P90X and Reconstructive Knee Surgery
Wounded Knee © Tim Pannell Photography
Well after 1 1/2 years of doing P90X and trying to strengthen my knees, it looks like I failed. I go under the knife in 6 weeks. My left knee is now almost completely bone on bone and I have a torn ACL.
X rays showed 3″ and 4 ” long bone spurs which are causing significant pain around my knee. The surgeon says it looks like I’ve been this way for over a year.
I had over 1/2 the cartilage in my left knee removed when I was 18 when I broke my leg skiing. I aggravated the knee while playing racquetball. I shouldn’t be too surprised that 30 years later something has to be done again because of injuries form playing racquetball. On paper, you wouldn’t think it’s a sport with a lot of injuries…..maybe it just is for me.
I guess the “old school” way of handling pain by rubbing dirt on the injury doesn’t really work after all.
It’ll be nice being pain free once it’s done and I’ve rehabbed it sufficiently.
For now I’m just doing weight lifting, pull ups, push ups and sit ups…..it’ll have to do for a couple of months at least.
It’s a shame because now that its getting light out earlier it’s much easier to get up before 6 and work out. The weather here has been weird at best. We still have days in the 40′s followed by days in the 70′s or 80′s. Hopefully it’ll be better than last year and we won’t have snow the end of May…….crazy!
It’ll be interesting to see how quickly I can recoup from the surgery. I can’t stand the idea of not being able to do much for a couple months, but I guess that’s part of the process.
P90X Help I’ve Stalled
© Tim Pannell
I’m a wuss! Ive stalled the last couple of months. I really messed up my knee playing racquetball over a month ago. I went and played again a week later and have a stress fracture in my right foot.
It’s been pretty frustrating. I miss working out with my wife too. We have to find a way to get back on track. I haven’t been able to get anything taken care of because of work assignments getting in the way. I can’t afford to be gimped up when I’ve got several big jobs on the line.
I just got back from LA where I shot some lifestyle work as well as some running shots with a great female athlete that we hired.
I have a bit of a lull the next couple of weeks so I’ll see if I can get in and see a knee specialist as well as a foot specialist.
I just want to be able to walk around pain free again…….wouldn’t that be nice?
P90X Reviews – Tips From the Road
© Tim Pannell Photography
I just got back from a Photography assignment in Los Angeles. Want a great tip for traveling? Be sure to bring a set of workout bands.
I’m really glad I brought mine. I didn’t do complete P90X workouts, but I was able to crank out a bunch of the exercises in about 15 minutes and that was a lot better than just blowing off my workouts completely.
The bands work great. You don’t need but one. If you need more resistance you can just make the loop you stand on a little bigger.
One of the biggest problems with most weight lifting programs is that you can’t travel with them…..the resistance bands solve that dilemma.
They don’t take a lot of room in your suitcase, so there aren’t any excuses.
P90X Reviews – Women
© Tim Pannell Photography
Looking for P90X reviews for women? Obviously, I’m not a woman, but I just finished working out with my wife and I’m feeling really good at the moment. I started out the day with a really crappy attitude, down in the dumps, generally an all around horrible mind set.
If it weren’t for my wife, I would have most likely talked myself out of working out this morning. Instead, she pushed me and we ended up doing an hour of P90X Shoulders and Arms. My mindset is already improved and I’m back where I need to be.
I love it when I’m able to workout with my wife, it’s just a lot more fun and enjoyable than when I workout alone. She’s doing great with the P90X workouts….definitely adding muscle and shape to her body. She’s also a lot stronger than when she first started out.
My greatest stumbling block with P90X is still the diet aspect of the program. I just really struggle when it comes to consistently putting the right foods into my mouth. I have a sweet tooth and it’s always been my Achilles heal. If you want a P90X tip….here ya go……make sure that whenever you do P90X that you are also eating sensible meals and not chowing down on a lot of junk food.
All in all, P90X is just a great all around workout. There are lots and lots of P90X success stories out there and all of them are very inspiring. My wife and I haven’t hit our goals yet, but eventually we’ll both get there.
I’m just always really happy on Wednesdays and Saturdays when I get to work out with her…..a lot more fun!
P90X 2011 Fitness Goals
© Tim Pannell Photography
Well……I’m back. After a self imposed hiatus I have determined it is time for me to get back on this P90X horse and share my fitness goals for 2011 with my readers. First and foremost – a big thank you to all of you who have spurred me on over the last year and a half.
