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Kettlebell "Giant 1.0"

Reporting in after my first run of giant 1.0. I ran 30 minute sessions with 2x24kg which was more like a 8-9RM (with proper form) than a 10RM, but I didn't wanna go lighter.

2x24 is now a solid 13RM before form breaks down notably. Body weight stayed roughly the same, but I daresay upper body improved. Shoulders and arms just feel more.... Solid. Another improvement I've noticed is that even though my volume increased throughout the weeks, I got more efficient and my heart rate was lower throughout the session.

I made a spreadsheet to track my sessions inspired by some other gentleman on this board. Only including the totals from week 1 and 4 for obvious reasons, but that's enough to evaluate my results.

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Initially I thought I'd miss squatting, but doing all those double c&p per session smokes my legs more than I had imagined. Did some small volume FSQ and assistance work 1-2 times per week though.

"The Giant" delivers so far! Gonna progress into giant 1.1 shortly, can't wait to see how I'll adapt to the new rep scheme.
 
Reporting in after my first run of giant 1.0. I ran 30 minute sessions with 2x24kg which was more like a 8-9RM (with proper form) than a 10RM, but I didn't wanna go lighter.

2x24 is now a solid 13RM before form breaks down notably. Body weight stayed roughly the same, but I daresay upper body improved. Shoulders and arms just feel more.... Solid. Another improvement I've noticed is that even though my volume increased throughout the weeks, I got more efficient and my heart rate was lower throughout the session.

I made a spreadsheet to track my sessions inspired by some other gentleman on this board. Only including the totals from week 1 and 4 for obvious reasons, but that's enough to evaluate my results.

View attachment 15326
View attachment 15328

Initially I thought I'd miss squatting, but doing all those double c&p per session smokes my legs more than I had imagined. Did some small volume FSQ and assistance work 1-2 times per week though.

"The Giant" delivers so far! Gonna progress into giant 1.1 shortly, can't wait to see how I'll adapt to the new rep scheme.
The heart rate "progress" thing is something I noticed too. My heart rate by week 4 was actually lower at its peak, even with the significantly higher density and volume when compared to week 1.
 
I had to take a month off but I’m going to start the Giant 3.0 on Monday with 32s. On my rest week after finishing my last run in October I decided to do some one leg trx burpees and some how I strained my psoas muscle. I was so pissed because if I would have followed my original plan to rest I wouldn’t be dealing with it lol. But I guess it’s another realization that as I age progress will never be linear. But even after a month of light training and lots of mobility I haven’t lost all my gains from my last round of the Giant. I tested out a “heavy day” today with sets of 3 and it didn’t feel terrible. Looking forward to getting back at it. Anyone whose done 3.0 did you find the need or want to add more cardio on off days? It seems like with only going as high as 3 reps you won’t get that great cardio like with the other versions.
 
Reporting in after my first run of giant 1.0. I ran 30 minute sessions with 2x24kg which was more like a 8-9RM (with proper form) than a 10RM, but I didn't wanna go lighter.

2x24 is now a solid 13RM before form breaks down notably. Body weight stayed roughly the same, but I daresay upper body improved. Shoulders and arms just feel more.... Solid. Another improvement I've noticed is that even though my volume increased throughout the weeks, I got more efficient and my heart rate was lower throughout the session.

I made a spreadsheet to track my sessions inspired by some other gentleman on this board. Only including the totals from week 1 and 4 for obvious reasons, but that's enough to evaluate my results.

View attachment 15326
View attachment 15328

Initially I thought I'd miss squatting, but doing all those double c&p per session smokes my legs more than I had imagined. Did some small volume FSQ and assistance work 1-2 times per week though.

"The Giant" delivers so far! Gonna progress into giant 1.1 shortly, can't wait to see how I'll adapt to the new rep scheme.
I’m telling you, I was shocked how much leg work I got following this protocol. Especially my quads and hamstrings.
 
Does anyone have experience with fasting on the Giant protocol? Would the better day for it be a training day or day between sessions?

Background: I'm in my second week of 1.0 and I like it to the extent that I plan to continue other Giant programs in the near future. However, I want to keep my "here and there" day fasts. I would like to have one every two weeks or so. I'm doing 16/8 IF daily. I was previously on S&S so fasting, short or long, was never an issue. The Giant is my first double bell program so I don't have any experience with fasting and this particular stimulus.
 
Does anyone have experience with fasting on the Giant protocol? Would the better day for it be a training day or day between sessions?

Background: I'm in my second week of 1.0 and I like it to the extent that I plan to continue other Giant programs in the near future. However, I want to keep my "here and there" day fasts. I would like to have one every two weeks or so. I'm doing 16/8 IF daily. I was previously on S&S so fasting, short or long, was never an issue. The Giant is my first double bell program so I don't have any experience with fasting and this particular stimulus.
What I experienced during all versions of the Giant was that I was always hungry! Lol but obviously things like diet are very dependent on each individuals body. I typically wake up at 3:45 am to train. So by 9-10 am I’m starving and I’ve already been going for 6 hours. I found fasting until 11 to be torture and I needed the energy at work. If I do love how I feel when I fast, I do it on my days off all the time when I can sleep in until 6-7am.
 
Does anyone have experience with fasting on the Giant protocol? Would the better day for it be a training day or day between sessions?

Background: I'm in my second week of 1.0 and I like it to the extent that I plan to continue other Giant programs in the near future. However, I want to keep my "here and there" day fasts. I would like to have one every two weeks or so. I'm doing 16/8 IF daily. I was previously on S&S so fasting, short or long, was never an issue. The Giant is my first double bell program so I don't have any experience with fasting and this particular stimulus.
16 hour fasts will not have any impact on The Giant. Working out after 24 hours or 36 hours would be a different story.
 
