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By Tim Pannell On July 21, 2010
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© Tim Pannell Photography
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.
By Tim Pannell On July 18, 2010
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© Tim Pannell Photography
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.
By Tim Pannell On July 14, 2010
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© Tim Pannell Photography
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.
By Tim Pannell On July 13, 2010
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© 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.
By Tim Pannell On July 13, 2010
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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.
By Tim Pannell On June 27, 2010
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© 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!
By Tim Pannell On June 8, 2010
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© 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!
By Tim Pannell On May 15, 2010
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© 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!
By Tim Pannell On May 11, 2010
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© Tim Pannell Photography
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!
By Tim Pannell On April 25, 2010
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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.