It has been an interesting journey to say the least. My family has experienced quite a few curve balls since I started this blog 1 1/2 years ago. There have been a lot of successes sprinkled with setbacks as well as some failures.
Now, before you “positive minded,” “positive attitude” people start foaming at the mouth, let me say this……I believe in a positive outlook as well, but I believe it is always healthy to review the past to learn what went right as well as what went wrong so that I can repeat what went right and correct what went wrong.
I want to take and am taking personal responsibility for my failure so that I can learn from them and get better and ultimately overcome those weaknesses that more often than not rear their ugly heads at the worst possible times in my life.
I injured myself in plethora (I love that word) of places sometime towards the end of September. I was feeling pretty good….I was seeing improvement in my workouts and I had more energy when I was playing racquetball. So much so that I forgot to keep myself in check and I ended up re injuring my right rotator cuff as well as tearing my right tricep and tearing up both of my knees.
I’m older than I used to be. Truth be told…I just turned 50 yesterday. I still feel like a 20 something in my head, but sadly my body doesn’t heal as quickly as it did when I was younger. It took almost 4 months to be able to get back to P90X without re-aggravating those injuries.
This time around I will be more careful. I have had a complete physical…a colonoscopy (its like living a dream) and have chosen some new dietary guidelines and workout schedules to have more success in 2011. Aside from being overweight, I am healthy. My cholesterol is good, my blood pressure is flirting with being too high, but I’m not in the danger zone and I will not allow myself to hit the danger zone.
It’s nice to know that I can workout hard and not be at risk of blowing something up. The colonoscopy….no problems, no polyps, no issues. Time to get to work.
What did I learn in 2010? I learned that it is much easier and more enjoyable to workout with a partner or multiple partners, but that its not always practical. My wife and I are working out together on the days it makes sense with our schedules and I a working out alone otherwise. My sister in law is in the process of returning to fitness while battling lung cancer. She is responding well to her medication and the tumors in her body are shrinking or disappearing altogether. Miracles happen….plain and simple…..thank God.
She may be able to start back up with some P90X in the not so distant future.
Where did I fail or struggle in 2010? I’ve come to realize that my biggest mistake of 2010 was my self talk. Frankly, it was completely counterproductive to what I was trying to achieve. While I was doing my body lots of good by doing the P90X workouts, I was sabotaging myself with negative self images and self talk…..to the point where I believe it counteracted all the good I was doing with my workouts.
I didn’t lose any weight….whether or not I was working out I stayed at basically the same weight as when I started. I would lose some and then put some back on. I was terribly inconsistent and I now believe that it was because I keep calling myself “fat ass,” “lard ass,” “puss bucket,” “fat bald puke” etc., etc. In my mind I believed I was a fat slob and my body obliged me by continuing on it’s chubby hubby way.
I have done a lot of reading and studying over the last 4 months to try and get my head on straight…so to speak. It hasn’t been easy and I can’t tell you that I’m 100% certain that I won’t slip back into my old habits from time to time, but I have worked on my weakness of poor self talk and I am at a point where i”m comfortable enough to share where I’m at with it at the moment.
I am healthy
I am fit
I am strong
I am young
I am energetic
I am a workout beast
These are some of my “I am” statements for the rest of my life. This is who I am on the inside. I’m already there. This is the true me. The artificial me is what has developed over the years on the outside. 2011 is all about matching up my inside to my outside.
I would workout out hard for months at a time only to look in the mirror and get all pissed off that I was still a fat slob. Then I would berate myself and get “small” and weak, not in actual size but in spirit. I would depress myslef into not accepting myself and then I would fall back into my fat boy cycle. Now as I’m writing this I realize I may have to change the name of my blog at some point….I guess I’ll worry about that later.
I now know who I am and as a person that is fit, healthy, active, strong, lean etc. I do the things that someone that is all those things does. I workout, I eat healthy, I keep moving, I expect success, I am manifesting on the outside who I am on the inside. I still really do believe I’m the healthy guy I was in my late teens and early 20′s.
I’m turning this thing around. I’m doing better than I did last year at this time. I will continue to do better throughout all of 2011 at getting my outside to mirror who I am on the inside already.
Here’s to success! Here’s to the journey! Here’s to self discovery! Here’s to improving!
My you have an amazing 2011……I know that I will!
P90X Reviews – Should Women Do It?
