Geezer Starr Rehab for Lats?

[MashedTaters]

Last week, pulled (or maybe slight tear), the muscles running along my right side, a little toward the back. The lats, I believe. I was doing unassisted chins.

Got better, until today when, on my last rep of my last set of work squats, damned if I didn't tweak that same area again. Now, it hurts like a sumbitch.

I'm thinking: take a week off, lots of ice, then begin Starr Rehab with high rep, light weight squats and deads. Also, should I also add some assisted chin ups (with a strap) or just stick to my normal lifts? My thinking is that since the chin ups caused the problem, I should attack those muscles directly with the assisted chins.

Reasonable? Am I understanding Starr Rehab correctly?

[Tom Campitelli]

Whether you need a full week off is up for debate, but some ice and ibuprofen are probably good ideas. Give the area as much work as you can, provided it doesn't make anything worse. Lats are an unusual thing to hurt squatting, even after tweaking them on chins. However, I don't know that you need to do the full Starr Rehab on them for squats and such.

How much do you weigh and how many chins can you do?

[MashedTaters]

When I began SS last June: weight 183, squat 95, press 95, dead lift 135, chins 0.
Now: weight 188, squat 250, press 110, dead lift 290, chins 2.
I'm 64, 5' 6".

It's much better now (3 days later). Now, I'm thinking reset squats and deads maybe 10%, and work the area with some lat pulldowns, increasing the weight until I'm pain free.

Thank you for taking time to respond.

[Tom Campitelli]

I like your thinking here. Lat pulldowns are a good choice because you can control the loading on them more than chins at this point. Congratulations on your progress, too. You've done very well. If you need lighter weights on the squats and deads, take them, but it probably doesn't require a huge or extended deload. Heal up soon.