P90X – Plyometrics – I’m a Wet Rag
© Tim Pannell Photography
Ok….I did my p90x plyometrics workout this morning and was a wet rag. I didn’t even finish the complete workout I was so hammered. My legs were on fire about 1/3 of the way through.
I played racquetball last night for a couple hours until my legs were like jello and the effects of that were obviously still lingering this morning when I started P90X.
I’m pleased with myself for getting up and giving it a shot….just bummed I couldn’t suck it up and do the whole thing. I’ve dropped 6 pounds in the last 3 days so that’s at least encouraging.
I’m feeling better today than I did yesterday. My sister in law was released from the hospital last night and is home resting. There are so many friends in the neighborhood and from the church coming around in bunches to show their support and give her help with anything that needs to be done.
It warms my heart to know that so many people love her and are pulling for her and are pitching in. In that sense….life is good…in spite of the obstacles. She’s weak today, but over the halfway mark with her radiation treatments. She’s eating, even though it’s not much fun and the taste is completely whacky.
I watch her and am amazed at her great attitude and ability to focus on the positive…..I have no reason to complain about anything in my life at the moment.
I have been eating better the last several days as well…..lots of hummus, guacomole, tomatoes, cucumbers. Feeling much better physically than I have for weeks. I guess the hardest part fo rme has always been breaking the unhealthy cycle of being lethargic and eating crap….especially at night just before I head off to bed.
I’m doing better and will continue to do better. When I get back to P90X Plyometrics next week I will be stronger and I will be able to complete the entire workout like I used to be able to. I’m playing racquetball again tonight so we’ll see how it goes……no complaints…….just getting busy. I will overcome this weight problem once and for all.
Tomorrow is P90X Shoulders & Arms….my favorite P90X workout of all…I’m looking forward to it.
P90X-Getting Back to Basics
Well……now we know why my sister in law was having trouble breathing the last time that she, my wife and I did P90X together a couple of months ago. She was just diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. She never smoked a day in her life, she runs about 8 miles a day….5-6 days a week, lifted weights on a regular basis and taught PE.
The idea of her getting lung cancer is preposterous. She is in good spirits and will give it all she has when it comes to overcoming this disease. The odds aren’t great, but the statistics for this disease are overloaded with people who are 60 + years old, ex smokers, diabetics, drinkers, overweight…basically really unhealthy people.
I prefer to look at her as though she were a female version of Lance Armstrong. She is strong, she is confident and I am convinced that she will find a way to manage this disease and live a long and healthy life in spite of what she’s going through right now.
This does give me pause as I think about how overweight I am and how fortunate I’ve been up to this point in my life to not have any serious health issues…..other than having really bad knees.
I’ve been struggling the last couple of weeks since Mel was diagnosed with this crap. I feel good about her ability to rise above this…..she can do hard things, but I feel lousy about my ability to accomplish much of anything lately. I’ve been playing racquetball for a few hours a couple of times each week, but I keep gaining weight.
I did the P90X Chest & Back DVD today, by myself. My wife’s schedule is still not real conducive to working out together. Eventually we’ll figure it out and get into a routine. I haven’t been sleeping that well lately and have struggled to get up early enough to workout with her.
I’ve picked up more weight over the last month and am feeling again like a human blob….not so much fun, but it is what it is.
Business has picked up a little bit….at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. These days, I have to hold onto whatever little I can find to be positive about. It’s been a rough year and a half……time for things to improve.
I really thought that by now I would have reached my goal of weighing 210, but I’m worse off than I was…that’s discouraging. This last month I’ve dipped into the comfort food and with the added stress of Melanie’s situation it seems like I’m automatically gaining weight.
It’s always been frustrating to me in the past when I would workout out regularly and eat right for several months and not really see any results and then in the space of a couple of weeks of not being vigilant I can pick up 10 to 15 pounds. That’s what I’ve done this month.
I guess at the moment….I’m angry because I’ve gained back a bunch of weight……..but mostly, I’m angry that someone so healthy and fit as my sister in law could be affected by this bastard of a disease. I learned a long time ago that life isn’t fair. My folks getting divorced on my 9th birthday wasn’t fair. I stopped expecting fairness when I was a kid, but this……this just pisses me off. This has no business messing with my sister.
She should be the last person in the world to have to go through this. Her situation does put things into perspective. I have no right to gripe about my struggle to get my weight into a respectable zone. She’s the one with the real struggle. My problems are miniscule in comparison. I have no right to be frustrated about my own situation. I have to take control of myself and make better choices……no one to blame for past failures but myself.
So I did my one hour of P90X Chest & Back……that’s the beginning of my latest attempt.
I cannot fail this time. I have to be strong for Melanie. I have to get back my good attitude. I have to do this for my wife, my kids, my family and for me.
Melanie’s in the hospital right now……she had an operation to keep her chest cavity from filling up with fluid. She hopes to get home in the next couple of days. We’re fortunate to be living in a large home that has plenty of room for all the family that has come and will continue to come and show their support for Mel. I’m blessed to have such a wonderful caring family that truly loves each other. We will all pull together and help Melanie however we can to overcome this cancer.
P90X – Healthy Lifestyle
© Tim Pannell Photography
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
© Tim Pannell Photography
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
© Tim Pannell Photography
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 – No Workout – No Results
© Tim Pannell Photography
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
© Tim Pannell Photography
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
© Tim Pannell Photography
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
© Tim Pannell Photography
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
© Tim Pannell Photography
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!
