Exodus Strength

My name is Matt, I'm 32 years young, married, and I have 2 very young children...so far

I'm 5'9.5" and I'm currently weighing in at exactly 232 lbs this AM. I started my LP at a BW of 123 lbs back in 2012 and messed around in the gym for some time until my first was born in spring 2014.

Starting this log just finding out I got a job promotion today! Yay me lol. I'm currently using Intermediate programming and my best tested maxes in the gym are as follows:

Squat: 435
Bench: 300
Deadlift: 455
Press: 200

Gonna get me some dad gainzZz!

Congrats on the promotion!

Glad to see you logging here.

Wedding Anniversary yesterday!


BW: 232.0 lbs


Intensity Squat: under 5 min rests

385*1 (@7)
385*1 (@7)
385*1 (@7.5)
385*1 (@8)
385*1 (@8)

Intensity Deadlifts: under 5 min rests

395*1 (@7.5)
395*1 (@8)
395*1 (@8)
395*1 (@8)
395*1 (@8.5)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Heavy BB Pendlay Rows: 210*6 (@8), 6 (@8.5)
Heavy Weighted Chins: 272 lbs x3 (@7), 3 (@7.5), 3 (@7.5)


**Session felt really good! The lifts felt slow but were much faster upon video review.

One single of the Squats:

Manveer wrote: ↑Fri Oct 06, 2017 6:24 pm Congrats on the promotion!

Glad to see you logging here.

Thanks Manveer, It's been a crazy busy week but it was obviously worth it! Cool site!

Welcome! Congrats on your promotion and anniversary.

Keep pushing ahead.

Chebass88 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 5:43 am Welcome! Congrats on your promotion and anniversary.

Keep pushing ahead.

Thanks for the warm welcome and congrats!

**Wife had to work tonight so I put the childrens to bett. Unfortunately my 3.5 year old decided she didn't want to go to bed so I gave her a decision... Go to bed and try to sleep or hang out in the basement and watch daddy workout lol.


BW: 233 lbs



Volume Bench: beltless; 5 min rests

230*5 (@6.5)
230*5 (@7)
230*5 (@7)
230*5 (@7.5)
230*5 (@8)

Intensity Press: under 5 min rests

180*1 (@7)
180*1 (@7.5)
180*1 (@8)
180*1 (@8.5)
180*1 (@8.5)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Light LTE: 107.5*11 (@8), 10 (@9)
Light BB Curls: 105*10 (@8.5), 10 (@8.5)


**Bench felt super light/easy except for my daughter decided bench was hilarious once I got to my top set... she laughed hysterically and pointed at me while in mid-set. Luckily it wasn't heavy weight but sheesh!

**Press felt good and strong! First rep felt powerful and here's the vid.

**Last shift in my old position! New position officially kicks off tomorrow!


BW: 235 lbs



Volume Squats: Beltless; 5 min rests

315*5 (@6.5)
315*5 (@7)
315*5 (@7.5)
315*5 (@8)
315*5 (@8)

SLDL: Beltless; 4 min rests

280*5 (@7)
280*5 (@7.5)
280*5 (@8)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Light BB Pendlay Rows: 192.5*10 (@8), 10 (@9)
Light Chins: BW*7 (@7), 7 (@8), 7 (9)


**Interestingly after squats I felt gassed about halfway through SLDL and fatigue majorly set in. So glad I made it through tonight's sesh... I'm beat!

BW: 235 lbs


Intensity Bench:

270*3 (RPE 8)

Volume Press: Beltless, 4 min rests

145*5 (@7)
145*5 (@7)
145*5 (@7.5)
145*5 (@7.5)
145*5 (@8)

Accessory: Beltless, 2 min rests

Heavy LTE: 122.5*7 (@8.5), 7 (@9)
Heavy Cheat Curls: 140*10x2 (ouch)



**Things felt great but that muscle, hard to pinpoint location, in my right forearm/elbow is still bugging me when I press, chin, row, or curl... it's getting better though!
**Geez I remember when 135 lbs presses were intimidating and I couldn't even do a single... sometimes I forget how far I've come when I'm only focusing on where I'm not yet.

Just noticed your log! Congrats on the promotion, and really happy to see you posting here

Mahendra wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:04 pm Just noticed your log! Congrats on the promotion, and really happy to see you posting here

Thanks Mahendra! I’ve been waiting for the job posting for most of the year so it’s pretty exciting! Glad to be here!

BW: 237.5 lbs (PM Weigh-in)



Intensity Squat:

370*3 (@8)

Intensity Deadlift:

380*3 (@8)

Accessory: 2 min rests; beltless

Heavy BB Pendlay Rows: 212.5*6 (@8), 6 (@8.5)
Heavy Weighted Chins: 280*3 (@7), 3 (@7.5), 3 (@8)



**Pleasantly surprised how easy tonight's session felt... guess I was so used to training at RPE 10 all the time before.

Here's the Squat:


And here's the Deadlift:

**Session on 4 hours of sleep... yuck.



BW: 233.9 lbs



Volume Bench: Beltless; 5 min rests

240*4 (@6.5)
240*4 (@6.5)
240*4 (@7)
240*4 (@7)
240*4 (@7.5)

Intensity Press: 5 min rests

175*3 (@8)
175*3 (@8.5)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Light LTE: 110*11 (@8), 10 (@9)
Light BB Curls: 107.5*10 (@8.5), 10 (@9)



**Benching felt insanely easy tonight... I hope that's some foreshadowing for good things to come!

Filmed the Bench 5 sets of 4


Here's the Press: Listen closely and you'll hear my t-shirt ripping on each rep.

