CALPIAN 5 WEEK TRAINING PROGRAM AFTER ACTION REPORT

After five weeks of training, or suffering -- dependent upon how you view training, my journey with the Calpain 5 week training program is finally over.  It has been a great experience.  I've learned a lot about myself over these past 5 weeks.  I learned that the weights don't move themselves, you have to sweat, fight, and grind through both missed and successful attempts.  This particular program was physically challenging but manageable with the right mental moxie.

Below are some weightlifting epiphanies and opinions I had throughout the course of this program.

- Even though the classic lifts (snatch and clean and jerk) have the highest priority in a weightlifter's training program, never discount the fundamental need for squats to develop and maintain foundational strength to better the classic lifts.  It's a proven fact that when your squat increases, so do your classic lifts.  Therefore, a good training program should always include back and front squats -- or in this particular case, back, front, and stop squats.

- Shorter, more intense, and calculated workouts garner the greatest results with the least amount of investment of time and resources.  Especially, as a master (old man) athlete, finding two or three hours to train is not an option; however, spending 35-45 minutes under the bar after a 10-15 minute warm-up is sound, smart, manageable, and down right - right!  Go for the shorter workouts and find something productive with the other 23 hours of your day!

- Adaptation and modification of any program is critical, both physically and mentally.  This program called for workouts Monday through Friday; yet, I trained based upon the availability of my schedule.  Don't get wrapped up trying to workout on specific days - it will only piss you off and derail progress.

- The 1RM used to populate and formulate the prescribed weights in this program were fairly accurate, thus, making the program tough but achievable.

- In retrospect, after completing other programs besides this particular one, I'd recommend including the good mornings (GM) and/or Romanian dead lifts (RDL) as initially prescribed in the spreadsheet.  I genuinely believe the addition of these exercises would greatly enhance the results of this program.

- The only downside of this particular plan is that it lacks a lot of variety by not including any hang, block, or stage lifts.  However, in the program's defense, these auxiliary exercises (i.e. hang snatch, block snatch, 3 stage clean, etc...) are usually implemented to correct any technical faults under the guidance of a coach -- someone I didn't have available during the course of the program.

This program is solid all around and I'd like to revisit and undergo the program again in the future.  In closing, if I were asked, "Would I recommend this program?" I'd emphatically answer "YES!".

Now go lift something really heavy!