After The Flood: JDM135 Powersnatching In Paradise

Training Training Logs
1082

Wednesday 1/15
After the note above, things got better. These things come and go, day by day.
Anyway I got a real gym trip:
Snatch
Worked up EMOM to 135, did a lot of reps there and then 145 for a few reps.
Loaded 155 and failed it twice.
I’m pulling it plenty high enough, just not able to get under it. My knees are barely bent and I lock everything up to catch… its upper-forehead level which just isn’t enough for my arms to take over.

Back to broomstick work i guess.

Clean and Jerks after that. Did work up to 155 here.

Big set of pullups and single-arm hangs.

Then, surfing. I was exhausted/depleted and it showed. But a hell of an active day!

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1083

So sorry I disappeared from here for a bit! I did receive all your emails though and will get back to you very soon. :grin:

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1084

No worries about response time to an internet stranger on a weightlifting forum lol.
But thanks, looking forward to it!

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1085

Friday 1/16/2026
3 miles run in 26:15
Which I think is a PR at least for this route / this season if not all time.

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1086

1/20/2026 Monday, MLK day US even if the president doesn’t want it to be

Run 1 mile
20 minute garage barbell sesh
Run 1 mile

The sesh:

20 rounds E30SOTS (so 10 minutes, going twice per minute)
Snatch 75lbs

10 rounds EMOM
Clean and Jerk 95lbs

Weight felt so light it may as well have been a broomstick, but with the current garage setup I’m kinda stuck with just my crumb rubber plates. Plus I needed the light work to drill the movement pattern. Still lots of movement, and dense. A healthy session.

Had my oldest son join me for the first half. He ran the mile with me, then for the E30SOTS I had him doing a 2-pump burpee each round. Will check today if he’s brutally sore in the pecs.

3 Likes
1087

He was. Pecs, abs, and somewhere in his thighs. But not destroyed, which is good!

1 Like
1088

1/22/2026
Late entry, logging for
1/21/2026, Wednesday

Gym trip.
Forgot my headphones, which typically ruins a session due to all the distractions. However it was fairly quiet, no craziness near my platform, so it was OK.
Started snatching. Very quickly worked up to 135, then 145, then got 2 reps at 155 with no misses this time!
Stoked for that, after the last couple attempts going poorly.
Legs are spread wide on every single catch to get depth, but I am higher and higher as the weight goes up, so at 155 I’m still pretty close to a power snatch, then dropping into a deep (and wide) OH squat. Whatever. Still trying.

Did a few reps of RDL, a few front squats, OH squats, BTN press, and a set of 20 pullups.

A day later I actually have some delt soreness so that indicates I maybe put a decent effort in on the BTNs.

2 Likes
1089

1/23/2026 Wednesday
-1 mile run
-15/20 minute barbell time in garage
-1.4 mile run (0.7 straight downhill, 0.7 straight back up!)

The barbell time:
95lb was loaded already - that’s all my crumb rubber.
Each set started with a snatch or power snatch to get into position.
Several sets of overhead squats.
Several sets of BTN (pretty limited range of motion).
For all the OH squat practice, I tied a band around my shins to keep them from jumping quite so far apart. Curious if I should just tie them even closer and do snatches until I die.
At one point I did BTNs while at the bottom of an OH squat. For that, the most natural stance was feet close together! Would be nice to convince my body to move correctly lol.

2 Likes
1090

What a day. Can’t log it tonight, will catch up in the morning, but: best lifting trip I’ve had in a while, monkey bars, tons of walking, made 32 burgers on the grill, and a waterpark trip. A fulfilling, and full, day.

4 Likes
1091

1/25/2026 Sunday
This session counts for Monday too LOL.

So there I was, a middle-aged civilian stuck on an Army base for 3 hours, as one is on a Sunday morning from time to time. LOL.

My second time using the incredible Schofield Barracks gym - more of a strength campus than a gym.

Warmed up with 5 minutes on the elliptical, then got to work.

Snatch: Worked up to 135lb.
5 reps, EMOM, at 135.
5 reps, about EMOM, at 145.
3 reps at 155.

