Age: 27

Weight: ~175lbs

BF %: IDK. Low enough. I can see 4/6 of my abs, and kinda make out the other two if I flex.

Height: 5'9.5" (Wingspan 6'1.5" :( )

Post-Grad-School PRs:

Squat: 335lbs @RPE 8.5 (probably good for 355. I have my squat technique nailed down pretty well.)

Bench: 220lbs @RPE10 and one busted shoulder (bench technique is shit).

Deadlift: 455lbs @RPE9 (missed locking out 495 by about 1/2" the same day - got my pull technique nailed down pretty well too.)

I guess that actually gives me an estimated Wilks of ~320, which is just 'suck' instead of 'shit'. That's kind of nice.

Training history:

Fucked around in the gym for a year when I was 20, then trained seriously ~3 years and competed twice, started a top-15 PhD program ~3 years ago and I've been spinning my wheels since (work stress, wife's medical issues stress, lost all my training partners, etc). My body-weight is down 30 lbs from my last competition (I stress-don't-eat instead of stress eating). My raw total is down at least 250lbs as well.

When I competed, we used a standard powerlifting split, 3x/week. Since then I've generally kept that up on my own, though in the past six months I've been alternating between six weeks of the regular Base Building routine and six weeks of the Upper Back specialization Base Building routine.

Where to go from here (AKA managing insane amounts of stress)

My upper back still needs a lot of work, and I'm rehabbing some kind of left shoulder instability that makes heavy overhead work impossible. This is progressing as well as can be expected. Daily rehab work blows. We all know this.

It's become pretty clear that I'm just not going to be able to train even 3 days a week until this winter at the earliest. I see 2 day templates for 5/3/1, and I know Paul Carter has a few, but what I'm really looking for is first-hand experience with going into maintenance mode. I am planning to compete again, but it won't be for another 2-3 years. There may be occasionally slow months where I can get some extra volume and frequency in, and I might be able to get a third training day in once or twice a month.

tl;dr:

• Has anyone here had success maintaining their lifts training twice a week?
• If I have a glaringly obvious weak point (upper back), is this just going to stay a glaringly obvious weakpoint until I can come out of maintenance mode? (I'm guessing that's probably the case.)
• Can anyone offer programming suggestions/caveats?
• Can I get in and out of the gym in <90 minutes, twice a week, and maintain my current shit lifts?