Caphel's Training Log

[FiveByFive]

I am also back on the The 3RM Russian Pullup Program. This went fine on Monday and I am going to really give this program a proper go.

I recommend it! I am having some success from it, finished the 5rm program the other day and the 5rm chin program the day before. Doing my first set of 6 today!

[FiveByFive]

I recommend it! I am having some success from it, finished the 5rm program the other day and the 5rm chin program the day before. Doing my first set of 6 today!

I should say I finished the portion where the first set is 5 reps rather.

[Caphel]

The weights are starting to get back to what they where before my week off which is nice.

07/10/2009
Squat – 5x5 at 97.5kg / 215lbs
Bench – 5x5 at 60kg / 132lbs

Inverted Rows – 7,6,5
Dips – 7,6,5

Reverse Crunch – skipped.


The squat was good again, I think I will have to get my wife to film a squat set soon to make sure it all looks good. 100kg on Friday. I am looking forward to that little marker.

The bench went up ok as well. Some sets felt better than others so I think I will have to concentrate on keeping my form solid all the time.

I forgot about switching to power cleans again. I will update the spreadsheet and hopefully get started on these next week.

The Dips were ok, quite a struggle but enjoyable.

I also forgot to do my pull-ups yesterday. I will have to just leave that day skipped and do today’s set as normal.

[l1n3n01z]

Great to see what's in store for me Really inspiring log.

[Caphel]

Friday was a nice little marker of a workout as I have hit the 100kg squat. I am just about back to all of the old weights I lifted at the end of the initial 12 weeks so it will be nice to see some progress from here.

09/10/2009
Squat – 5x5 at 100kg / 220lb
Press – 5x5 at 47.5kg / 105lb
Deadlift – 1x5 at 125kg / 276lb

Prone Bridges – Skipped

Pull-ups - 3,3,2,1


11/10/2009
Chin-ups 4,3,2,1,1


The squat. Well what can I say about this. I am very happy to have hit 100kg. It felt good and I do not think there were any problems with it. Still quite a way to go till I hit 1.5 x body weight but I am getting there slowly.

The press went very well. It went up a lot easier than the last time I did 47.5kg. It would be nice to hit 50kg next week. I may have set my goal to low for the press.

The deadlift also went well. It is getting pretty darn heavy though. 130kg this week will take me back to what I ended on at the end of the initial 12 weeks, then it is onwards and upwards.

The pull-ups are really quite tough. I am going to switch over to Chin-ups for now as I think I will be able to build those up easier.


On a diet note I am finding it quite tricky to keep eating enough food at the moment. Hopefully this will get easier as I keep it up but I never realised how hard it can be too eat so much.

[ltbs]

excellent log and great work on the progress, only a short while ago you describe 70k deadlift as 'heavy as hell' but on Fri last 125k as 'getting pretty darn heavy' , have to say for me 70k is still 'heavy as hell' lol

i find the eating part is somehow harder than the lfting part, takes much more thought and organising

sounds like you are reaching new territories lifting wise, keep up the good work, i'm sure you'll blast through

[Caphel]

Thanks. I think that as a beginner to lifting I really had no idea what heavy actually felt like. It is odd going back and thinking all these weights felt heavy at the time, but really they were just heavy compared to what you had done in the past, not what you had the potential to lift.

[Caphel]

I have started eating my dinner after my workout in the evening as I was finding it was starting to get a little uncomfortable training on a full stomach.


12/10/2009
Squat – 5x5 at 102.5kg / 226lbs
Bench – 5x5 at 62.5kg / 138lbs

Hang Cleans 5x5 at 40kg / 88lbs
Dips – 6,4,5

Reverse Crunch – skipped.

Chin-Ups 4,3,2,2,1


The squat felt good again. Like I have mentioned before I need to film a session again and make sure that the form is looking good.

The bench was quite hard but went up. I am still messing around with grip width, trying to find what feels best.

I did some Hang Cleans for the first time. I started off at 40kg as I have been cleaning more than that to press it overhead. I have some soreness in my traps and glutes this morning. I wonder what else is going to be sore for the next few days.

The dips were so-so as I was quite tired by then and was not really motivated. I did my chin-ups about an hour before the workout and they went fine.


I am still finding it hard to get motivated to do any of the Ab exercises at the end of the workout. I will see if I can get back into doing these as they do not really take long.

[Caphel]

I had to move my training on Wednesday to Thursday so that means I will also be working out on Saturday instead of Friday.

15/10/2009
Squat – 5x5 at 105kg / 231lb
Press – 5x5 at 50kg / 110lb
Deadlift – 1x5 at 130kg / 287lb

Prone Bridges – Skipped

Chin-ups – 5,4,3,2,1


The squat is getting pretty heavy now. Some sets were easier than others but they all went up, though some reps were quite slow. I will try and film Saturday’s session to check my form.

I am very happy with the press. I think my technique is so much better than when I first started, which has made it easier to lift heavier. Not that it was easy. On the contrary, it was real heavy.

The deadlift, wow, that was heavy. I will be seeing some grip issues here in the coming weeks. I held the last rep for a seconds to try and help my grip. Will try and get hold of some chalk this weekend.