**Getting tired from these new early morning work shifts... not used to getting up at 5:45am


BW: 240.4 (PM Weigh-in... not liking this sudden increase)



Volume Squats: 4 min rests

325*4 (@6)
325*4 (@6.5)
325*4 (@7)
325*4 (@7.5)
325*4 (@7.5)

SLDL: 4 min rests

290*4 (@7)
290*4 (@7.5)
290*4 (@7.5)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Light BB Pendlay Rows: 195*10 (@8), 10 (@9)
Light Chins: BW*7 (@7.5), 7 (8.5), 7 (@10)


**Feeling lots of fatigue this week from earlier work shifts but I just need a bit to adjust.

BW: 239.1 lbs (PM weigh-in)



Intensity Bench: under 5 min rest

280*2 (@8.5)
280*2 (@8.5)

Volume Press: Beltless; 4 min rests

150*4 (@6.5)
150*4 (@7)
150*4 (@7.5)
150*4 (@7.5)
150*4 (@7.5)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Heavy LTE: 125*7 (@8.5), 7 (@9.5)
Heavy BB Cheat Curls: 142.5*10, 9


**I was seriously contemplating postponing this session until tomorrow which is very uncharacteristic of me so I soldiered on and once I "woke up" a bit more it wasn't so bad.

i was browsing your training log and noticed we are in very similar situations. similar programming, size, lifts, age, and i even have two toddlers and a wife who works at night sometimes so i have to fight to put them to bed in order to get my sessions done! not ideal but what you gonna do! keep bustin ass

cole wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2017 5:30 am i was browsing your training log and noticed we are in very similar situations. similar programming, size, lifts, age, and i even have two toddlers and a wife who works at night sometimes so i have to fight to put them to bed in order to get my sessions done! not ideal but what you gonna do! keep bustin ass

Haha it does sound like we have similar situations and it's nice to know that there are others out there who deal with the same things I do. Looks like you're a tad stronger than I though congrats!

BW: 239 lbs


Intensity Squats: 5 min rests

380*2 (@8)
380*2 (@8)

Intensity Deadlifts: 5 min rests

390*2 (@8)
390*2 (@8)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Heavy BB Pendlay Rows: 215*6 (@8), 6 (@9)
Heavy Chins: 284*3 (@7.5), 3 (@8), 3 (@8.5)


**Need to tighten up more on squats... annoyed with myself for not staying tight throughout.

**Late Night Sesh


BW: 237.6 lbs



Volume Bench: 5 min rests

250*3 (@6.5)
250*3 (@7)
250*3 (@7)
250*3 (@7.5)
250*3 (@7.5)

Intensity Press: 4 min rests

180*2 (@8)
180*2 (@8)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Light LTE: 112.5*11 (@8.5), 9 (@9.5)
Light BB Curls: 110*10 (@8), 10 (@9)



**Wrist pain from taking my kids to an indoor playground... my daughter made me follow her up the play structure and I was much too *cough cough* big for it. I had to get on my hands and knees to crawl around like a little kid (there were other dads too lol) and now my left wrist is killing me (previous old work injury). We had lots of fun though so it was worth it! The only thing is I noticed it affected my lock out power in pressing movements tonight, hence why I wrapped my wrists for volume bench tonight despite not normally needing to at this intensity.

Here's the sesh:

**Late night sesh; side note... found out I work with an ex Muscle Mag editor... kinda cool!


BW: 239.7 lbs (PM Weigh-in)



Volume Squats: 4 min rests

335*3 (@6)
335*3 (@6)
335*3 (@6.5)
335*3 (@7)
335*3 (@7.5)

SLDL: Beltless; 4 min rests

300*3 (@6)
300*3 (@6)
300*3 (@6.5)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Light BB Pendlay Rows: 197.5*10 (@8), 10 (@9)
Light Chins: BW*8 (@8), 7 (@8.5), 6 (@9)



**Good sesh, just doing the grind.

***Interestingly enough when I spoke to my co-worker I found out he squats over 600 lbs currently and he's gone as high as 715 lbs! He told me that even getting that strong, anything over 200 lbs starts feeling "heavy" because...it's 200 lbs lol. That made me feel so much better because I couldn't figure out why anything over about 225 starts feeling heavy on my back despite having a Max squat of 435 lbs. He also told me he still gets anxious before his training but it's more of an anxious anticipation for what's coming and a slight fear of not performing the best he can. It's like he stole the words right out of mouth!

**I'd love to name drop but to be respectful for his privacy and due to the nature of our job I can't disclose that info.