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Kettlebell "Giant 1.0"

Update as promised, albeit a little late. Weeks 1 and 2 below.

It's obvious to me I'm going too fast. I'm either smoked at about 20 minutes or I just quit while I'm ahead rather than risk deteriorating form or trying to beat a monster number the following week (with deteriorating form).

Also, I was notably tired last week, but at least some of that has to be attributable to a truly brutal couple weeks at work wrapping up a couple huge projects.

Just did week 3 session 1 and got 70 reps in 20:42. I made a very conscious (but unsuccessful) effort to slow way down this week and I still got more reps and more reps per minute than last week.

In any event, I felt super strong today so I really can't complain. I'm fine working through 1.0 again with the same weight but increased duration after this go 'round. As a reminder, I'm trying to rebuild strength after a shattered collarbone and surgery.

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jhpowers said:
It's interesting how varied the rep ranges are so varied per individual. I'm just wrapping up 1.1 (more on that later). My reps have tended to go from high 40's to low 70's. That feels right to me.

I started with my cheat 10rm (honest 9rm) on 1.0. Then I went straight into 1.1 and built up from 48 to 72 reps on the 8 rep day. I got vaccinated and my reps dropped back to baseline. So, I repeated 1.1. I just finished "week 3"


Day 1 - 70 reps
Day 2 - 72 reps
Day 3 - 66 reps

I'm back to where I was pre-vaccine.

From my experience 60-70 solid reps is usually the point where one can go up a bell (think KB strong or the ROP). I had though about moving up to the 24kg bell (either Strong -phase 1 or Giant 3.0 depending on my testing) but I'm curious what it will do for me to push up into higher rep ranges. So, I'm planning to go ahead and push forward into Giant 1.2 after a deload week.
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There might be another way to look at this weight/reps issue. Start with a challenging 10RM that puts you in a range of 65-75 reps or so by the end of the program. Then repeat the program or add the next program 1.1. or 2.0 to build out the volume with the same weight. Although I struggled a bit getting all sets in 1.1 with 8 reps and had to have a couple of 7s and 6s to finish, my overall volume did not decrease significantly (4 reps). If you start with more than a hundred reps with 1.0 then how much room is there to progress? Geoff made the case for constant weight schemes. Looking at more than one program kind of balances out these issues of weight and reps and program goals. The exact numbers depend on individual differences of course and you could tweak the issue of weight vs volume more to your goals, but this could be another way of looking at it. Struggle with a weight and then own it with volume in the repeated or next program basically.
 
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Geoff Neupert said:
So, I'd just follow the programming, then do what YOU CAN DO, without too much concern for what others are doing.
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Thank you very much for the advice!
I'll certainly do that, and touch base here from time to time. To be clear, I'm liking the program and after only a week feel strong, 'tight'....and hungry enough to fight a bear. Gotta watch that.
Your discussion of the 'fixed weight' for training is also very interesting, and fits in well with the discussion of truly owning a weight in this place.
 
George Vrotsos said:
Week 2, day 1, got 100 reps yesterday, and it wasn't hard at all. If I had pushed it I probably could have gotten another 2 or 3 sets in. Taking @guardian7 , @Reardon55 and @Geoff Neupert 's comments into consideration and assuming I should probably bump the 20s up to 24s after all. I'm going to go with the 24s tomorrow on the 6 rep day to see how it goes.
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George, if you can use the 24s, your only day 1 week 2...I'd just start it over with week one and use last week as a prep week. Just a suggestion.
 
John Grahill said:
George, if you can use the 24s, your only day 1 week 2...I'd just start it over with week one and use last week as a prep week. Just a suggestion.
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George, I strongly agree with this and taking your 10 RM as the man says if you have not already. We are interested in your results with the program as written. You will be too. There is a pattern in this thread where the guys going to light have tended to be one who have not taken their RM. Also, George, I am not sure if you realize that even if you drop to 75, that is still great work with the 24s and lots of room to grow on the program and be more motivating. Great endurance man.
 
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John Grahill said:
George, if you can use the 24s, your only day 1 week 2...I'd just start it over with week one and use last week as a prep week. Just a suggestion.
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Agree with this..

I remember doing something similar with RMF ph1 that when I retested one size up it showed I was ready to restart the program one size up.

Remember that giant 1.0-1.1-1.2 is a trilogy and in this case rebooting 1.0 or 1.1 when you get stronger would still give you great results
 
Geoff Neupert said:
@MarkSch - I'd agree here with @Reardon55.

We're all wired differently and what we bring to the table is based on our wiring and our training experience.

For example, I've only ever gotten 100... in an HOUR... not 20-30 minutes. That's probably because I'm very power oriented and have am very fast twitch. Explode quickly, tire easily.

So, I'd just follow the programming, then do what YOU CAN DO, without too much concern for what others are doing. Just keep tracking your daily totals and look for improvement from week to week. As long as you're seeing those numbers increase, you most likely will see changes all the way around.
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Having done the program (s) and being in the middle of another run through it (them) this is great advice! I have read of some tremendously high amount of reps that some have accomplished per session.....I don't think I'll ever be able to match some of those numbers! But, I'm not concerned as I just want to "compete" sensibly with myself for a lack of a better term. Again I revert back to @Don Fairbanks when he said that density training is great but the reps should be technically correct in form or words to that effect.


guardian7 said:
George, I strongly agree with this and taking your 10 RM as the man says if you have not already. We are interested in your results with the program as written. You will be too. There is a pattern in this thread where the guys going to light have tended to be one who have not taken their RM. Also, George, I am not sure if you realize that even if you drop to 75, that is still great work with the 24s and lots of room to grow on the program and be more motivating. Great
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I agree with @guardian7 here, and truth be told 75 is still a whole lot of reps in 30 minutes!

Using a different perspective, don't forget that prior to this Giant Program being popular there was the Strong Program wherein a trainee would take a 5 RM, turn it into close to a 9 or 10RM, start phase 2 taking time .... close to 16 weeks using the slow and steady to reach 60 reps per session which was (is) the pinnacle of the program!
 
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I'm referring to Geoff Strength shortcuts. Around 50-60 reps in sets of 4-6. They will give strength and hypertrophy.
If someone does 20 sets in 30 minutes, it probably doesn't work with 10RM.
I did, that's why I changed the weight to a heavier one.
This is my case.
When someone uses lighter weights, they build other things - endurance.
There is progress in one way or another.
 
@Stuart Elliott , I'm considering using your idea to take a break from counting sets. This seems like just practicing the lift in the rep ranges of the program. Have you experienced any drawbacks to this approach?
 
24 KGs is the winner. Did good 10 reps this afternoon, might have been able to eek out an 11th rep but it would have had some english on it. The 10 was a lot easier today than the 8 I got with the 24s two weeks ago. About 30ish mins later I tried 28s and got 6 good ones. Then did grease the groove sets of 6 with the 24s for a couple hours, lots of time between sets, just getting some practice with the heavy rep scheme. I'll do sets of 4 on Fri and look at that as the last day of a prep program and restart 1.0 Monday.

Thanks for all the input gentlemen.
 
Erik W said:
@Stuart Elliott , I'm considering using your idea to take a break from counting sets. This seems like just practicing the lift in the rep ranges of the program. Have you experienced any drawbacks to this approach?
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No none at all. Like many I can get competitive trying to beat previous set totals, not counting the sets helped me concentrate on recovery and form. You can still monitor improvement by reduced rest periods over the 4 week cycle.
I've started 1.2 this week and gone back to noting down each set, only because I like keeping a record, but I don't think it's necessary for the program.
 
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