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 One
© 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.
P90X – Shoulders & Arms – Racquetball – Exhaustion
© 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.
P90X – Racquetball, Again? Are you Nuts?
P90x © Tim Pannell Photography
Well…….here I am sitting in my family room all dressed up to play a little racquetball.
I haven’t played since last August when I hyper extended my knee and had difficulty walking for longer than I’d care to remember.
I swore I’d never play the game again, it took too long to recover last time.
My brother in law plays 2 – 3 times a week and honestly……the game calls to me.
I started playing in high school and college.
I got away from the game for a long time and then got back into it about 6 years ago.
Getting hurt last November was not in the cards. I hated getting hurt and I hated leaving the game even more.
I miss it. I love it.
It is hands down the best outlet for any frustrations I’m going through.
I am going to take it easy and see what happens.
If the knee feels the least bit weak…I’m gonna bail out.
I’ve done just shy of 3 months worth of P90X and feel a lot stronger than I’ve been in a while.
My knee feels strong and I’ve built up a lot more muscle to support my joints.
I should be ok…I’ll keep you all posted.
Well……..I survived. We played for 2 hours, nothing popped, nothing pulled, nothing strained, nothing broke…..life is good.
I didn’t play worth crap, but I didn’t have to be carried off the court. What a winner I am!
My shots were off. I can’t even count how many unforced errors I had….pathetic.
I have to retrain my reflexes to not immediately react to the ball.
It’s always like that after having not played for a while.
You want to react to where the ball will end up, not where it’s heading.
I don’t know if that makes any sense if you don’t play racquetball.
The ball bounces a lot in racquetball and unless it’s hit to a perfect spot, it will most likely bounce to an area where you can reach it without running everywhere chasing after it like an idiot.
It’s not like tennis where once the ball goes by you the point is over.
A well placed shot won’t give you an opportunity to hit it once it gets by you. With experience you learn which ones to go for and which ones to let by you and pick up on the rebound.
You might be wondering what any of this has to do with P90X workouts so here ya go:
I’m not really sore today. If I played 2 + hours without doing p90x for the last 3 months, I’d be crawling out of bed.
I would hardly be able to walk. My knees would be killing me, my ankles would be swollen and my feet would be completely shot.
My quads aren’t sore, my calves aren’t on fire…..I feel good.
Today I’ll pop in the P90X Chest and Back DVD.
The weight isn’t coming off in spite of my consistently working out each week.
Toady I’m gonna work on a better eating plan.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If any of you that are reading have had any success with an easy to follow menu please comment.
Just a warning….if it involves weighing, ridiculous amounts of calorie counting I will be doomed to failure!
Have an amazing day!
Racquetball and Photography
Racquet © Tim Pannell Photography
It’s been a while since my previous post……sorry about that. I’ve been super busy writing content for a photography workshop I’m teaching online in October for moms that want to take better pictures of their kids.
It’s coming along pretty well, but it has consumed almost all of my free time. I haven’t done any P90X workouts since my initial 90 day period.
This week I have been playing racquetball for 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day. It’s been good to get back in the court, but I haven’t played as well as I used to in the past. My go to shots are rusty to say the least and more than anything I think I’m sidetracked with my photography workshop to the point that I’m having a hard time getting my head into the games.
That’s a new problem for me. I’m also struggling with my left knee again. It is sore as crap and my left heel is bruised from a poorly timed landing. I’m falling apart, quite literally. I have stuff just hanging on by threads at this point in my life. Another adjustment, I was pain free for the last 3 months….it was nice!
I’m playing somebody new this morning and I’m concerned I’m too sore to give him any kind of run for his money. I guess we’ll see.
I will be starting round 2 of P90X on September 1st and am looking forward to getting back into those workouts. I’ve taken a little time off just to see what happens to my body and I can tell my arms especially are getting a little softer. I will do some weightlifting next week, but not an all-out P90X assault.
I still weigh 268. I have been there for a month now. At the beginning of this journey one of my main goals was to not get discouraged if the weight didn’t just fall off my body even when I was working out hard. I know that I’m healthier and more fit when I’m exercising consistently. I’ve been riding the bike the entire month of August except for this week when I started playing R-ball every day.
I’m gearing up for September with the goal to hit it pretty hard. I’ll do P90X workouts and ride the bike at least 6 days a week and throw in some racquetball for good measure unless my knee and heel keep flaring up.
It’s been a fun ride so far. I’ve gone from a high of 310 down to 268. I have a total of 58 more pounds to go til I hit my goal weight of 210. Once I’m there I’ll make some decisions about what comes next. I may decide to lose a little more weight or I may decide just to maintain, depending on how I carry it.
Well……I went and played racquetball this morning and I think I totalled my knee. I hit a kill shot along the left wall and went to slide out of the way. My left foot stuck to the floor as if it was nailed there. That almost never happens on this court. My knee hyperextended and buckled and I went down.
As is typical for me, I got back up and played. My adrenaline kicks in and I’m kind of stupid “old school” that way. You never quit unless stuff is actually falling off you. It was really sore yesterday and if I wasn’t paying attention it would buckle and just give out.
I woke up today and can’t even put any pressure on it without it collapsing……..how fun is that! ? ! Getting my knee scoped right now is so not good timing. I guess it never is, but I have so much on my plate at the moment. Today’s Sunday. I’ll stay off it all day and see if it’s any better at all tomorrow and if not……..off to the docs office. I hate doctor’s offices, I know I shouldn’t feel that way, but I hate going.
I also hate surgery. I had 60% of the cartilage in my left knee removed when I was 18 years old. That’s why my left knee has continually given me trouble. I had xrays done a couple years ago and it was pretty close to bone on bone at that time. Who knows how bad it is now.
The real bummer for me is that for the first time in years my knee was pain free the whole time I was doing P90X and riding the bike. No pain, no swelling, no problems. Maybe it’s time for me to give up on racquetball. I hope not, I love the game. It’s also great exercise.
I’ll keep you posted.
