Teoría IPR Traducida

IPR theory was an idea for the medical basis of PE growth that was batted around here back in 2006-2008. A couple dozen guys tried it for 6 months to 1 year, as a way of getting post-newbie gains after they plateau’d. There were mixed results, but I decided to give it a try because xenolith was one of those guys, and he kept using the theory for ~8 years and kept gaining the whole time. So I found out about it when studying the big gainers.

It’s based on the body’s wound healing response, which occurs every time a blood vessel is broken, no matter how small it is or whether the skin is broken open. Medical science has studied this response in great detail, primarily in regards to severe open wounds, stitched wounds, surgical incisions, etc.

Wikipedia’s entry on Wound Healing is a good source of info.
Wound healing - Wikipedia

I also found this link helpful, an excerpt from a book on wound healing for neural implants, which also addresses non-neural tissue.
Overview of Wound Healing in Different Tissue Types - Indwelling Neural Implants - NCBI Bookshelf

There are three overlapping, and simplified phases.

I-phase, for Injury and Inflammation, begins within seconds of the wound, and lasts about two weeks. During I-phase, a blood clot closes the wound, and white blood cells clean out the wound while also stimulating the P-phase repair of the wound.

In terms of PE, there are two takeaways. One is that we need to first do enough damage (use sufficient force) to initiate the wound healing process, without doing so much damage as to cause a true injury. And two is that the I-phase should not last so long as to disrupt the healing process with chronic inflammation.

P-phase, or Proliferative phase, begins 2-3 days after the wound, overlapping with the I-phase, and is marked by the first arrival of fibroblasts. They are the cells that create collagen, connective tissue. As the wound gets more and more cleaned out, the white blood cells secrete growth factors that cause healthy surrounding connective tissue to migrate and proliferate across the blood clot. Fibroblasts lay down a lattice of new type III collagen that forms the basis of a new extra-cellular matrix. Simultaneously with this process, creation of new blood vessels is occurring as capillaries sprout into the new extra-cellular matrix (ECM) from the surrounding healthy blood vessels. The whole phase is called proliferative, because the healthy tissue around the wound site is proliferating into the wound clot. Hour by hour these processes are working from the outer edges of the wound toward the center, until there is an entire new base extra-cellular matrix of collagen and capillaries. Throughout the P-phase, wound contraction is occurring, beginning at about the 5-day mark. The clot that plugged the wound is much larger than the actual healthy tissue was, and as the new ECM is formed some of the new collagen is degraded and the remaining collagen is pulled together by the fibroblasts. This process lasts up to 4 weeks after the wound.

In terms of PE, there are again two takeaways. One, we want to hold the tissues in the elongated or enlarged state to allow for the creation of the new collagen and ECM while minimizing the contraction. And two, we want to do this without re-injuring the tissue. So, a gentle ADS is the proposed strategy in P-phase.

R-phase is for Remodeling, or sometimes Rest (sometimes called Maturation phase in medical discussions). R-phase is marked by the replacement of type III collagen by type I collagen. The original new ECM across the clot is type III collagen, and it is loose, and has no alignment. The P-phase production of new collagen doesn’t care about the alignment or density of the collagen, it simply wants to fill the wound in all directions. In R-phase, that collagen is remodeled. Connective tissue is strong because of its alignment. Collagen fibers work together in axial alignments, all facing in the same direction. During R-phase, contraction has stopped, but these collagen fibers are slowly being remodeled, increasing the integrity of the healed wound. Technically this phase can begin as soon as the P-phase collagen is laid down, at about the 3 day mark. But the R-phase is a very slow process, and continues up to 1-2 years after the wound, so most of the work is done after the contraction of the wound is complete.

For PE, the takeaway is the decon break. We have to allow enough time for type I collagen to form throughout the wound, and for the collagen to realign itself. It cements any gains, while simultaneously increasing the integrity of the new tissue to the point where we can repeat the IPR process on the new healthy tissue. If we don’t give the R-phase enough time, we’re simply re-wounding type-I collagen which will eventually contract back into its old size, and possibly worse result in a chronic wounding of the tissue.

One more factor is the entire wound healing process scales over time depending on the severity and location of the wound. With a severe wound to the bottom of the foot, the place on the body with the worst circulation, the entire process can take up to 5 years. A severe wound on the trunk of the body takes only 1-2 years. In PE, we are intentionally not going the point of a severe wound, and so the process is much shorter. Xeno’s observations led him to an optimal cycle of 3-6 months, with the bulk of that being R-phase. I did a 2 month cycle last time, and this time it will be a 3 month.

That was a long answer to the short question, but that’s about it. IPR is basically a phased protocol for cyclical PE and decon breaks. While the medical observation of wound healing is a known and proven occurrence, its application to PE is only a theory.