Limiting blood pressure while lifting

[Jeremy63]

I'm a 20 year old kid that has weighed 135 pounds for a very long time. Could never seem to gain weight from lifting, until I got on starting strength that is. After 2 nights of lifting I am up 3-4 pounds.

However.. I quickly noticed the amount of stress/BP increase that occurs during the heavy lifts. I've got a congenital heart defect(transposition of the great arteries) that affects the valves in my heart, and it does not play well with high BP. I got ahold of my cardiologist, and he wants me to back off of the heavy lifts that entail heavy use of the valsalva maneuver until we can do some further testing to make sure I am not going to cause any damage by doing so.

So the short of it.. I need to back off the weight and shoot for 15-20 reps instead of 5. Do i have any good options here as far as still being able to gain strength by doing so? Or would I be better off going away from squats/deadlifts?

My lifts currently are:
Deadlift 145
Squat 105
Press 55
Bench 95

[Mark Rippetoe]

Start here: The Valsalva & Stroke | Jonathon Sullivan

[Frank_B]

Hang on a second... I’m a member of the high BP club. I don’t have the heart defects, but my BP has to be controlled. You know what I find funny? Your doctor says 12-15 reps, but doesn’t give you a rep scheme. Have you ever done a bodybuilding workout? A 1 hour “chest day” comprising of nothing but 12-15 reps and you’re not going to experience inflammation? It’s a systemic response to a fuckload of inflammation. My BP remains far more consistent with heavy weight training than it ever did with heavy glycolytic work. Do I still have to manage my BP? Yeah... But, I think your doctor is probably just a pussy whose bought into 12-15 reps being optimal...