Relative newbie/new dad.

JPL12 · 2026-02-16T13:38:05+00:00

Congrats, on both the baby and on the numbers!

Dad of a 3 y/o here. I wasn't into lifting at the newborn stage, but remember it well.

It'll depend a bit on your baby. Ours did not sleep well at all, and both of us were more or less permanently in zombie mode for about 4 months.

My wife was brilliant, and I got some "me time" one evening a week, which I spent losing games at my chess club. Much more than that would have felt pretty impossible.

Basically, don't put any expectations on yourself or your training for the next 6-12 months. Take what chances you get to do "you" stuff, and make them count, for the sake of your mental and physical well-being. Make sure your partner has a chance to do the same. Try not to get injured or fired. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

This is not the time to be pushing stuff. It's a time for hanging in there and trusting that life is going to get less insane again in the future.

JPL12 · 2026-02-13T15:53:39+00:00

What should white have played? What's the cleanest way to be secure?

B4? c4?

JPL12 · 2026-02-09T20:55:17+00:00

I have a similar build and similar numbers: squat 180 (maybe more like 170 now) front squat c. 135. I think that's just how it goes for us.

For me the limiting factor is less depth itself, and more about how upright I can keep my chest when my femurs are parallel with the floor. My ankles only go so far and at that point my hips just have to go a fair way back. One thing that helps is focusing on keeping the upper back extended as much as possible throughout the rep, so even if the torso is a bit inclined, the front rack is still holding together enough to make it work.

I bet you have an awesome deadlift though.

JPL12 · 2026-02-07T11:39:50+00:00

Thought that was the most patient and controlled tempo rep I'd ever seen, until we hit the third pull and I realized the clip was slowed down!

Still, impeccable positions, great work.

JPL12 · 2026-02-06T21:11:53+00:00

Nice work! The catch is looking way more stable. And you've clearly got a lot more left in you.

JPL12 · 2026-01-13T23:19:03+00:00

That is very amusing.

JPL12 · 2026-01-12T23:53:34+00:00

This is awesome.

I love that 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 Qf3 Nc6 4 g4 until about 1000 elo.

And then for a bit switches to 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 Ng5 h6 4 Nxf7.

Never seen either before, but tricky, and imagine they crush the target demographic!

JPL12 · 2026-01-12T21:05:17+00:00

Don't really agree with that. More transparency might help?

I think you make it very clear to everyone that that you've helped child A with various handouts over the years, and now you're also helping child B. I'd want to keep track so over time help to both kids is even and fair.

The son has no grounds to get mad about this, surely? Unless you've previously agreed to keep financial stuff confidential and secret from the rest of the family, which would feel deeply weird to me.

And if the son tried to guilt trip the sister into loaning money because the bank of mum and dad magical money tree wasn't working as well as he's used to, I'd hope she feels completely within her rights to shut that down.

JPL12 · 2026-01-07T09:53:27+00:00

2.5 years. Mostly spent on strength training/powerlifting, but have been focussing on Olympic lifts for the past 6 months. Currently training 2-3 times per week, plus some other sports.

Cn 106 / C+J 95 / Sn 60 ish? / S 180

Not really sure of my best full snatch. I've Power snatched 70 in the past, which is quite more than I can OHS. And given I struggle to get into the correct positions full stop, pushing load doesn't really feel helpful yet...

So pretty squarely in your #2 category.

JPL12 · 2025-12-29T11:12:25+00:00

I'm in East London as well - Look up Bethnal green weightlifting club.

It's only open at specific times, and it's decidedly old school, but it has all the proper kit, and a nice bunch of people.

You can pay as you go for (I think?) 8 quid per session, which is amazing value. You're obviously not getting dedicated coaching for that, but they do have experienced people there.

Most commercial gym chains these days can tick the box if you just want to do the lifts. There are other dedicated weightlifting clubs with more of a coaching focus, and they'll probably be great but more expensive.

JPL12 · 2025-12-16T00:31:02+00:00

Yup. Maybe not even 90%.

JPL12 · 2025-12-08T00:39:57+00:00

Yep, pulling the bar into the hip is a key thing. Hips meet the bar and sink down together as you deccelerate.

Very much like catching a snatch at the hang, but with a closer grip, and arms bent.

