Post Rehab Intermediate Plan Advice

[Neal]

Hi, Coach -

Training log here.

Working through the Starr Protocol on Squats to rehab an awful adductor strain. The end is in sight, so I'm starting to plan my post-rehab programming. Early in the rehab process, I couldn't Squat, Bench, or Deadlift without pain. I was able to add full power bench back in after a while, and will try pulling from the floor again soon. Throughout the rehab process my schedule has been disrupted by a lot of travel, etc., so everything was in maintenance mode, i.e. keep intensity up and volume low-to-moderate. I was on OMTM prior to all this, and I think I might want to ease back in with some HLM, and save OMTM for little peaking cycles here and there.

I'm thinking about a 3-day "Cube" layout with a top-set and back-offs for each of the main lifts, where the top set rep range and back-off set volume waves week-to-week, and where the top set rep range is staggered so that I don't have to hit singles on every lift in the same week. Below "Heavy, Light, and Medium" means intensity relative to the main lift, i.e. the supplemental lifts should still be work.

Squat Day:
Squat (Heavy) -
-Top Set: 1X5->3->1
-Back-offs @80%: 3X5->4X5->5X5
Incline Bench (Medium) - 4X5
Chin-Ups and Dips - 3-5 sets each (maybe should add BB Rows on this day? I just don't want the day to be forever long)

Bench Day:
Paused HB Squat (Light) - 3X5
Bench (Heavy) -
-Top Set: 1X5->3->1
-Back-offs @80%: 3X5->4X5->5X5
RDL or SLDL (Medium) - 4X5

Deadlift Day:
SSB or Pause Squat (Medium) - 4X5
Press (Light) -
-Top Set: 1X3->1->5
-Back-offs @80%: 3X5->4X5->5X5
Deadlift (Heavy) - 1X3->1->5 (should I add back-offs of some sort here?)

So questions above about Deadlift/Back supplement as a light movement on heavy Squat Day, and then what exactly to do on heavy DL day. Besides that, general feedback/advice would be appreciated.

[Brent Carter]

Neal,

Your overall layout looks well put together. For a deadlift/ back supplement a lot of us use barbell rows so you could put that as your (light) pulling lift on squat (heavy) day. I would add in a back off set as necessary on the heavy deadlift day to get at least 5-10 reps at working weights. So if you do three singles for example a back off set of 5 would be solid. If you are doing two really heavy triples this probably isn't necessary. As you noted in your layout there are option if you are going to use exercise selection as your variable for modulating intensity but I am a big fan of paused squats. I think it comes down to knowing what works for you here. I assume you came to these assistance lifts over time and didn't just throw all these variations in at once.

Looks like a pretty good set up though.

[Neal]

Thanks, Coach. I inadvertently posted this here in the S&C Programming forum instead of the SS Programming forum. Just before I saw your reply, I copied it over to that forum. Not sure if it should be removed as a duplicate, or if it's okay to also get Coach Wolf's perspective.

Re: your comment on choosing assistance, it's a mix. I've had a lot of experience with DL assistance and that has led to the choices I made here. I haven't done much targeted Bench or Squat assistance in YEARS.

I chose Inclines here as "hybrid" between Bench and Press as a starting point, and then I'll determine if it's helping one or both, and then adjust, if necessary, to something more bench or press focused.

For Squats, I'm even more in the dark. In the past I'd one a lot of Front, HB, and Pause Squats, but back then I had even less of an idea of what I'm doing than I do now. I despise Front Squats because my rack position sucks, and I find cross-grip wonky. That means I end up focusing way more on grip than squat execution. I chose HB Pause Squats for light squats because I've been dealing with an irritated adductor, and I thought that would allow me to have a narrower stance day to take some of the pressure off of that, and the pause further decreases the relative intensity. For SSB, I've never ever used one even thought there's always been one or two in the gym, so I thought this might be an opportunity to try them out.

Anyway, you may not have really been asking for that info dump, so definitely feel free to move on, as I very much appreciate your response above already.

[Brent Carter]

You will find the mechanics of the SSB about halfway between a high bar and low bar due to the position of the bar. So long as you have a method here and aren't just throwing in exercises willy nilly I think you are fine. Key is to change things a little at a time.

[Michael Wolf]

Neal, just as a follow-up, since you're getting feedback here from Brent, no need to have the thread in two places.

Only thing I'll throw in to what Brent said, and only since you asked me specifically, is that I'd drop a set or two of the medium DL day work, at least to start. Spread the work a little more evenly over the two days: 2-3 sets of 5 reps of medium pulling (RDL/SLDL...I personally like snatch grip) on bench day, then a heavy 1/3/5 on heavy day followed by an easier back-off set of 5 or something. You can add it more volume over time but that's where I'd start.

[Neal]

Many thanks to y'all, Coaches Carter and Wolf. Definitely feel free to delete the other thread or whatnot.

[Brent Carter]

Oh yeah, that's a real good point. I must have skimmed over the 4x5. That's a whole bunch o volumez for teh pullz.

[Neal]

You skimmed over some of the details of my painstakingly crafted program? Now I don't know what even to believe.

[Brent Carter]

[Neal]

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