Good questions. I am doing linear progression. It's Greyskull LP (LP short for Linear Progression). It's basically just a modified starting strength made by John Schaeffer, who's mentor is Rip, and at one point in time was heavily involved on these forums here before he started doing his own thing. I do have the books and reference them often. Jordan Feigenbaum called the GSLP program "a great novice to intermediate program" GSLP Strength Bias | Barbell Medicine, so it has been approved as a novice program by one of the more influential SSC coaches out there.
In my intro I kind of explain why I chose to do GSLP this time around instead of out of the box Starting Strength (I did Starting Strength last year before life got in the way and I regretfully de-prioritized my training). Really there is two reasons, the main reason is that I absolutely suck at power cleans. I've tried so hard to get them down, but I just can't seem to get it to click. I've read the book on PC's over and over, I've watched tons of videos of Rip coaching people on PC's, and just can't seem to get it right. I get sharp pain in my shoulders and elbows often when attempting PC's. I just don't have the form right to be able to train power cleans properly under any real load. GSLP uses PC's basically as a warmup to deadlifts. So by doing this I am currently able to take my time, keep weight low on the power clean, focus more on form than on adding weight, keep studying material, and hopefully get a break through on form. At some point I'm likely to have to shell out some cash to work with an actual coach to get this right. The second reason is that I really like the AMRAP 3rd set in GSLP. I feel it has benefitted me in a few ways. One is during a reset it no longer feels like a punishment. I don't feel like I'm wasting my time for weeks going right through territory I've charted before. I'm still pushing for rep PR's at each of those weights. This has done wonders for my motivation. I still feel that excitement to get under the bar even when I'm in a deload stage. Also, I feel it has really helped me learn how to push myself. Instead of stopping at 5 when I still have gas in the tank, I'm learning how to dig deep and muscle out those last couple reps when the weight is still low enough to not get hurt doing so. I'm learning where my body fails vs where my mind fails, and knowing the difference between the two is gaining me a lot of mental toughness in the process (I'm learning that my mind usually wants to give up long before my body). Lastly, the AMRAP has done wonders on my bench and press so far. I've only been doing the program for a month, yet I'm going for a bench PR next time I bench, and considering I just got 10 reps on the AMRAP set in my last workout, I have no doubts I'll hit that PR. I'm stoked to bench next week
That all being said, I love Starting Strength. I hold Rip in very high esteem. I spend way more time reading these forums and the articles posted on this site than I do on the GSLP site. I actually like Rip more than I like Schaeffer, I'm just trying something new this time around. Will I stick with this forever? Probably not. Likely when I start stalling out I'll transition back over to the Texas Method for my intermediate program. That's my current plan. Hopefully by then I'll have my power clean issues sorted out. When the weight gets into intermediate levels I don't want to be doing AMRAP sets, that just doesn't seem like the best course of action.
Currently I have not been in contact with an SS coach. It's something I've thought about, but I'm hesitant to go down that road at the moment. For now I'm just trying to get into the community here and I'll likely post some form checks and see how that goes. If I find myself still hitting any roadblock after trying that, I'm totally open to working with an SSC. Hope that answers your questions. Sorry if it was a little long, I just wanted you to know that I've spent a lot of time researching and put a lot of thought into the route I'm taking, it isn't something that I just chose willy nilly. I'm totally open to any suggestions though, if there is something I may be missing please point it out. Thanks for taking the time to drop by and look at my log!