Losing weight with P90X

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Starting Week Three P90X Workouts

By Tim Pannell On July 26, 2010 No Comments

Here we are at the beginning of week # 3 with my  P90X Workouts.By the end of last week I had lost somewhere between 8 and 9 pounds. In just 2 days time I’ve gained back 6 of it somehow. That makes no sense to me….there’s no way to eat that much crap to gain that much weight in less than 2 days.

As frustrated as I was when I got on the scale, I still managed to do my P90X Chest & Back DVD. I’m glad I did it, in spite of how bummed I am about the weight issue. I’m hoping its just some kind of fluke and that tomorrow I’ll get on the scale and the numbers will make sense again. I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow to see if that works out.

Today’s workout didn’t feel very strenuous. I did all the different exercises for the entire workout, but I didn’t get the normal workout “buzz” that I usually do after finishing any of the P90X routines. My assumption is that because of my mood, I just wasn’t into it like I normally am.

I’m doing my best to just take one day at a time. I know that if I let the discouragement get to me then I will definitely fail to reach my goals. I’ll play racquetball tonight and get up in the morning and crank out a session of P90X Plyometrics…..ugh! I wish I looked more forward to that workout, but it is definitely a mother for me.

I’ll be in a better frame of mind tomorrow and I’ll get back on the weight loss train.

My youngest son started football camp this morning so he’ll be doing that every morning for the entire week…….it’ll be nice for him to be running around again.

He’s used to playing soccer all year round in Arizona and up here there hasn’t been anything for him to get involved with soccer or football wise. They say it’s too hot in the summer for the regular league teams to play…….are you kidding me!?!?!?!?!?

Anyway…..it’s nice to see him having something to do between now and when the regular football season starts. He was going a little bit stir crazy.

I’m struggling to believe that August is almost here….it still seems like April to me. I inner time clock hasn’t come close to catching up yet.

This is a pivotal week for me with the P90X workouts.  I have to make sure I get through them each day to be able to move forward and continue believing in myself.  Slow and steady progress is just fine with me at this point…I can’t let any disappointment upset what momentum I have.

P90X Review end of Week#2

By Tim Pannell On July 23, 2010 No Comments

Here it is almost the end of my 2nd week of P90X.  If I had to review this week I’d say that it was a turning point for me.  I’ve lost 8-9 pounds over the last 12 days.  I can get through all of the P90X DVD’s that are part of my routine.  The first week I couldn’t make it through all of P90X Plyometrics or P90X Yoga X.

This week I got through every workout that I did.  My body is over the initial soreness that comes at the startup of the P90X series.  I had my back worked on twice by a chiropractor and felt much better, although at the moment, my back is hurting again.  Perhaps I threw it out a little last night while I was playing racquetball. I’ve played 2 hours of racquetball every day for 4 days in a row along with my morning P90X routine.

I’m breathing better, which is wonderful.  My arms feel better.  My shoulder is still sore, but it’s getting better.  I can tell that I’m getting stronger again.

Another benefit I’ve noticed is that my balance is much better.  Its interesting how my whole body responds to these workouts.  I would say it’s a pretty complete workout…..every part of my body has been sore at one point or another and at the moment the soreness is subsiding.

I have to make sure that I keep a good attitude throughout this next week because this is about the time that I let down and eat a bunch of crap and don’t stay focused.  I’ve lost 8-9 pounds…..but I have 66 more to go.

I did P90X Kenpo X today and kept up with it really well.  Out of all the P90X workouts this is the one that seems to be the easiest for me.  I still sweat a lot while doing it, but I don’t feel like I’m going to drop dead in the middle of it like I’ve felt while doing Plyometrics.

My goal this weekend……no junk food.  No ice cream, no chips, no cookies, etc.

I guess I’ll see how it goes…..have a great weekend everybody!

P90X Review – I Hate Plyometrics

By Tim Pannell On July 22, 2010 1 Comment

Week #2 day #4………I skipped P90X plyometrics on Tuesday so I did Plyo today……I hate this DVD!  This workout hurts so much it just about kills me every time I do it.  To be honest, it’s more like a love hate relationship that I have at this point with P90X Plyometrics.

When I’m done with this workout……I”m always thrilled that I did it.  I know I really need this one and it has helped me a ton with racquetball.

Last week I think I only lasted about 35 minutes into it.  This week I managed to do the whole workout, but I wanted to quit so bad at that 35 minute mark.   I just forced my way through it.  I played racquetball for 2 hours last night and my legs were pretty tired going into this DVD.  My quadriceps were burning for almost the entire hour.   I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to finish a workout as I was this morning.

The results are starting to pick up as well….I’m now down 9 pounds from where I started out last week. Now this is the point that I ususally congratulate myself into a bunch of nasty cheeseburgers and or…emphasis on and ice cream.  Then the results start to back slide and I get bummed and the whole thing goes down the crapper.  I will not do that this time.