© Tim Pannell Photography
A lot of people wonder if P90X is good for women or not. My question for them is always…why wouldn’t it be? I’m still amazed at the number of people that think that as soon as a woman starts lifting weights she’s on the “fast track” to looking like one of the chicks that play rugby for New Zealand……those women are huge.
My wife hasn’t done the program religiously, but she’s done enough to notice a great deal of difference in her overall fitness level when she’s on the program compared to when she’s off it.
We did P90X Legs & Back yesterday and both of us are struggling to walk today. Both our butts are as sore as can be. Even something as simple as sitting down has become a great adventure. It’s funny….I’ve done P90X Plyometrics for a while now and you’d think that it wouldn’t be much different than the legs & back workout, but you’d be mistaken.
Different exercises…..different results. Kim was saying just the other day that she needed to do something to feel her glutes again…..well this sure did it!
The simplest answer for you if you’re a woman and wondering if P90X is right for you, is yes. Assuming you want to build some muscle and firm up your body in places that you’ve possibly let go over the years. Kim feels so much better about herself after doing these P90X workouts. It’s worth it just for the mental benefits let alone all the physical benefits she gets from it.
We’re both really sore today, but the great thing about that is this……when I feel all my muscles aching it’s just a constant reminder that I’m actually doing something to get into better shape. I feel a lot better about myself when I’m in this position.
Kim and I worked out together 3 times this week and love doing P90X together. It’s great motivation for me when she is working out with me…..I’m so glad she’s into it.
P90x Me and My Wife
© Tim Pannell Photography
Another Saturday has come and gone and another P90X Shoulders & Arms workout is in the books for me and my wife Kim. I love working out with her….it makes all the difference in the world.
She helps motivate me like no one else can. I’m still having trouble with my left kneecap and my right shoulder so I have to take it easy on a couple of the exercises at the end of the Shoulders & Arms DVD, but I can do all the rest just fine. The lying down triceps extension and the side tri rise exercises really put a lot of strain on my shoulder area so I’m only using half the weight and doing half the reps I used to do.
I’ve dogged it for almost 2 weeks now, hoping that my knee will get better and my shoulder will heal. The good news is….my knee is finally turning the corner and in the middle of the healing process. There were some days last week that I had difficulty even walking. It felt like there was a little rock in between the joint….no fun at all.
Both injuries came from playing racquetball…..I’m sure of it. I swung too hard at a “ceiling ball” and jumped too high in the air on the same shot and landed on the heal of my foot instead of the ball and jarred my knee joint. This always seems to happen to me once I start feeling really good. I forget to hold back just a little bit to protect against injury and blam…..I go and hurt myself. Bummer.
I’m going to push myself a little bit harder this week….I don’t want to re-aggravate anything, but I’m tired of dogging it almost completely. I’ll probably do Yoga X, Stretching X and Shoulders & Arms this week. I might wait one more week to play racquetball as well.
My partner and brother in law Jon hurt his knee as well and can’t play for a while either……another bummer.
I’m just going to keep plugging along. I know that even if I’m not losing all the weight I want to that I’m much healthier doing the workouts than I am if I don’t.
My wife Kim and I will have to get up earlier than normal for at least 2 more days this week…..I really want to make sure we do the workouts together…..I like having my workout buddy.
She responds really well to the P90X exercises and has pretty good results from it. Her arms especially have toned up big time. It’s fun to see.
Bring on the new week!
P90x Tip – Stick WIth It
© Tim Pannell Photography
Well……this last week has totally sucked. Here’s my P90X tip —-Don’t stop your momentum when you’re in a good flow. You have to stick with it. Starting back up is always the hardest thing for me.
I was doing really well. My last post was a week ago and if I remember correctly….I did P90X Kenpo X with my wife and played 2 hours of racquetball right after that. I actually played another 2 hours of racquetball that night as well.
I was on a roll and feeling great. The next day was my niece’s wedding and we had a ton of family in for that. Friday we all got together and goofed off for the day. Saturday came along and I didn’t feel so well so I took the day off. Sunday……well, I never work out on Sunday.
Monday I had lots of work and my youngest son started football practice that afternoon at 4. He has practice everyday from 4 – 6 and I’m helping out as an assistant coach. The next thing you know is today’s Thursday and I have yet to workout this week. I haven’t even played racquetball and my attitude, at least as far as fitness is concerned sucks to say the least.
