P90X Reviews Attitude Matters
It’s Wednesday again…..so that means P90X Shoulders & Arms with my wife. Sadly, she had to work so I was solo today.
P90x © Tim Pannell Photography
The workout went well, lots of energy and ready to up my weights for the next round. I feel really good today. I’ve been working on my attitude and it is helping.
I’m in the hospital writing this. My 17 year old son just got his pinky finger operated on and we’re waiting for him to not seem quite so stoned before I take him home.
It’s been good getting back into the flow with P90X. The trick for me, as usual is to not let myself get discouraged and derail my routine.
Well, time to take my son home. If you’re struggling at all with consistency, try turning around your attitude and self talk and I think you’ll be pleased with the difference it makes.
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 Reviews – Plyometrics Still The Mother of All P90X Workouts
© Tim Pannell Photography
Yesterday I wrote a post and then went off to do P90X Plyometrics for my weekly butt kicking.
This P90X workout is the mother of all workouts.
It’s just brutal!
I am happy to report though, that I’m making progress and it was readily apparent yesterday.
The pain in my left knee is beginning to get better after several months of sharp pain.
There is a P90X Plyometrics exercise called “Hot Foot”.
You stand on one foot and jump up and down at a fairly brisk pace forwards, backwards and side to side.
The first time that I tried this exercise on my left foot….I couldn’t do it.
It felt like a knife was being plunged into my kneecap.
I ended up doing the exercise with both feet at the same time.
Yesterday I was able to do the whole exercise one footed.
Today I am not paying a price for doing that at all. No limp, no pain, no struggle.
I’m grateful for the added strength in my legs that is taking some of the pressure off my joints…..especially my knees.
I still have weight issues, but there is no doubt that I’m getting stronger and stronger by the week.
Today my wife and I took it a bit easier and instead of doing P90X Shoulders and Arms we did the P90X Stretch X workout.
This is a great workout when you find yourself running out of gas or if you’re sore from the p90X workouts that focus more and more on weight lifting.
Here’s what I noticed most today……….
I was able to grab my left ankle for the first time in years while doing the standing quad stretch.
I had prolotherapy treatments several years ago on both of my knees and the very last treatment that I had done on my left knee pumped so much liquid into the joint area that it swelled up and stayed that way to this day.
Its never really dissipated. Consequently I haven’t been able to reach behind me and grab that foot or ankle…..it’s just been too swollen.
I would have to grab the back heel of my shoe in order to do the stretch.
Today to my surprise I was able to reach back and actually grab my ankle.
I was then able to reach back with both hands and grab both ankles while lying on my stomach in order to do the “bow” exercise.
I’ve never been close to doing that exercise prior to this week.
It’s so nice to see progress being made on a daily basis. No matter which workout I’m doing I’m noticing areas that I’m getting better at.
If you have struggled with your weight or your fitness level and haven’t found anything that works for you I would strongly recommend P90X.
I’m so glad that I decided to try P90x. It’s not an easy workout.
My old racquetball partner just started doing the P90X workouts.
He may be in his 30′s but I would consider him to be in really good shape.
He still has a 40 + inch vertical leap….I know it’s ridiculous.
Try playing racquetball with the guy, he’s fast as a rabbit and can chase down just about any shot I can hit.
In any case, he called the other day to let me know how badly P90X Plyometrics kicked his butt.
He laughed……it’s only jumping and squats…nothing earth shattering.
He couldn’t believe it worked him as hard as it did.
So…any of you guys and girls out there making fun of the P90X hype……try it before you poke fun at it.
If you do it right and keep up with the pace on the DVD’s….it should kick your butt too.
P90X Review – Back in the Saddle Again!
P90x © Tim Pannell Photography
I basically took the month of August off of P90X. The plan was to play racquetball and do more bike riding. Everything was going along all right until I hyper-extended my left knee playing racquetball and went down in a sweaty heap. Bad visual……sorry.
I have been taking it pretty easy for the last 2 1/2 weeks. I was bored out of my skull to say the least. I’ve been busy with work, but was jonesing for some serious working out.
My knee is still a little squirrely, but with a brace on it, I’m able to avoid hyper-extending it.
I rode the bike for 1/2 hour today. I didn’t push hard at all. I just wanted to take it as easy on my knee as possible. It went pretty well, pain free is always a good thing.
Then it came time to get back in the saddle with the P90X Workouts. I have to modify it a little because of the knee, no plyometrics or any of the other exercises that require a jarring motion on the knee.
For all you P90X die hards out there that think that makes me a wussy……tough crap. I’m not pushing this knee any more than is necessary. Slow, methodical, consistent.
I turned the sound off, turned my tunes volume knob to Spinal Tap’s commemorative “11″ and cranked out a full P90X shoulders and arms workout.
It felt great!! I don’t know what it is about these workouts, but I love ‘em. I had to knock 5 pounds off my dumbbells for a few of the sets, but all in all I feel like I didn’t lose as much of my momentum as I initially feared.
This time around, I’m starting out at 268 lbs. My goal is the same as it’s always been….lose 2 pounds of fat/ week.
I’m also focusing on the process more than the results. A guy that’s 58 lbs. overweight that does bike riding and p90x is a lot healthier than a guy that’s 58 lbs. overweight that doesn’t work out at all, right?
I love the ride!
