Exodus Strength

Current Stats:
Age: 50; Height: 5'9"; WT: 237lbs; Waist: 40"

Best lifts:
Squat: 425X2 (all time PR, Nov 17, 2021)
DL: 450X2 (all time PR, Aug 19, 2021)
Bench: 325X3 (Nov 13, 2021)
BB Row: 265X6 (Sep 26, 2021)
Pull-up: BWX12
OHP: 150X5

I worked out quite a bit in my teens and early 20's and was pretty much the typical upper body specialist. Workouts focused on upper body and arms with a little legs thrown in (squat, leg press). I, of course, did sets of 10 and my best set on bench was a set of 9 at 295 and 315X8 on squat. I didn't deadlift and because I was naturally pretty decent on squat didn't think there was much to working legs. Fast forward to my mid thirties and I hadn't lifted much in about 7-8 years and decided to get back at. This time I incorporated deadlifts and squats and followed a popular program at the time Madcow's 5X5. After 12 weeks, I got all my previous strength back and then some. My deadlift and squat 5's went up 100lbs to 355 and 345lbs respectively and bench was 325X5. I know still not close to correct proportion but improving. Injuries, boredom and life interrupted and I trained sporadically for next 12 years with the expected results. 2 years ago, I decided to get serious again and purchased a home gym and started to train consistently again. At first, I was shocked to find how much harder it was when compared to my mid thirties. Old shoulder and knee injuries resurfaced and I was constantly stopping and restarting and overall progress was slow. In addition, I was diagnosed with a autoimmune condition, scleroderma, in my early 40's and this was also negatively impacting me.

2 years and 210 workouts later, I have finally been able to put together and a good run (since the end of August 2019) and am feeling pretty decent. All of the above numbers come from that run with the squat and DL being all time PR's. I ran my version of Greyskulls LP and then an U/L split with ascending sets of 10 to get here. After 8 weeks on the U/L, I was feeling pretty beat up and decided I needed a change. Previously, I'd run Andy Baker's Garage Gym Warrior for 6 weeks. I had to stop at 6 weeks due to medical reasons relating to my autoimmune condition but I did like it and wanted to give it another go. I am modifying it and going with the bench emphasis version. For light squat days I'll be substituting LBBS with safety bar squats and I am adding a set to bench on Mon and Fri. My last bench set on Mon and Fri will be done to an RPE of 8.5-9.


Week 1:
Bench: 4X6X210
Squat: 4X6X325
DL: 3X6X265 (beltless)
Bi/Tri: 3X10

OHP: 4X6X110
SSB:2X6X260
BB Rows: 4X8X205
Pulldowns: 3X10X125 (pull-ups are out right now as they are aggravating elbows and my right shoulder)

Bench: 4X6X225; 1X8X225 (last 3 reps paused)
DL: 315X6
Squat: 3X6X300
Bi/Tri: 3X12

Week 2:
Bench: 1X6X205; 2X5X225; 1X7X225 (all reps paused on this set)
Squat: 4X5X345
DL: 3X5X285
Bi/tri 3X10

OHP: 4X5X117.5
SSB: 2X5X280 (no belt, really felt these in upper back)
BB Row: 4X6X220
Lat Pulldowns: 3X10X125

Bench: 4X5X240; 1X8X240 (tng, RPE 8.5)
DL: 1X5X335 (these felt surprisingly hard, but back was already smoked)
Squat: 3X5X325
Bi/Tri (no arms today)

Welcome to the forum! Good to see another strong older lifter join the ranks!

Skid wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:31 am Welcome to the forum! Good to see another strong older lifter join the ranks!

+1

Awesome numbers and welcome aboard!

Thanks for the welcome gents. I know you're being generous with the strong comments but I'll take it.

Week 3:
Bench: 1X4X225; 2X4X240; 1X6X240 (all reps paused)
Squat: 4X4X365
DL: 3X4X305
Bi/Tri: 3X12

leprechaun71 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:27 am Previously, I'd run Andy Baker's Garage Gym Warrior for 6 weeks. I had to stop at 6 weeks due to medical reasons relating to my autoimmune condition but I did like it and wanted to give it another go. I am modifying it and going with the bench emphasis version.

I liked it mate, ran three cycles though in retrospect I'd have thrown in some singles @6-8 to maintain my skill in strength and would have paid more attention to descriptive RPE as the increment jumps outpaced my e1rm across the lifts.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for logging. Solid numbers mate.

GlasgowJock wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2020 12:47 pm I liked it mate, ran three cycles though in retrospect I'd have thrown in some singles @6-8 to maintain my skill in strength and would have paid more attention to descriptive RPE as the increment jumps outpaced my e1rm across the lifts.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for logging. Solid numbers mate.

Thanks for the welcome. I am probably going to run it 9 weeks and skip the 3 week peak. What are your thoughts on the peaking phase? When would you work in the singles?

