’s no other way to describe it.

I had a number of setbacks this week, mostly soreness in my left elbow and a fair amount of lower back pain.

I did the P90X Chest & Back workout on Monday and the P90X Shoulders & Arms workout on Tuesday.

On Wednesday I could barely move my left elbow.

This type of pain would come around fairly often in my right elbow when I was playing racquetball.

This is the second time I’ve experienced this in my left elbow.  If you’ve ever had tennis elbow…….that is what this feels like.

It got so bad I could barely play any low notes on my guitar without serious pain.

The twisting motion is just horrible.

I decided to take it easy the rest of the week……thinking that it would get better.

Well, it hasn’t really.  The left elbow is still really sore.

I’m guessing I overdid it with any of the bicep exercises in the P90X Shoulders & Arms routine.

I’ve added a lot of strength to my arms and I guess I just pushed it too hard.

As far as my lower back is concerned….I haven’t got a clue.  Throughout most of my experience with P90X I’ve been pain free in my back.

I did P90X Kenpo X yesterday with my wife, sister in law, brother in law and niece.

I figured this wouldn’t hurt my elbow any.  It was more painful than I expected it to be, but not too bad.

This workout actually helped stretch out my back and as of this morning the pain in my lower back is almost gone.

There is still some pressure, but nothing like the last couple of days.

I think this next week I’ll stick to the P90X Yoga X, Kenpo X and Aerobics X workouts to give my elbow some rest.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

P90X Diet Tips

By Tim Pannell On April 9, 2010 No Comments

I’ve done pretty well with the workouts for the last several months.

I’ve added quite a bit of muscle to my frame, but I haven’t lost any real weight….maybe 5 pounds.

I’ve said in earlier posts that I wasn’t going to let myself get too down if I wasn’t successful at dropping the weight.

I’m pleased with my efforts as far as the p90x workouts are considered, but I want to do better in the weight loss category.

I have to admit that my diet throughout my previous p90x cycle has been the ultimate problem.

We got into the habit of eating ice cream almost everyday and I know that I can’t keep doing that and expect to drop the weight.

I’ve cut out soda from my diet almost completely – maybe 12 oz. every week or 2.

On a typical day I’ll get up at 6 am, do a little work on my blogs and my commercial photography website.

At around 8 am I’ll pop in a P90X DVD and do an hour workout.

About 1/2 hour after my workout I’ll mix up a Shakeology Shake.

I’ll usually make an egg sandwich for lunch…nothing too crazy.

I haven’t done a good job snacking on healthy options in the middle of the day.

By the time dinner rolls around I’ve been starving and I’ll overeat.

Chicken, salmon, lean beef, pasta, salads, veggies.

They’re nutritious and healthy dinners, just too much of them……portion control will be the answer.

I’m trying to keep things simple and balanced.  No crazy diets…nothing overly complicated…..in other words just common sense.

I’ve got grapes and carrots lined up for gnoshing today.

My kiss of death over the last 3 months has been after 9 pm when I’m still winding down.

I’ve eaten junk to be honest – ice cream and chips and crap.

This time around with this P90X sequence I’ll do better with my diet.

The rule this time around is – no junk food during the week.

I’ll let myself eat ice cream or whatever on the weekend, but that’s it.

I should drop 5 pounds a week if I stick to these principles.

If I don’t drop a bunch of weight in the next couple of weeks I’ll have to go back to the drawing board as far as the diet is concerned.

P90X – Next Round – Day One

By Tim Pannell On April 5, 2010 No Comments

Here it is April 5th and I’m starting a new round of P90X.

Today is day #1.

Last week was a take it easy week for me.

I did P90X Chest and Back on Monday and I did P90X Plyometrics on Wednesday.

I also played racquetball for a few hours during the week.

I will be following the standard P0X Workout Schedule.

The previous round of P90X was pretty successful for me on a number of levels, but I failed on the “weight loss” front.

I am much stronger.  My arms are at least one inch bigger than 3 months ago.

I was more consistent with the previous set of P90X than ever before.

It really helped doing the workouts with my wife and sister in law.

It was much easier staying committed to the entire workout schedule and program than ever before.

My wife is now working from 6 am til 2 pm so the P90X trio has  been broken up for the moment.

