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Thread: Question About Starr Rehab Protocol Length

  1. #1
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    Default Question About Starr Rehab Protocol Length

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    Roughly about 3 weeks ago, I felt a couple of pops in my hamstring while deadlifting. I felt the sensation exactly in the middle of my hamstring. I immediately ended my workout and went home. I was pretty sore that first night, but I was always able to walk, albeit with a limp, and my leg never showed any bruising after the injury. Once I got home, I did some reading and found Ripp's explanation of the Starr Protocol for its use with muscle belly injuries.

    I immediately followed his advice, and after about 3 days once the pain had "blurred", I started the rehab process. The first two weeks went off without a hitch, as my hamstring was feeling better and stronger with each successive workout. However, on my 15th day I realized I was not going to be able to lift as much weight as I did pre-injury. My deadlifts numbers before the injury were 365 x 5 x 3, which is the weight I was using when I sustained the injury. On that 15th day, I was planning on decreasing my reps to 5 per set, but on one of my warmup sets at 295lbs, I felt a sharp pain in my hamstring. This pain was different than any pain I had felt in the rehab process, and my hamstring began hurting more at that point than it had before I stepped into the gym, so I called it a day.

    Has anyone had any experience with using the Starr Protocol longer than the prescribed 2 weeks? It's clear to me that my hamstring is not quite ready to handle that much weight yet, but i'm unsure about how to continue the rehab process from here. I did some searching, but did not see any guidelines for how to continue the rehab process if your injury is not healed up after 2 weeks. Should I continue to deadlift daily? Should I drop the weight again slightly and continue to try work my way up? Should I take a few days off?

    For what it's worth, I'm a 28 year old male, 6'0" and 195lbs. My deadlift numbers pre-injury were 365lbs x 5 x 3. Also, here is my training log for how I progressed on the Starr Protocol:

    Day 1: 25 x 45lbs x 3
    Day 2: 25 x 55lbs x 3
    Day 3: 25 x 65lbs, 25 x 75lbs x 2
    Day 4: 25 x 85lbs x 3
    Day 5: 25 x 95lbs x 2, 25 x 105lbs
    Day 6: 25 x 115lbs x 3
    Day 7: 25 x 125lbs x 3
    Day 8: 25 x 135lbs x 3
    Day 9: 25 x 145lbs, 25 x 155lbs, 25 x 165lbs
    Day 10: 25 x 165lbs x 2, 25 x 170lbs
    Day 11: 15 x 205lbs x 2, 15 x 225lbs
    Day 12: 15 x 225lbs, 15 x 245lbs x 2
    Day 13: 10 x 245lbs x 3
    Day 14: 10 x 255lbs, 10 x 265lbs, 10 x 280lbs
    Day 15: This was the day I was attempting to go down to 5 reps. On the first rep of my 295lbs warmup, I felt some sharp pain in my hamstring. I was going to attempt 3 x 5 x 315lbs on this day.

    Any advice here would be greatly appreciated, as I feel stuck right now. Thank you in advance.

  2. #2
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  3. #3
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    I have not torn my hamstring before but I have done the Starr Protocol for a torn quad. First off, why were you doing a 3x5 for Deadlift pre-injury? The program calls for one heavy set of five on DL only. So that could be a possible reason for the initial injury. Secondly, that's just way too much deadlift volume for the rehab so you definitely overworked it there. I would assume rehab for a torn hamstring would be done with the Squat only with maybe some light deadlifting thrown in there

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Arnold View Post
    I have not torn my hamstring before but I have done the Starr Protocol for a torn quad. First off, why were you doing a 3x5 for Deadlift pre-injury? The program calls for one heavy set of five on DL only. So that could be a possible reason for the initial injury. Secondly, that's just way too much deadlift volume for the rehab so you definitely overworked it there. I would assume rehab for a torn hamstring would be done with the Squat only with maybe some light deadlifting thrown in there
    Ryan, thank you for the reply. For your first question, I was not doing the Starting Strength LP at the time of the injury. And I agree, that could've been part of the problem for the initial tear. As for why I chose the deadlift for the rehab exercise, I was following the advice Rip gave to someone else with a similar injury in this thread here: Is it a pull, a tear? Hamstring went "pop" pulling a 285lb Deadlift

    The way he described his injury seemed almost identical to mine, so I thought it made sense to rehab it with the deadlift as Rip suggested for him.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Perry889 View Post
    Ryan, thank you for the reply. For your first question, I was not doing the Starting Strength LP at the time of the injury. And I agree, that could've been part of the problem for the initial tear. As for why I chose the deadlift for the rehab exercise, I was following the advice Rip gave to someone else with a similar injury in this thread here: Is it a pull, a tear? Hamstring went "pop" pulling a 285lb Deadlift

    The way he described his injury seemed almost identical to mine, so I thought it made sense to rehab it with the deadlift as Rip suggested for him.
    The short answer is I don't know. Certainly Rip or one of our SSC/PT's would have more experience with this. My guess is that Starr for the DL would need to get to the 10 and 5 rep ranges much quicker than Star for the Squat considering the potential for form breakdown as well as how hard the low back and hamstrings will be worked even at weights over 185. I would direct message John Petrizzo or Will Morris or maybe re-post this on Rip's Forum. What have you done since you re-injured it?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Arnold View Post
    The short answer is I don't know. Certainly Rip or one of our SSC/PT's would have more experience with this. My guess is that Starr for the DL would need to get to the 10 and 5 rep ranges much quicker than Star for the Squat considering the potential for form breakdown as well as how hard the low back and hamstrings will be worked even at weights over 185. I would direct message John Petrizzo or Will Morris or maybe re-post this on Rip's Forum. What have you done since you re-injured it?
    After the day I felt the re-injury pain, I simply dropped the weight to around the 230-240 range and increased the reps back to 10. I was planning on coasting at this weight for a few days to buy myself some time while I figured out how to move forward. I ended up doing this daily for maybe another week or so. My hamstring was feeling great, but then I re-injured it again playing basketball. I felt another pop in it as I was sprinting down the court, and now I've managed to set myself back to square 1, it seems. This happened last Wednesday evening, and today is the first day I would say the pain has "blurred" like it did before. Once again, there was no bruising with this injury.

    Thanks for your thoughts, Ryan. I'll see if I can get in touch John or Will about it.

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