OHP: 3X4X125; 1X7X125 (RPE 8.5)
SSB: 2X4X300
BB Rows 4X4X235

I usually work in 3-4 of pull ups or pulldowns but these are aggravating my right shoulder right now so they are out.

End of Week 3: I was feeling really achy this morning and was thinking of postponing today's workout. However, after putting on my big boy pants, I decided to give it go. Deadlifts at the end were rough but doable. Overall, decent but wet cold weather not good for the ole joints.

Bench: 4X4X255; 1X6X255 (RPE:9)
Squat: 3X4X345
DL: 1X4X355 (RPE:8)
Arms: 3X12

Week 4: Real life interrupting. My wife was out of town for the week for work and I had my 2 kids (4 and 6) full time so I missed Tues workout. Got in Thursday though.

Bench: 3X6X225; 1X9X225
Squat: 4X6X345
DL: 3X6X295

Incline Bench: 1X6X135
OHP: 3X6X120; 1X8X120
SSB: 2X6X280
BB Rows: 4X8X220

Everything felt pretty decent today but last set of rows and SSB were tough. I was going to substitute incline bench for OHP but my right shoulder said no and I listened.

End of Week 4: Feeling a little tired today. Started helping out coaching HS soccer team and have the kids for the week again. Dropped arms but got all the important stuff.

Bench: 4X6X240; 1X8X240 (RPE: 10 a decent grinder on last rep)
Squat: 3X6X325
DL: 1X6X335

Week 5: I thought I was going to struggle but everything felt pretty good especially bench.

Bench: 3X5X240; 1X8X240 (RPE: 8)
Squat: 4X5X365 (last set RPE: 7.5)
DL: 3X5X315

OHP: 3X5X127.5; 1X7X127.5 (RPE:8.5)
SSB: 2X5X300
BB Rows: 4X6X235

Relatively easy day and took me about 75 min to complete including 10 min warm up.

End of Week 5: Overall decent workout that I was contemplating splitting up (squats tomorrow) because I was coaching again today and hit 15000 steps and felt pretty tired. Glad I did it and have 2 days rest.

Bench: 4X5X255; 1X6X255 (RPE: 9)
Squats: 3X5X345 (felt pretty fatigued on these but none were over RPE 8)
DL: 1X5X355 (RPE 8.5) Not grindy but tired pulls.

Week 6: Been having issues with my right hip the whole run and tweaked it pretty good on squats today. Warm up felt fine hit 2 at 315 and 1 at 345 and everything felt really good but first workset at 385 and I felt it on the last rep (sharp stabbing pain).

Bench: 3X4X255; 1X6X255 (RPE: 8)
Squat: 1X4X385; 1X2X385 (tried another set and, yeah, my hip was fucked)
DL: 3X4X335 (Definitely not going to let my hips sink too much now, pain makes an excellent cue)

Did some extra warm up for my legs and hips and it helped some. Used the sling shot hip circle (grippy hippy) and did all my warm up squats with it. Added wrist wraps to last 2 sets of OHP and will probably do the same for bench on Monday. My shoulder is starting to feel a lot better so I tried a pull-up and it felt ok but still not good enough to add them back back in (pain is at the top).

OHP: 3X4X135; 1X6X135 (RPE: 8.5)
SSB: 2X4X320 (these felt better than low bar but not great)
BB Rows: 4X4X245

End of Week 6: Right hip is going to need a while to recover. I hit 315 for 4 and it felt great and then went to 345 and hip shit the bed again. Looks like I'll be doing some rehab and not following the squat protocol for the rest of the program (another 3 weeks). I tried neoprene compression shorts to see if that would help but, while they felt good, they didn't do much. Bench was decent and I hit all sets and reps but RPE is starting to get up there. I really feel like there is not enough volume in this program for me to really drive bench. I'm hitting about 10-11 work sets a week and for me this is probably the minimum amount of volume to drive progress. Ideally, I would add in an incline day on Weds and get my work sets up to 15 but alas my shoulder has not cooperated. I'm also enjoying OHP so there's that. Deads are going well and 375 moved about as well as it ever has for me.

Bench: 5X4X270 (last 2 sets I used wrist wraps; RPE: 7.5, 8, 8.5, 8.5, 9)
Squat: 1X4X315; 1X4X345; 1X4X315 (had to make sure I was done and I was)
DL: 1X4X375 (RPE: 8)

Week 7: I dropped squat and did some rehab work (goblet squats, banded walks, glute bridge). God it's going to be hard to add squats back in again. It's just so much easier without them. Bench felt really good again did first 3 sets paused and then final set tng. Deads were done beltless and felt good too although I did feel a little hip action on them but nothing serious.

Bench: 3X6X240 (paused); 1X8X240 (RPE: 9; tng)
Deads: 3X6X315 (beltless; felt light but taxed my cardio or lack thereof)

Squat rehab again: banded glute bridges, 35lbs KB goblet squat stretches and 35lbs KB Goblet banded squats. I'll add in low bar and safety next week, maybe.

OHP: 4X6X127.5
BB Rows: 4X8X225