Assuming you diagnosed the injury correctly as a muscle belly tear, the weights should have been back to nearly 330 by the end of the second week. It's a 2-week protocol.
Member
Starr Rehab Protocol - After 2 weeks
Hello Coach,
I'm seeking clarification around the Star Rehab Protocol, specifically what to do at the end of two weeks. For background, I'm a 44 year old male, 6'3", 235lbs. I'm currently running a HLM program as outlined in "The Barbell Prescription". I injured my left adductor on my last set of squats a couple of weeks ago at 330lbs. Searching the forums led me to the Starr Rehab Protocol. I've implemented it over the last two weeks as follows with no other heavy work:
Day 1: 45x25x3
Day 2: 55x25x3
Day 3: 65x25x3
Day 4: 75x25x3
Day 5: 85x25x3
Day 6: 95x25x3
Day 7: 105x25x3
Day 8: 115x25x3
Day 9: 125x25x3
Day 10: 135x25x3
Day 11: 145x15x3
Day 12: 155x15x3
Day 13: 165x15x3
Day 14: 175x15x3
I still have some mild soreness on the first few reps of the first set, but things feel good after that and certainly a million times better than when first injured (putting on a pair of socks was an ordeal). In any event, I'm hoping you can clarify the best method to work back towards my pre-injury work weight. Should I follow a 3 day a week linear progression and slowly work back up to 330 lbs, or is it safe to make a larger jump back towards 330 lbs? I certainly fine with a conservative approach that lessens the likelihood of injuring my groin again, but I don't want to unnecessarily baby the injury and waste time.
Thank you & Merry Christmas!
Ben
TMPHBITEU
Assuming you diagnosed the injury correctly as a muscle belly tear, the weights should have been back to nearly 330 by the end of the second week. It's a 2-week protocol.
Member
This is why I'm seeking clarification. I've read the following...Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
"After 10 days of 25s [reps], go up in weight and down in reps to 15s, then to 10s, and finally to 5s. During this time do NO OTHER HEAVY WORK, so that your resources can focus on the injury. You should be fixed in about 2 weeks, squatting more than you hurt yourself with."
but then there's this...
Rehabilitating a Severe Adductor Group (Groin) Tear
After 14 days of Starr, the lifter is at 185lbs for 10 reps and then follows a linear progression for about 7 weeks to work up his pre-injury work set weight of 345lbs.
Which is correct, or does it depend on the severity of the injury? If it's the former, then I suppose my mistake was that I needed to add more than 10lbs per day to get from 45lbs back to 330lbs over a 14-day period.
Thanks!
TMPHBITEU
How bad was the bruise/how much blood was under the skin?
Member
No noticeable bruising, so I don't think it was a severe tear. Still painful though for the first couple of days.
TMPHBITEU
What do you want to know now?
Member
Just trying to reconcile what appears to be conflicting information regarding the Starr protocol. Your initial response leads me to believe that after 2 weeks, I should be back up to my pre-injury work weight, but elsewhere (the Joe Leppo) article shows Starr for 2 weeks and then linear progression over a period of multiple weeks to work back to pre-injury weight.
Which is correct, or is it dependent on the severity of the injury?
Thanks!
Member
OP, I tore my left quad pretty severely back in late April. Pre-injury I was squatting in the low 500's. It's been a long, slow arduous process to heal with many restarts due to pain and obvious weakness in the muscle belly at a given weight.
It will take longer than 2 weeks. Keep adding weight (move to 5 pound jumps) while slowly dropping volume. Run 12's, then 10's then 8's, then 6's then move to 5's. Don't move down in rep ranges until you have to because you can't complete the given weight for that amount of reps, but do so before you miss a rep. You may need to move to squatting twice a week, or introduce a light day that still stresses the injury but doesn't kill your recovery.
Good luck.
TMPHBITEU
Does it have to be one or the other? Can you not read both articles and absorb the general principles at work, and then apply them to your individual situation?
Starting Strength Coach
Do the two week protocol, and....if, you are not back up to your previous weights, run a quick linear progression until you return to your pre-injury loads. OP, sometimes people need a little extra time with incrementally increasing stress to calm the pain response due to the injury. As long as you are lifting incrementally increasing loads, and those loads aren't unnecessarily small to begin with, you aren't necessarily wasting your time running a quick linear progression.
Posting Permissions