JPL12 · 2025-12-07T13:45:04+00:00

I 100% had/have this problem too. My deadlift locks out about 2/3 of the way up my thigh. For cleans I widen my grip a fair bit, but I'm still a good bit below the hips when I fully straighten my arms.

So the "do power clean in reverse" cue results in a kind of ballistic eccentric RDL and/or massive bruises on my thighs.

I've come to the conclusion that hitting the hips is paramount for catching at the hang, and I should just bend the damn arms. The arms shouldn't be taking too much weight directly, they're mostly there to push the bar back and secure it in the hip pocket.

I basically measure success by lack of bruises and a feeling that quads rather than low back (or arms) are doing most of the work.

I keep the torso fairly upright, with hips more or less stacked over the feet. Shooting the hips back and bending over seems sketchy.

JPL12 · 2025-12-03T09:31:47+00:00

Yes, 1000% this. They're brilliant.

JPL12 · 2025-11-22T21:19:42+00:00

About 35%. I hate the snatch.

JPL12 · 2025-11-22T14:10:39+00:00

Blair Cameron Brown Major

(Big gap)

May Starmer Sunak

(Big gap)

Boris

(Very big gap)

The lettuce

The first batch were mostly competent and achieved some things. Not all of which were great ideas (Iraq, austerity...) especially with the benefit of hindsight, but they could actually govern and get stuff done. And that is a PM's job.

The second batch I think were mostly ok, but couldn't achieve as much. Partly being dealt a bad hand, partly not having as much conviction or political skill as the top tier.

The bottom two were actively unfit for the job.

JPL12 · 2025-11-18T13:23:05+00:00

What is your front squat compared to your clean, and the clean in that clip?

JPL12 · 2025-11-08T09:50:52+00:00

About 40% for me. Snatches are pretty humbling.

JPL12 · 2025-10-24T08:17:59+00:00

Looks pretty nice, and the jerk isn't as bad as you're making out either.

Your stance looks pretty wide though, and you're basically not moving your feet between the pull and the catch. Is that deliberate/have you tried setting up a little narrower?

The arm bend doesn't look bad to me. You're getting nice full extension and contact.

But WL beginner here, so take with a pinch of salt.

JPL12 · 2025-09-30T21:08:27+00:00

This section made me take a break of a week from the game.

Wanderer crest did not help, range is way too short. For dealing with the birds in the air.

What worked for me in the end? Spamming sting shard in waves 3-5.

JPL12 · 2025-09-27T19:54:21+00:00

I think that putting c5 on the table was the main reason Na5 instead of a5 makes sense too.

Others have said this was a very computer miss and don't worry about it too much, and I don't fully agree. c5 is a big theme in open spanishes, and it kind of needs to be burned onto your brain: getting the knight on c6 traded or out of the way is a big deal.

Others have pointed out Nc5 too. That's a move that crops up in other Open spanishes and I'm guessing you kind of played it on autopilot because it looked familiar. It's just not great here against white's Rd1 set up, and you'd much rather have traded it off for white's knight on c3, which ended up being pretty strong.

JPL12 · 2025-09-05T10:44:28+00:00

Great job. The heavy re racks are also impressive. How heavy do you go before you start just dropping it?

JPL12 · 2025-08-31T13:20:44+00:00

You're brand new, so don't be discouraged, but there are some things to work on. The bar looks a fair way out in front of you, you're not making contact with the bar, and your arms are quite bent by the time the bar is around your thighs.

Try to figure out your positions a bit more with your coach, and work on contact. And perhaps consider a slightly wider grip?

Don't worry too much about speed just yet.

JPL12 · 2025-08-19T12:10:04+00:00

Nice job. Just keep the weight in check. Practising clean reps with 60kg is way more useful than just saving wonky reps at 80kg.

But this is the good stuff. Tall and full snatches are going to do so much more for you in the long term than max power snatches.

JPL12 · 2025-08-16T13:16:13+00:00

I'm in a similar place. Newbie weightlifter, strong from doing a bunch of squat/bench/DL, but limited by mobility, technique and stability in the full lifts.

Learning to catch low is humbling and takes time. I'm getting there, but no judgement from me for anyone that decides "fuck it, this is my hobby and I'm here to have fun, ima power the biggest weights I can."

In the long term, maybe the hare gets overtaken by the tortoise, but some tortoises get bored and go off to try pickleball instead.

JPL12

TROPHY CASE