first of all, I would like to make it clear that:
1) Im not a native english speaker so I apologize beforehand for any bad grammar.
2) Im by no means an experienced person nor an accomplished powerlifter im still running this version of starting strength and im super fucking weak to even call myself a powerlifter. im more of an "aspiring lifter"
having said all that ill go to what I modified.
as most of you guys know, starting strength is a very simple, 3 phase program, on the first phase you squat 3x5 everyday, you deadlift 1x5 everyday and you alternate the press with the bench press. on the second phase of the programme you power clean the day you press and on the third phase you start doing chin ups and such.
I completely dismissed the first phase as I started the programme with a 240lbs deadlift wich IMO is to heavy to do 3 times a week.
so I:
1)Added weighted dips on day A (the day where you bench) and weighted chin-ups on day B (the day you press)
2) incorporated a deload week once every 3 weeks cause frankly grinding 3x5 on everything everytime, even if youre supposed to fully recover between workouts as a novice is brutal. the deload weeks are more of a mental health/motivation thing than a real need.
so to sum up this is what the programme looks like now:
day A:
squats 3x5
bench press 3x5
power clean 5x3
weighted dips 3x5
day B:
squats 3x5
press 3x5
deadlift 1x5
chin-ups 3x5
deload week:
its always a B A B week.
I squat on the first day 70% of what would've been your next squat, on the second day 80% and on the third day 90% so for example if your next regular weight was supposed to be 100kg and you train monday, wednesday and friday, monday you do 70kg, Wednesday you do 80kg and friday you do 90kg. I like to do paused squats if the weight feels to light.
I do the same thing for all other lifts but depending on how many times I do that lift that week I drop percentages, in order to better explain myself, I drop the squat down to 70% cause ill squat 3 times that week, but ill only drop the bench down to 90% cause ill only bench once.
the reasoning behind all of this is that, first of all, the normal version of SS has waaay too little emphasis on upper body development, also the extra work on the upper body has made it so I have never been close to stalling at the bench or press and I have (less importantly) built a more balanced physique. I also added dips on day A and chin ups on day B so that they serve as an assistance to the main lift being performed that day other than the squat, dips assist your bench, chin-ups assist your deadlift lock-out.
deload weeks are incorporated in a manner in which that week you press twice so you have more time to work up to a PR weight given that the press a very easy lift to stall at.
to summarize, I added weighted dips and chin-ups to even out upper-to-lower body volume and I incorporated deload weeks mostly in safeguard of my mental health.
I post this so that what im doing can be constructively criticized, im a novice looking for some form of guidance.
doing this my squat has gone from 185lbs to 240lbs (Im super fucking proud of this)
my deadlift from 240lbs to 335lbs x5
my bench from 160lbs to 185lbs x5
and my press from 100lbs to 135lbs x5