[Caphel]

Another fairly good workout, though my shoulder has decided that it does not like dips.

17/10/2009
Squat – 5x5 at 107.5kg / 237lbs
Bench – 5,5,5,5,4 at 65kg / 143lbs
Hang Cleans 5x3 at 42.5kg / 94lbs

Dips – Skipped
Push-ups – 10,10

Reverse Crunch – skipped.

Chin-Ups 5,4,3,2,1


The squat was good but hard today. The bar speed is starting to slow down and the odd rep here and there was a real grind up. My adductor muscles have been really sore the last few sessions, I am starting to wonder if my stance is a little too wide.

The bench was a little bit of a disappointment. Yes it was hard, but I should not have missed that last rep. I think it was more a lack of focus than anything. Still, I will repeat this weight next time.

The hang cleans went fine and my traps are not really sore at all which is nice.

I started doing the dips but on the first one I felt a slight twinge in my shoulder and thought screw that. My right shoulder can get sore sometimes so I have decided to skip dips for the time being and go back to push-ups. I think I might give diamond push-ups a go next time.

I did my chins as normal but forgot to do my chins on Sunday again. I think I may have to start the 5rm program again today and make a real effort to do it every day.


This coming week holds a few nice milestones if everything goes according to plan. Hopefully I will see a 250lb squat and a 300lb deadlift. Bring it on.

[Caphel]

Not a great workout last night. During the 5th set of squats there was a slight pop on my left side at the bottom of my ribs. It is a little sore today, especially when breathing or stretching. Not sure exactly what is wrong but it is probably a muscle strain. I had the same thing happen on my right side on the Friday before my week off and it was better when I came back a week later.

19/10/2009
Squat – 5x5 at 110kg / 243lb
Press – 3,4,3,3,3 at 52.5kg / 116lb
Deadlift – 1x5 at 135kg / 298lb

Prone Bridges – Skipped

Chin-ups – Skipped


Apart from the popping of my rib the squats went very well. They went up a bit easier than the last session which is promising.

The press was very heavy, like crazy heavy. I was also conscious of the slight pain at the bottom of my ribs, but it was not too bad during the press.

The deadlift went pretty well all things considered. Pretty hard but still a very enjoyable lift. Grip is really starting to be a problem, will really have to get some chalk. I will also have to get some more plates, I only have weight up to 145kg.


All in all it was a pretty good session, bar the injury. I am quite frustrated with my injury as everything in general was progressing so well. Like I mentioned above, I have had the same kind of injury on the opposite side before and it seemed to clear up enough in a week that I got right back into squatting.

I will see how I feel on Wednesday but I think I will either have to take the day off squatting or go really light, I will also see how my body feels about benching and cleaning. Hopefully by Friday I will be better enough to go a little heavier and start getting back into it.

At the worst I guess I will have to have the rest of the week off. Very frustrating.

[FiveByFive]

Good luck with the injury, well done on that press as well! That's the weight that has me stuck right now.

[Caphel]

Thanks. I did a few push-ups and a few pull-ups yesterday but nothing else. It is slowly getting better and it is not nearly as bad as when it first happened but if I breathe deep and tense up I can still feel some slight pain.

I think I will do a light day on Friday and see how that goes. Then hopefully by Monday I will be ready to get back into it.

[Caphel]

I did a “light” day on Friday. Mainly to make sure I would not get really bad DOMS on Monday.

23/10/2009
Squat – 3x3 at 100kg / 220lb
Press – 3x3 at 50kg / 110lb
Deadlift – 1x5 at 110kg / 243lb

Prone Bridges – Skipped

Chin-ups – 5


The squat went fine, I quite enjoyed the 3x3 if I am honest, I did a lot more warm-up sets as I ramped the weight just to make sure nothing would go wrong. I will start again on Monday on the same weight that I should have been doing this week.

The press went fine as well. Quite heavy but doable, I also took less rest between sets as it was only 3x3.

The deadlift I did 5 of as it was only one set anyway. These went fine but as I was trying to pull each rep without a lot of re-setting between them it really worked my grip.


I am quite pleased that the workout went as well as it did. Luckily my injury is not going to put my training back too much. Onwards and upwards then.

[Caphel]

So it was my first workout back after my slight injury and all seemed to go well.

26/10/2009
Squat – 5x5 at 110kg / 243lbs
Bench – 5x5 at 65kg / 143lbs
Hang Cleans 5x3 at 45kg / 99lbs

Push-ups – 10,10,10

Reverse Crunch – skipped.


The squat was pretty tough actually, harder than it was last time at this weight. Most of the reps went up fine but there was the odd one that was a grind. I am going to put it down to last week and hopefully it will be fine next time. I also ripped my boxer shorts on the first set which was a little off putting.

The bench was pretty much the same as last time. Most of the reps went up well but I lost a bit of focus on the last set and the last rep was a little bit of a grind.

The hang cleans went fine. I quite enjoy these. I am wondering how much weight you can clean and lower without bumper plates, that might start to be an issue.

The pushups were ok but I was not really pushing myself by this time. I did them with my hands just outside shoulder width. I will start to move them in from here so I can build to diamond pushups.