I really can feel the momentum shifting this time around…..I don’t know that I can explain why there’s a difference, but trust me….there is.   I’m not failing this time around….I’ve got to make it work.

Tomorrow’s Friday and we’ll have more family in town to visit my sister in law as she battles her lung cancer…….she’s doing remarkably well by the way.  She is really an inspiration to so many of us as we watch her deal with this entire thing with so much dignity and class as well as determination.  She is going to overcome this no matter what the odds.

I’ll be playing racquetball again tonight for a couple of hours and then tomorrow I’ll end up doing P90X Kenpo X which will feel like cheating or not doing anything compared to P90X Plyometrics.  It’s almost like a day off!!!!!

P90X Results

By Tim Pannell On July 21, 2010 No Comments

I just finished doing P90X Shoulders & Arms today and feel great. I’ve lost a total of 6 pounds from the beginning of last week and I’m feeling a bit more optimistic about succeeding with my fitness goals.

I have to admit that I fully expected to have lost all my excess weight by now and have struggled to believe I can actually do this at this point.  The only thing that keeps me going is that I’m a lot stronger now than I was a year ago and I know that I’m better off being my size doing P90X regularly than being my size and not doing p90X at all.

After last week and the last couple of days, I do believe I can make this work and reach my overall fitness and weight goals.

I went to the chiropractor today and had him readjust my back as well as my neck and it’s the best I’ve felt in months.  I’m looking forward to a couple hours of racquetball tonight.

210 lbs…….here I come.

P90X Reviews Week Two

By Tim Pannell On July 21, 2010 No Comments

Ok….my P90X review of this last week is……..it was a good week even though I didn’t lose the kind of weight I wanted to.  I did 5 straight days of P90x and played racquetball 4 times for over 2 hours each time.  Here it is the 2nd day of my 2nd week and I’m feeling pretty good right now.

On Monday this week, I did P90X Chest& Back. I was pretty sore, I’ve still got a pulled muscle in my right shoulder as well as my right tricep.  I got through everything but the military push ups.  I could only do a few of those without really hurting those pulled muscles.

My wife insisted I go to a Chiropractor that day to get worked on for the rib issue I’ve been having.  It’s felt as though my lower ribs have been out of place for several weeks now…mostly it just keeps me from taking a full breath.

The Chiropractor was great…I can breath again.  The last time I played racquetball last week….Saturday…..I really had a hard time breathing and bending over because of the pain in my ribs.  The doc said I was ridiculously tight in my thoracic region.  He cracked and popped away and I could feel the tightness subside….at least mostly.

I played racquetball Monday night and was looking forward to being pain free…..instead my left knee decided to be a problem.  It was pinched all night long , making it really difficult to step into any of my shots or run hard and stop quick to swing.  I really struggled and by the time I went home…..I was as hammered as I’ve ever been.

I could barely walk into the house….pathetic.  I didn’t think I’d be moving at all for a day or two, but to my surprise I woke up yesterday and didn’t feel too bad.  I had a submission deadline for a bunch of images I’d created over the last couple of weeks so I didn’t end up doing P90X Plyometrics with my wife. I skipped it…..missed it, but played racquetball last night so at least I didn’t go an entire day without some form of exercise.

To my surprise, I felt great last night when I played.  I was breathing well and moving pretty close to pain free.  The knee was a little tight, but none of the pain was there from the previous evening.  I played for a couple hours….played really well until the last 15 or 20 minutes when I could tell I was running out of gas.  I was up 5 games to 2 at that point, but lost the last 2 games.  LOSER!!!!

Today I’m gonna pop in the P90X Shoulders & Arms DVD and see how my tricep and shoulder respond.  They don’t feel too bad just sitting here typing away.  I think I’ve turned the pain corner with this round of P90X.

I’ve been pretty sore most of last week, but am moving around much better today.  I go to the chiropractor again today at 10.  That should take care of the last couple of issues in my back and neck.  Now I just have to really concentrate on my eating habits and get this weight off once and for all.

P90X Reviews – Week One

By Tim Pannell On July 18, 2010 1 Comment

Today is the last day of Week #1 on the P90X workout program.  It was a good week all in all.  I did 5 straight days of P90X.  I ended up playing racquetball yesterday instead of doing a round of P90X.  I just didn’t have time to do both.

My wife, Kim and I did P90X Kenpo X on Friday and it went well.  The only workouts I struggled with this week were Plyometrics and Yoga X.  I just couldn’t get through the entire workouts.

I have a lot of soreness in my elbows.  I have a pulled muscle in my right shoulder as well as my right tricep and that has caused me some problems with the P90X Shoulders & Arms routine.  I pulled the muscles playing racquetball.

I played racquetball 4 times this week for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours each session.  I have a couple of ribs out of place as well, so I will probably take a trip to the chiropractors this week.  The problem with ribs is always one of breathing.  I just can’t get full breaths all the time.

