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 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 Shoulders & Arms With My Wife
© Tim Pannell Photography
Well…here it is another Wednesday. I love Wednesdays…it’s my wife’s day off and we have no excuses for not doing P90X together. Today we just finished the P90X Shoulders & Arms Workout and we both feel great.
Neither of us slept very well last night. We have 12 different smoke detectors throughout the house and for about 3 1/2 hours they were all going off every 15 minutes or so. We changed all the batteries out, we dusted and vacuumed each individual alarm just like the manufacturer suggested……..what happened next? They all went off non stop for close to an hour. We ended up taking them all down and popping out the batteries on each one and draining their capacitors in order to be able to sleep.
These are the same alarms that didn’t even go off when the dining room table was set on fire by one of the little kids in the neighborhood on the 4th of July. The entire house was filled with smoke as 6′ flames went up from the table…not a single alarm went off, no beeps, no sirens, no nothing. I feel so safe and secure knowing these pieces of crap are “protecting” my home from fire.
Do not buy any alarms from FIRST ALERT…they are crap……..just FYI.
Anyway….in spite of us both being tired and wanting to bail out 2/3 of the way through the workout…we both sucked it up and finished and are glad we did.
I love working out with my wife….at this point it’s one of my favorite times of the entire week. Life is good. P90X is good. Being married for 28 + years is great.
We had a really big thunderstorm this morning during our workout. 1/2″ sized hail came down…..super loud….really cool. The sun popped out during it and the sky lit up just like a sparkly snow globe…I’ve never seen anything like it. It was absolutely amazing.
What a great start for today.
P90X Reviews – Spent Last Week Sick
© Tim Pannell
We’ve had company for 8 of the last 9 weeks and it finally happened. I caught my 2 year old nephew’s cold. I was really sick most of last week.
I did P90X Kenpo X on Monday and that was it for the week. The rest of the time I was just one big coughing, sneezing, runny nosed slob.
My wife Kim and I got back into P90X yesterday. My brother in law Jon came over as well. We ended up doing P90X Chest & Back.
It felt like I took more like a month off. I was really drained of strength and energy yesterday. I wound up pulling something near my right shoulder blade……probably over compensating for the muscle pull I’ve had in my right shoulder and tricep for over the last month.
I did a bunch of soccer and lacrosse images with my 2 sons last week so I wasn’t completely exercise free. Even though I roll around a lot on the ground and move heavy equipment and lights all over the place……its still not P90X.
I’m going to be doing P90X plyometrics this morning by myself. My wife had to head off to work early today. It’s so much easier and more fun to work out with her……at least that will be something I can look forward to doing tomorrow.
I’ve been reading a lot about nutrition lately and am aiming at having a better defined diet over the coming weeks. I’ll share what I come up with once I come up with it.
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 Review – End Of Week Four
© Tim Pannell Photography
The end of week #4 with P90X has come and gone. I missed most of the week because of a photo assignment out in LA. I finished up the week doing P90X Shoulders & Arms with my wife – Kim, brother in law – Jon and my 8 year old nephew Levi.
It went pretty well and was fun having a bunch of other people to workout with. I played racquetball last night for 1 1/2 hours as well. I played like crap though….never really got into any kind of rhythm. I also aggravated the torn muscle in my shoulder/ triceps. It feels like crap today and I’m worried its gonna give me problems for a long time now. I’m just getting into a nice groove with P90X and don’t want to get out of the habit again. The best thing for it is probably to back off for several weeks, but I can tell you right now….that’s not going to happen.
I really want to get this extra weight off once and for all. I’m sick of lugging it around and not feeling as well as I could if I just lost it. I have to do better.
I’m still at -9 lbs. so far for this round of P90X and expecting to lose at least 20 more pounds before the next 2 months go by.
I’m taking today off….let my body rest up a little bit and then I’ll start back up on Monday morning.
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.”
P90X Reviews – Week Three In The Can
P90X Shoulders & Arms © Tim Pannell Photography
Week # three has been an interesting week to say the least. We have lots of family in town again visiting my sister in law and I’ve been doing P90X with another brother and sister in law the last couple of days. It’s been fun. He does a lot of mountain biking and has a bunch of buddies where her works that do P90X so he was curious about the workouts and the results.
I started him and his wife out on P90X Shoulders and Arms and then went to P90X Plyometrics. They’re both in decent shape and enjoyed the workouts. Both of them were surprised at the intensity……especially with Plyometrics. We have 3 sisters and their families staying with us this week and one of the others pooh poohed the workout saying that she does aerobics all the time….blah, blah, blah.
I’m sure there are other workouts out there that can kick people’s butts as much or more than P90x……but I like these P90X workouts and I believe they’re pretty effective. It’s also really easy to say we’re whimps and sissies and criticize from the comfort of one’s jammies eating cereal at my dining room table.
There is also a big intensity difference between doing step aerobics and doing jump training. In any case…..my “exercising” brother and sister in law seem to like the P90X routines and will probably buy into the program.
I was really tired and lethargic yesterday for whatever reason. Maybe I’m just overwhelmed having 3 other families in my house with all their kids……who knows. I love having people visit and we definitely have people visiting at the moment.
Everybody that’s here with us is pretty cool….even the one that’s critical of my P90X Plyometrics workout. I wish they were here for a different reason…….it sucks that Melanie has cancer. She is doing really well though and just recently found out she qualifies for a clinical trial with the Huntsman Center that is over 80% effective at destroying tumors. She just finished radiation treatment yesterday and will start the trial in 4 weeks as long as there is no more trace of cancer in her brain.
She’s become extremely weak from the radiation and the hormones they’ve been giving her. It’s hard to believe she’s the same person that was P90X’ing in my living room everyday and looking pretty buff just 3 months ago. Cancer is just crap!
Today I’m debating on doing P90X Kenpo X or doing another Chest and Back workout. Maybe we’ll do Yoga X……I guess I’ll see what interests them. I’ll be playing racquetball for 2 hours after this workout so I don’t want to be exhausted after it…..Kenpo X is one of the easier routines for me to do….so I’m leaning that way.
My weight is about the same as last week, perhaps I’ve gained back one or two pounds……not happy about it, but we’ve been feeding an army and I’ve been eating more than is wise at this point.
My arms are starting to bulk up again which is nice to see. I gained at least an inch on them at the beginning of the year and then watched 3/4 of it disappear during the 2 months that I took it easy because of my elbow.
I did my all time best at the side tri rise exercise………30 each arm…….lets see if my naysaying sister in law can crank that out.
Starting Week Three P90X Workouts
© Tim Pannell Photography
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
P90X © Tim Pannell Photography
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!