The 3rd rep wasn’t even what you’d call a power snatch - really more of a “tall snatch”. Basically no knee bend at all. Ridiculous. Which by the way, means I have the pulling capacity to snatch another 50-80lbs I bet, considering I can pull to full height at this weight.
But I just lock up and have no confidence catching low, and/or can’t seem to get low and stable quickly enough. Ugh.
(I do always drop to a deep OH squat every time, for the full snatch effect, to be clear; but here I stabilized in a full stand first.)

After that, overhead squats at 135lbs. 3 sets of 3.

OK this doesn’t sound like a lot of work but I was gassed.

They had a GHD type machine I’d never seen before, I tried it out. Didn’t fit me well, or I don’t know what I was doing, but whatever - I expended more energy.

Then I went for pullups, did a bunch.

Then I started flipping a 320lb tire for distance. Took about 8 flips, not really counting them. Cool activity.

Exhausted, left the gym and pulled over at the giant monkey bars. I recently did these with a 50lb KB and since then, have been training my single-hand hang, so figured it would be a breeze. However my whole entire body was SMOKED. I completed one lap of the monkey bars and called it quits.

Later, took the family to the waterpark (yeah, snowmageddon where most of you guys live, but it’s 85 and sunny here) where we discovered a “rock wall” that extends up above a deep section of pool. Awesome. There was a tiny kid who went up to the top like a monkey, over and over again.

Brother, I couldn’t get up more than a couple rocks. Grip and fingers SMOKED. No gas. LOL.

Also took like 3 walks with various members of the family and dogs.

A great day, lots of activity and fun.

Today, Monday, taking it easy. Did a 2 mile run this morning - and that was hard enough - in light of a true session, since yesterday counts. And I can feel it.

Had some sciatica again yesterday afternoon and last night, a direct result of all that posterior chain work. WTF. And even the run this morning felt just shitty. But better once it was over.

4 Likes
1092

Late entry for 1/28/2026 Wednesday
It actually begins on Tuesday, 1/27. Had some time at the park while the kids played, so I set out to do 100 pullups in sets of 10. It did not go as planned.
I think I got 4 sets of 10, then 2 sets of 6, then 1 set of 10, then stopped since I had a neighbor to hang out and chat with.
Crazy thing is, I can do 100 pullups in 25 minutes ON TOP OF 200 pushups and 300 squats, for a Murph, but if I try to stack sets of 10, 100 pullups would take more like 40 minutes - with nothing on top.
Oh - for each set, while still hanging, I added 10 knee raises. Total of 70.

Moving to Monday.
Sore from Tuesday’s pullups and ab work. Also still just ground down, maybe from Sunday’s work taxing my CNS? It definitely had that “CNS fatigue” feel.
So I decided to not take a gym trip, and instead start the day pre-coffee with a long walk. About 45 minutes. Then took multiple other walks throughout the day.
In the evening, kinda last-minute I got stuck taking my oldest to a thing, which is near the gym. I knew I couldn’t have a productive workout snatching or squatting, so I did this instead:

1 mile slow run
Leg curls, 3x lots
“hip machine” I like this thing. It’s one leg at a time:
3 or 4 serious sets of glutes; maxed out the stack on the last set and still did 20 reps.
3 sets of leg crossover
3 sets of hip flexor

Absolutely pouring sweat during this btw, it was gross

Million reps of leg extensions - quads were absolutely pumping and burning.

Couple sets of DB shoulder press followed directly by light DB shoulder flyes.

Felt great, and was the right prescription - isolation/dumbbell stuff is still doable for me even when I’m not doing so well in the nerves department.

5 Likes
1093

1/30/2026 Friday
Closing out the month with a Murph.

1 mile run to park
25 rounds of:
-4 pullups
-8 pushups
-12 squats
1 mile run home.

Total time was around 55 minutes, which is worse than last time, and of greatest significance, I was just totally unable to keep the calisthenics pace I kept last time.

Previously I had done the rounds EMOM. This time, after a few minutes changed the timer to 1:06 per round, then to 1:12 per round, then took a bunch of breaks…

Dedicated readers will recall that a few months ago, I redlined on a half-murph and nearly passed out by the side of the road on the way home. Had to call my wife at 5:30AM and have her come get me, and looked like a strung-out homeless until she came. Today I felt the same feeling coming on - I knew if I went straight into the next set, I’d hit the same wall and my body would shut down. I took just enough breaks that I could finish the session at a decent pace while not dying.
Just a couple extra minutes here and there.

