A Clarification on Training Through Injuries | John Petrizzo

[stef]

Those of you who have followed Rip’s Q&A forum for any length of time have seen hundreds of questions related to various types of injuries. Fortunately, most of the injuries that are incurred while barbell training are relatively minor and as such, Rip’s advice is typically to “train through it.”

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[Mark Le Comte]

Out of theoretical interest, do you ever recommend modifying total volume or repetitions to train through injury? I'm not talking about Starr protocol with 20 reps or pin firing etc as a focussed rehab.

I'm assuming the approach of 3x5 across is still preferred. Personally, instead of reducing load and using 3x5, I have sometimes used lower reps with less of a load reduction for 1 set out of the three e.g. with notional numbers instead of reducing squat from 450x5x3 to 350x5x3 doing something like 400x5, 350x5x2.

Its probably just me wanting to still feel strong, and I justify it to myself as keeping the CNS and technique closer to 'proper' training loads and that the first rep at 400 feels at least as safe as the 5th rep at 350.

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[John Petrizzo]

Out of theoretical interest, do you ever recommend modifying total volume or repetitions to train through injury? I'm not talking about Starr protocol with 20 reps or pin firing etc as a focussed rehab.

I'm assuming the approach of 3x5 across is still preferred. Personally, instead of reducing load and using 3x5, I have sometimes used lower reps with less of a load reduction for 1 set out of the three e.g. with notional numbers instead of reducing squat from 450x5x3 to 350x5x3 doing something like 400x5, 350x5x2.

Its probably just me wanting to still feel strong, and I justify it to myself as keeping the CNS and technique closer to 'proper' training loads and that the first rep at 400 feels at least as safe as the 5th rep at 350.

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Hi Mark,

I apologize for my delayed reply. Regarding volume reduction, yes, I very often will reduce the volume on a particular exercise to just a top set initially and then I titrate the volume back up over time as symptoms allow. Ultimately, there are a lot of different ways to go about training through or around injuries and my article was not meant to be exhaustive, just something that I thought could help people organize their thoughts regarding their training when injuries arise. Thanks for reading!