I’m feeling good about just about everything else in my life at the moment, but I definitely hit a speed bump this week involving P90X. I’m missing this morning’s workout too because I have to take my 20 year old daughter to a foot surgeon in Salt Lake. She was a flier on her cheerleading squad in High School and got dropped 3 years ago and tweaked her ankle. It’s been getting worse and worse as time’s gone on. They’re having a hard time figuring out what’s wrong with it. Hopefully today will bring new results.
I’m gonna have to just force myself to get back on the P90X bandwagon and this time around once I do I have to make sure I stay on it. It is just too hard for me to get going again…….it’s just not worth losing the momentum and stopping.
P90x Reviews Kenpo X and My Wife
© Tim Pannell Photography
My P90X review for this week is……..I’ve been a lazy dog until today. My wife had the day off and she was just the push I needed to pop in the P90X Kenpo X disk and work out with her for an hour. Yesterday and Monday were just bad days for me…..no motivation…soreness in my right shoulder…..racquetball injury from last week and just a bad attitude in general.
I woke up this morning feeling much the same way as I did the previous 2 days and if Kim wasn’t there to prod me along, it would have been 3 lousy days in a row.
I actually feel great right now. The workout went really well. Kim hasn’t been able to do any P90X for a couple of weeks now so Kenpo X was just the right workout for her to start up on again. She did really well in spite of her sore back. Her lower back has been pretty tight lately, but this workout is easier than most of the P900X series….at least in my opinion.
I know there’s a point in the workout when Tony has his heart rate up in the 165 region and I can’t even get close to that. The most I’ve been at with Kenpo X is about 135. I keep worrying that I’m dogging or something, but I am in that heart rate zone pretty consistently whenever I’m doing Kenpo X.
This P90X workout is pretty easy on my joints and the torn shoulder muscle I have didn’t get aggravated by any of the routine either. I felt well enough after the workout to go and play 2 hours of racquetball with my 17 year old son. He hasn’t been playing that long so I have to take it a little easy on him so he doesn’t get too discouraged. He’s made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks as he has been able to play more and more with his brother as well as me and Jon – my brother in law.
He moves around the court like a jack rabbit and like most really young guys thinks that’s how you win games. He’ll eventually figure out that his speed will only benefit him if he learns how to play with good positioning. In any case….it was fun to play him this morning and I feel so much better after 3 hours of working out. My attitude is better and I’m ready to make things happen again.
It’s funny how I can manage to at times avoid the very thing that makes me feel so much better and make me so much more productive. These are the lessons I’m learning as I continue on my P90X journey and become fit once again.
Life is good!
P90X Results After One Month
© Tim Pannell Photography
Here I am at the end of 4 weeks of P90X and the results are in. I’ve lost 9 pounds total from day 1. I still have a long way to go. I lost most of that weight early on in the month….gained some of it back…..(bad eating habits) and then lost it again. I still want to lose over 60 pounds.
I am stronger than I was at the beginning of the month. I have better stamina. My knees are still wishy washy, but I’m moving tons better on the racquetball court.
This week I had a photo shoot in LA and was unable……or unwilling to work out. Our shoot schedules are always pretty full and it really is next to impossible to find time to work out unless I want to only get 4 or 5 hours of sleep and that puts my assignment at risk.
I did P90X Chest & Back Monday morning just before my flight out. I got home last night….Friday and played racquetball for 2 hours. When I came home, my knees and feet were extremely sore, so I iced everything. My gorgeous wife gave me a foot massage and today I feel pretty well.
Today Kim and I will end up doing P90X Shoulders & Arms with my brother in law Jon. He’s one of the guys I play racquetball with. His wife is the one that did P90X with us for the first 3 months out of the year. She just finished her radiation treatments for lung cancer and is doing well. She qualified for a new clinical trial that is over 80% effective at shrinking and destroying tumors.
We expect her to come through this and manage this ridiculous disease and live a long and productive life in spite of the current setback.
I will recommit to my P90X routine and do at least 5 workouts a week…..preferably 6. I will also play racquetball at least 3 times a week for at least 2 hours a session. I will be eating less meat than usual and I will be cutting back on everything that is not really healthy for me.
I started drinking diet sodas again during the last month and need to get back to only water. No more daily ice cream binges…I’ve done much better with this over the last 4 weeks, but need to pay attention here……it’s my Achilles heal.
My overall goal for the next 4 weeks is to lose 15 pounds.
“Do my best and forget the rest.”