4 Likes
1094

Next week I’m going to actually, honest-to-god, start working on my snatch TECHNIQUE, not just continuing to snatch over and over again.

I’m going to admit this… I asked ChatGPT to create an appropriate program for this. W1D1 looks reasonable - and it looks a lot like the same things that members on this forum have advised. Snatch balances, overhead squat, tall snatch with empty bar focusing on depth of catch and foot placement. NOT trying to be strong, but rather, drilling the correct positions.

Hopefully I can stick with this for weeks, and re-emerge a way better snatcher.

4 Likes
1095

Damnit i realized I have work travel M-F next week. Flying on M and F. So lucky to get a decent hotel gym workout or 3, not starting a new program.
Well, I’ll plan it for the following week.
Besides I’m picking up crash pads while on the mainland next week anyway so I’ll be set up to take this seriously when i get back.

1 Like
1096

Sunday 2/1
Water obstacle course with my 3 older kids. Legs were shaking at the end, grip muscles were pumped hard from climbing the inverted wall.
No training Monday (Tomorrow) as I’ll be flying all day.

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1097

Tuesday Feb 3rd.
Flew all yesterday.
Could barely sleep last night at hotel, and got up for the day at 530 local time but 2:30 per my body clock.
Yuck.
10 minutes mobility routine in the room.
About a mile or slightly longer run outside.
Hotel gym:
3 rounds:
5 pullups
5 bss/side (25, 40, 50lb)
5 sorta snatch balance things with a dumbbell (bad idea).

4 Likes
1098

2/4 Wednesday
Actually got some sleep last night thank god.
1 mile treadmill run
3 rounds:
Db bench, 50s, 12 reps.
DB squats, double 50s, 12 reps
Ab wheel, 4

The squats were real gassers.
I was huffing and puffing.

Did 1 set of biceps curls and got out.

4 Likes
1099

2/5/2026 Thursday
Back on track today and feeling much better. Allow me to explain:
Yesterday was HARD. A lot of big personalities, holed up in a conference room for days, 17 people I think with zero extra chairs and no space to withdraw. There were disagreements, and it’s a lot of strain to hold yourself professionally in situations like this.

The gym supply store was going to close and we weren’t going to finish in time, so I just respected myself enough to bail early on the meeting and go anyway.
Bought a pair of crash pads. They may not be quite as good as the Titan Silencers, but they were the best I can get in my situation so they’ll do. I’ll check them home on the plane tomorrow.

Then I went to walmart and got a rotisserie, Kefir, and both sweet and salty carbs (lest anyone think I’m serious about my diet lol). Eating that for dinner, alone in my room, was SUCH A RELIEF compared to smashing restaurant food with a big group of colleagues, as I’ve been doing for multiple meals in a row.

So today I felt MUCH better. Here’s the log:

Up at 5:30. This is 2:30AM per my body clock, just so we’re clear, so it’s still not awesome, but it’s ok.

In the room: Mobility for about 10 minutes. The drill, which hopefully is the cure for my tailbone-pain-from-sitting, is this:

Stretches:
Hip Flexor (Kneeling)
Glute/Piriformis (on back)
Quad (standing)
Hamstring (sitting)
All done unilaterally, for ~45 seconds each side.

Movement:
Hip thrusts, 12 with 2-sec hold at top and a good glute squeeze
Dead bugs, 6 per side
Bird dogs (the opposite of dead bugs) 6 per side
Squats, 10

This is my 3rd morning of doing them, and guess what, yesterday I had zero sitting-pain. I’ve had it DAILY for weeks now, so I’m hopeful this is the cure!

Then hotel gym:
1 mile run
BSS with 40, 50, 50 - 3 sets of 10/side.
A set of ab wheel, discovered I’m too sore to do more.
A set of pullups.
Cable machine rows, single-arm, 3 sets.
Triceps extensions
Biceps curls
Upper back / delt flyes to the pain
Maybe some other stuff not worth mentioning
Half mile ish walk outside.

Feeling amazing from this.

4 Likes
1100

Oh @BethB I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, here, where it’s safe to do so:
I challenge Hegseth to a pullups contest. If I win, he has to make me Secretary of the Navy.
Now if only I had a way to get that message to him…
:slight_smile:

2 Likes
1101

I still say ax throwing. But I would watch the pull-ups. Maybe you could do it in a random airport? Or maybe a bus depot…

1 Like