My wife and I just finished P90X Chest and Back this morning since she has today off.

It was nice to have a workout buddy again.

I was surprisingly toasty toast today.

I fully expected to be full of energy since I took it so easy last week.

It wasn’t the case….I was breathing much heavier than I normally do.

Maybe its from all the crap I ate yesterday…..that’s my guess anyway.

In any case…..here I am, making another commitment to another 90 days of P90X.

This time around I have just one goal……LOSE WEIGHT!!!!!

I’m gunning for at least 30 pounds.  I know that my biggest problem is my eating habits.

Back in AZ I would start my mornings with a “Shakeology” shake and that really helped me get my eating habits in control.

When we moved up here to Utah, I just couldn’t bring myself to drink a cold shake since it was so cold up here.

I think in hindsight that really hurt me.  I have been much hungrier up here than back in AZ and I believe that the lack of Shakeology is the culprit.

After I’m done with this post I’m gonna make a shake and get my day started off on the right foot.

I slept well last night, I got in a great workout and I’ll start off today eating wisely.

It sounds like a good plan to me.

Have a great day! I know I will.

P90X Workout Schedule

By Tim Pannell On April 1, 2010 1 Comment

The P90X workout schedule is pretty ambitious.

I’ve had quite a few people ask me over the last several weeks what the actual P90X schedule is.

For any of you wondering about that….this post should explain it……….here goes:

There are a total of 12 DVDs that make up the P90X Exercise series.

The basic P90X schedule is broken up into 11 dvd routines plus an additional 12th dvd that focuses on your abs, called Ab Ripper-X.

DVD #1 –   Chest & Back
DVD #2 -    Plyometrics
DVD #3 –   Shoulders & Arms
DVD #4 –   Yoga X
DVD #5 –   Legs & Back
DVD #6 –   Kenpo X
DVD #7 –   X Stretch
DVD #8 –   Core Synergistics
DVD #9 –   Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
DVD #10 – Back & Biceps
DVD #11 – Cardio X
DVD #12 – Ab Ripper X

There is also a “How to Bring It” Instructional DVD included with your P90X Workout Schedule which gives you an overview of the entire set of P90X exercises.

Here’s what the classic P90x workout schedule looks like:

P90X Workout Schedule for Weeks #1, #2, and #3:

Day 1 – Chest and Back, plus Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Plyometrics
Day 3 – Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

Weeks #4, #8 and #13 of the P90X workout schedule  are designed as recovery weeks.

P90x Workout Schedule for Week #4:

Day 1 – Yoga X
Day 2 – Core Synergistics
Day 3 – Kenpo X
Day 4 – X Stretch
Day 5 – Core Synergistics
Day 6 – Yoga X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

P90X Workout Plan for Weeks #5, #6 and #7:

Day 1 – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Plyometrics
Day 3 – Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

P90x Workout Schedule for Week #8 (Recovery Phase):

Day 1 – Yoga X
Day 2 – Core Synergistics
Day 3 – Kenpo X
Day 4 – X Stretch
Day 5 – Core Synergistics
Day 6 – Yoga X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

P90X Workout Schedule for  Week #9 and Week #11:

Day 1 – Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Plyometrics
Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X
Day 7 Rest or X Stretch

P90X Workout for Week#10 and Week #12:

Day 1 –  Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 2-   Plyometrics
Day 3 – Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

P90X Workout Schedule for Week #13 (Final Week):

Day 1 – Yoga X
Day 2 – Core Synergistics
Day 3 – Kenpo X
Day 4 – X Stretch
Day 5 – Core Synergistics
Day 6 – Yoga X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

The basic P90X Workout Schedule has you working out 6 days a week for 13 weeks from 1 to 1  1/2 hours each session.

It is a great set of workouts and I highly recommend sticking to the schedule if at all possible.

Good luck!

BRING IT!

P90X – Racquetball, Again? Are you Nuts?

By Tim Pannell On March 23, 2010 No Comments

Well…….here I am sitting in my family room all dressed up to play a little racquetball.

I haven’t played since last August when I hyper extended my knee and had difficulty walking for longer than I’d care to remember.

I swore I’d never play the game again, it took too long to recover last time.

