When is it reasonable to start a calorie deficit after an acute adductor injury?

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
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Hi everyone,

I would appreciate some guidance on when it would be sensible to begin a weight cut (~700-800kcal deficit for 4-5 weeks) phase after an acute adductor injury.

I competed in a raw powerlifting meet on Saturday. On my third squat attempt at 230 kg, I felt a pull in my right adductor at the bottom of the squat and failed the lift. I was able to continue benching normally. For deadlifts, I changed to a more stiff-legged deadlift technique because it was less painful during the attempts.

Later that evening, I developed significant pain when walking and when direct pressure was placed on the tender inner-thigh area while sitting. The next day, the pain was similar, with local tenderness and mild swelling but no visible bruising. This morning, around 48 hours after the injury, walking pain is improving somewhat, although the area remains tender and mildly swollen. I can bear weight and have not noticed numbness, major weakness, or a palpable defect.

I have contacted a sports physio for an assessment and will follow their rehabilitation recommendations. My current goal is to recover fully and return to squat/deadlift training without turning this into a recurring issue.

Before the meet, I had planned a 4-5 week cut at approximately a 700-800 kcal/day deficit. I weigh about 93-94 kg, maintain body weight at roughly 3000-3200kcal and planned to maintain protein around 180-200 g/day. My main concern is whether a relatively aggressive deficit would meaningfully interfere with recovery and return to normal lower-body training.

My questions are:

  1. What functional milestones would you want to see before starting a calorie deficit, for example, pain-free daily activity, resolved swelling/tenderness, or tolerance of progressive squat training?

  2. If I am returning to squat movements by November, would it make sense to begin with this cut? I did a similar “aggressive” cut last year with great results.

I am not looking to rush back under the bar, I am mainly trying to plan nutrition in a way that supports recovery now while still allowing a cut later in the training cycle.

Thanks in advance.

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Howdy!

Sorry to hear about your injury. Having had that exact injury a few times, I know it’s no fun!

In any case, I don’t think you need to schedule the deficit around the injury. I can understand that the concern is not having enough fuel for the repair processes, but this isn’t really a concern unless people are very lean and/or eating very little. That said, I would favor a more modest deficit in order to preserve your maximal response to training from a hypertrophy perspective, which seems to be at deficits of ~ 400-500 Cal/d or less.

I would also encourage you go get under the bar sooner rather than later in order to recover from this injury. FWIW, I was squatting the next day to pins ~ 4" above parallel with a tempo. Not meant to be exact advice to you, but I’d start sooner than latter.

**For more on this energy constraint re: hypertrophy, check out: **

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Hey Jordan,

Thank you very much for your reply! I actually started watching the podcast on YouTube right after posting this and am considering changing my approach as you suggested. I am right at the “upper end” threshold for BF because I think I sit at around 20% at 93.5 kg. And I think I even did a recomp without even trying over the last few months, because I noticed I gained strength and size, while my body weight stayed at roughly 93–93.5 kg. Crazy!

I have my physiotherapy session tomorrow, but I was in the gym today and did some half-squats and RDL reps with an empty barbell. It felt fine with no big discomfort, so it should be fine in a couple of weeks, I guess. It just aches a bit due to the mild swelling and inflammation when walking or sitting.

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Nice work, dude!

Yea, the adductor injury can be tricky to find the entry point, but it sounds like you were able to do so. Onward from here!

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