In spite of the ribs keeping me from getting full breaths I am breathing better when working out.  I’m not sucking air playing racquetball quite as badly as I did a few weeks ago.  The problem I’ve had with racquetball this year is a lack of consistency.  I’ll play a couple of days and then miss a couple of weeks.  I just haven’t played enough to get my legs back under me or get my arsenal of shots back to workable numbers.

I have to admit that being 49 years old seems to be a big pain in the butt.  It seems as though some part of my body is always in pain.  Usually it’s my knees, but when they feel good typically some other body part rises to the challenge and makes fussing noises for good measure.

I believe that once I get a handle on my weight that a lot of this day to day pain will go away……lets hope I’m not wrong on that one.

So to recap…..I did 5 straight days of P90x Monday through Friday.  I played racquetball Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

I lost a total of just 4 pounds from a week ago.  It really does seem that I should be able to lose more weight when I’m working out this hard, but I just have to continue being consistent and see what happens.

I am a lot hungrier when I’m working out this much, so I know that I have to be extra careful with what I eat and I don’t always make the wisest of choices in that arena.  One of my biggest problems is staying up too late and eating something just before going to bed.  I guess my will power is just pathetic.  I have to do better with this during the upcoming week.

For the most part it was a pretty good week.  I lost a little weight, I’m breathing better in spite of displaced ribs and my attitude is better.

I’m looking forward to week #2 of P90X and to the results.

P90X – Shoulders & Arms – Racquetball – Exhaustion

By Tim Pannell On July 14, 2010 No Comments

I just got back from playing racquetball for 2 hours and I’m absolutely hammered.  I did a round of P90X Shoulders & Arms this morning and felt great afterwards.  It’s still my favorite P90X workout.

I was sore, but it was the good kind of sore.  I still have soreness in my left elbow, but nothing near as painful as a month or two ago.  I do have something going on in my right shoulder and tricep area.

I had to lower the weight on my dumbbells on most of my bicep exercises by 5 pounds.  I kept the same weight on all the tricep exercises, but fell short of my goal of 25 per side with the side tri rise exercises.  I also lowered the weight in most of my shoulder exercises by 5 pounds as well.

I really struggled playing racquetball.  I played great the first game winning it easily 15-3.  I lost the next two – 15-14 and 15-9.  By the fourth game my arms were feeling like jello and my legs were starting to feel a bit like tree trunks.  I got a second wind for the last few games winning 2 of the 3.

I’m exhausted at this point.  I’m sitting here in my bed typing this up and feeling like I have zero energy.  Food doesn’t sound real appetizing at this point, but I know I need to go downstairs and find something moderately healthy to eat.  I’ve lost about 6 or 7 pounds of the extra weight i picked up this last month…so that’s a good thing.

I’m just going to keep doing the workouts everyday and play racquetball at least 4 times a week for at least 2 hours a whack.  Sooner or later…..somethings gonna have to give……it better be the weight and not one of my knees.

P90X – Healthy Lifestyle

By Tim Pannell On June 27, 2010 No Comments

Again I’m guilty of not writing for a while.  I’m making it a habit of not staying up on this blog.  P90X has definitely been part of a healthier lifestyle for me, but my wife and I are still trying to get a better handle on her schedule at work and make our P90X routines more………well…….routine.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how random things can be in life and appreciating all that I have to be grateful for.  I have a very dear friend who was just diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer.

They never smoked a day in their life, run 6 to 8 miles 6 days of the week…religiously, lift weights, teach gym at elementary school, play tennis and eat healthy 99.9% of the time.

I’ve known since I was a kid that there was no fairness in life, but this seems so far beyond unfair.  Here I am, a schlubb with a huge weight problem and they get cancer and are in a battle for their life.

They are strong and extremely healthy other than that small mass of cells and I believe that they will beat this thing down into submission.

I think about Lance Armstrong and his very public fight with cancer.  He was such a healthy individual and came out on top in the end.  My friend will do the same……I’m sure of it.

I know that the numbers of success stories are few and far between for this type of cancer, but the number of extremely fit and healthy people to get this type of cancer is few and far between as well.  In the end, my friend is the kind of person that will triumph over this stupid disease.

Today, I’m just grateful for my health, I’m grateful for my amazing wife….my soul mate….my best friend and our 5 wonderful kids.  Life is good.  I need to make the most of every minute I have.  I will be fit again…I will most likely never have the “8-pack” I had in High School and college, but I’ll be healthier and more fit.

If you took a snapshot of my lifestyle 7 or 8 years ago and compared it to today….I have a much healthier lifestyle today and P90X has a big part of that.  I’m playing racquetball again several times a week and I’m doing at least 3 rounds of P90X each week.  I have a lot of room for improvement so I will recommit again to doing what’s best for my health.  My wife and I will find a way to make this more of a routine and get consistent with our P90X schedule.

If any of you have cancer success stories you’re aware of and wouldn’t mind sharing them, I’d love to be able to share them with my friend so they can hear some positive re-enforcement.  Thanks in advance!

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!