Hey fitgaf, coming for a little bit of advice.
Firstly my story: 32M, 225lbs, 6'2". Had never done any significant work in a gym before in my life. I had tried at one point to dabble at a gym but mostly just pissed money away on fees. My dad has pretty bad heart disease and has had a heart attack before age 60. A doctor visit last year showed I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I am pretty out of shape. I read that weight lifting is really good for lowering blood pressure, and I couldn't stand doing cardio as I found it so boring.
I started lifting with SL 5x5 in June of last year. When I started the program I literally started with just the bar. While I was not small or weak in any sense, I did have significant problems with knee pain due to what my orthopedist diagnosed as patellofemoral tracking syndrome. I did about three months of PT to fix it over a year before I started lifting, but had been slacking in keeping up with the stretching so my knee pain had been returning. Due to this I decided it was best if I start with as low weight as possible, that way I would strengthen my stablizing muscles as well as have the time to regain the flexibility I require to go without knee pain. This was especially important since SL 5x5 is so lower body focused. I figured I'd start the upper body portions with low weight as well for the hell of it.
So, aside from a few small hiccups (vacations, sprain wrist in September) I've for the most part successfully followed the program for six months. Yesterday I decided to find my 1RM on the big 3 lifts and it came out as follows: Squat 285lbs, Deadlift: 275lbs, and Bench Press: 160lbs. I found it a bit weird that my DL was lower than my Squat numbers, and maybe I could have pushed it further but my back was starting to round a bit so I just stopped at that weight. My bench press is puny. Still, this is great progression for me, and to top it all off my knee pain is almost entirely gone, especially after I've warmed up! My next goal is to get the big 3 up to a toal of 1000lbs which I think I can do in short order. I actually also hoped to drop weight while working out, but really I have stayed at exactly the same body weight, but have had pretty significant recomposition away from fat and into lean muscle. Still got a ways to go to get rid of the last vestiges of my beer gut.
Anyway, I'm growing a little tired of SL 5x5 and while I think it was a great program for a beginner I think I want something with a little more of an upper body focus. I want to keep it to a 3 day program. I was thinking of attempting Phrak's GSLP but I fear the chin ups. Any program I do I want to maintain progress on the big 3 lifts. Any suggestions?
Also, I love the app that tracks progress for SL 5x5, are there similar apps that you can customize for other programs?