My brother in law plays 2 – 3 times a week and honestly……the game calls to me.

I started playing in high school and college.

I got away from the game for a long time and then got back into it about 6 years ago.

Getting hurt last November was not in the cards.  I hated getting hurt and I hated leaving the game even more.

I miss it.  I love it.

It is hands down the best outlet for any frustrations I’m going through.

I am going to take it easy and see what happens.

If the knee feels the least bit weak…I’m gonna bail out.

I’ve done just shy of 3 months worth of P90X and feel a lot stronger than I’ve been in a while.

My knee feels strong and I’ve built up a lot more muscle to support my joints.

I should be ok…I’ll keep you all posted.

Well……..I survived.  We played for 2 hours, nothing popped, nothing pulled, nothing strained, nothing broke…..life is good.

I didn’t play worth crap, but I didn’t have to be carried off the court. What a winner I am!

My shots were off.  I can’t even count how many unforced errors I had….pathetic.

I have to retrain my reflexes to not immediately react to the ball.

It’s always like that after having not played for a while.

You want to react to where the ball will end up, not where it’s heading.

I don’t know if that makes any sense if you don’t play racquetball.

The ball bounces a lot in racquetball and unless it’s hit to a perfect spot, it will most likely bounce to an area where you can reach it without running everywhere chasing after it like an idiot.

It’s not like tennis where once the ball goes by you the point is over.

A well placed shot won’t give you an opportunity to hit it once it gets by you.  With experience you learn which ones to go for and which ones to let by you and pick up on the rebound.

You might be wondering what any of this has to do with P90X workouts so here ya go:

I’m not really sore today.  If I played 2 + hours without doing p90x for the last 3 months, I’d be crawling out of bed.

I would hardly be able to walk.  My knees would be killing me, my ankles would be swollen and my feet would be completely shot.

My quads aren’t sore, my calves aren’t on fire…..I feel good.

Today I’ll pop in the P90X Chest and Back DVD.

The weight isn’t coming off in spite of my consistently working out each week.

Toady I’m gonna work on a better eating plan.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  If any of you that are reading have had any success with an easy to follow menu please comment.

Just a warning….if it involves weighing, ridiculous amounts of calorie counting I will be doomed to failure!

Have an amazing day!

P90X – Problems?

By Tim Pannell On March 19, 2010 No Comments

Man, what a weird week!

I love P90X, but this week I’ve had some problems with it.

My wife and sister in law headed out of town Monday and Tuesday….leaving me all by myself.

Monday morning I got up and dutifully did my P90X Back and Chest workout.

It was great!  I felt good afterwards and was pleased with myself for doing it even though I was alone.

Tuesday………I don’t even remember Tuesday.

That wouldn’t bother me if I was a drinker, but I’m not.

I just know I didn’t work out that day.

Kim got back into town Tuesday night.

For whatever reason, we didn’t work out Wednesday morning either.

Yesterday I got up at 5 am because Kim started her new job and had to be there at 6 am.

I got up with her and took her to work and then got home to get the youngest of our kids off to school.

After that I went out and did some photography….shooting scenic backgrounds for a photo project I’m working on.

I spent the whole day after that at the computer processing and retouching….at least until I went out and shot scenics for another 3 hours in the late afternoon – early evening.

Right now it’s 5 am and I’m going to shoot outdoors again at sunrise.

Kim will head off to work at 6 and won’t get home til this afternoon.

Here’s the question – When in the crap are we going to work out?!?

For almost 3 months now, we had a nice little system in place.

We’d get up, get the kids off to school.

Kim’s sister would come over around 8 am and we’d pop in a P90X workout and we’d get moving.

We were really consistent with this P90X routine.

It was really nice starting the day off with a great sweaty workout.

It was also nice having 2 other people there to keep me motivated.

Afternoons are busy around here and I’m worried we’ll find excuses.

Melanie won’t be able to work out at that time every day.

Kim really enjoyed the P90X workouts and was getting stronger and stronger by the day.

It was fun watching everybody make a lot of progress from week to week too.

It’s always a drag when a good routine comes to an end.

I guess we’ll see what happens today.  The plan is to workout at 2:30 when Kim gets home.

I’ll keep you posted.