I started this week off a bit randomly but settled into a 4-day Heavy-Light split that can be found in the "Barbell Prescription". It is split that I am comfortable with and one that reminds me of my college football days but laid out much better and probably would have been much more productive than what we did.
I feel like I am still recovering from the end of the LP as my hips, shoulders, and back all felt sore from the week before. My left quad survived the squats and power cleans just fine though. This week stressed five reps per set, next will be three reps, and the third week will stress heavy singles. I will repeat this cycle until the competition on March 23rd. Day one will be heavy bench, light press, and barbell rows or pull-ups depending on where I train. Day two will consist of squats and power cleans. Day 3 will have heavy presses and close-grip bench and pull-ups and/or barbell/DB rows. Day 4 will train front squats and deadlifts. Front squats will take some of the rotation requirements off of my shoulders allowing some of the inflammation to dissipate and serve as an off-load. The reduced session length is a very welcome break.
Overall this week's training went well. The squats felt good and there was no strain of the quad that was giving me trouble. I do think that I will move deadlifts to the squat day so that I have a truly light day at the end of the week with front squats and power cleans. This will allow me to use a proper Weightlifting bar for the power cleans and a 29 mm bar for deadlifts. My back, hips, and legs are doing well but my left shoulder is giving me a bit of trouble. I've moved my grip in a bit and made sure to have a good back arch while bench pressing but I still had some pain with it. I did make every rep and none were ever in doubt. I've planned for singles with 320 next week and this will show me where I stand.