Kind of off topic but seeing as how this thread does cover presses I guess it’s not. But how much shoulder mobility do most of you have on presses (or even snatches) my presses are definitely not perfectly straight (right behind the ear) they are some what out I’m front of me. The same with my snatches. I’ve seen videos of others pressing and snatching and to see how far back they can perform these movements is impressive. I do dead hangs to try and improve that mobility but the second I get heavier bells I feel unstable unless I leave the bells a bit out front. I am not a sure it matters at this point in my life it’s just an observation from seeing others work.
 
I had to take a month off but I’m going to start the Giant 3.0 on Monday with 32s. On my rest week after finishing my last run in October I decided to do some one leg trx burpees and some how I strained my psoas muscle. I was so pissed because if I would have followed my original plan to rest I wouldn’t be dealing with it lol. But I guess it’s another realization that as I age progress will never be linear. But even after a month of light training and lots of mobility I haven’t lost all my gains from my last round of the Giant. I tested out a “heavy day” today with sets of 3 and it didn’t feel terrible. Looking forward to getting back at it. Anyone whose done 3.0 did you find the need or want to add more cardio on off days? It seems like with only going as high as 3 reps you won’t get that great cardio like with the other versions.
Heart rate didn't spike as high during the 3.0 but it did get up there during the "volume week".
 
16 hour fasts will not have any impact on The Giant. Working out after 24 hours or 36 hours would be a different story.
I should have been clearer - my question is about when to fast as to not interfere the recovery - fasting on the training day and miss the after-practice meal but eat the day afterwards or eat the after-practice meal and fast on the following day. I also saw my appetite grow and my weight along with it, which is one of the reasons why fasting is on my mind.
 
Kind of off topic but seeing as how this thread does cover presses I guess it’s not. But how much shoulder mobility do most of you have on presses (or even snatches) my presses are definitely not perfectly straight (right behind the ear) they are some what out I’m front of me. The same with my snatches. I’ve seen videos of others pressing and snatching and to see how far back they can perform these movements is impressive. I do dead hangs to try and improve that mobility but the second I get heavier bells I feel unstable unless I leave the bells a bit out front. I am not a sure it matters at this point in my life it’s just an observation from seeing others work.

I would describe myself as having average shoulder mobility (below average in some ways, functionally decent in others, and definitely not excellent in any way). I don't worry about where my arm is in relation to my head. But when I lift overhead, I always want to pause and fixate the bell in the lockout position, supported by my alignment, without having to use muscle power to fight to keep the bells locked out. I want to pause and be able to "rest" in the lockout.

Whether it's a snatch or a single or double press, I never do "touch and go" reps where I pull the bells back down immediately after hitting lockout. There's always a pause and fixation, where I think of showing off the bells overhead. Depending on the programming I might only pause briefly or hold it longer, but I always want to hit that stacked and aligned rest position.

Specifically with double presses, I use a few cues that I arrived at by trial and error, but have seen recommended by Geoff, which is nice validation. First, I press from my double clean stance, so on the wider side. Then, as I press, I look up at the bells, squeeze my glutes, and think about extending my upper back and "tilting" my shoulders back subtly, and driving my hips under the bells. Squeezing the glutes and abs helps prevent arching from the lower back.

I don't try to drive my chest forward, but I'm definitely trying to drive my shoulders up. I don't experience it as shrugging, but I'm not keeping my shoulders down and back in a "packed" position. However, once I get the bell locked out, I sort of let my shoulders sink down slightly to stabilize and hold the fixation. In my experience pressing from a "packed" position limits mobility at best and is a recipe for impingement at worst.

With these cues, my lockout feels very stacked and stable and I can pause and hold the bells overhead without feeling like I'm fighting to keep them there. After a tough set, my upper back is lit up even more than my delts or triceps.
 
Kind of off topic but seeing as how this thread does cover presses I guess it’s not. But how much shoulder mobility do most of you have on presses (or even snatches) my presses are definitely not perfectly straight (right behind the ear) they are some what out I’m front of me. The same with my snatches. I’ve seen videos of others pressing and snatching and to see how far back they can perform these movements is impressive. I do dead hangs to try and improve that mobility but the second I get heavier bells I feel unstable unless I leave the bells a bit out front. I am not a sure it matters at this point in my life it’s just an observation from seeing others work.
From my experience, dead hangs are certainly effective for severe t-spine flexion... severe enough to cause shoulder impingement.
I also find a consistent regime of deadbug floor slides to be of great value.

 
Does anyone have experience with fasting on the Giant protocol? Would the better day for it be a training day or day between sessions?

Background: I'm in my second week of 1.0 and I like it to the extent that I plan to continue other Giant programs in the near future. However, I want to keep my "here and there" day fasts. I would like to have one every two weeks or so. I'm doing 16/8 IF daily. I was previously on S&S so fasting, short or long, was never an issue. The Giant is my first double bell program so I don't have any experience with fasting and this particular stimulus.
Hi,
A few weeks ago I did 5 days fasting. Water only.
And as an experiment I kept training.
That was very strange and interesting at the same time. From the day 3 I have lost all the strength. I was having no energy, my legs were kind of "gummy". But.
It was not exactly the giant as I felt weak. I was doing just 12x3 with 2x24kg in 30 min and one pull up every series.
Day 1 at the end I did 3reps with 2x32kg which is kind of max for me.
Day 3 I did just 12x3 with 2x24 kg and pull ups
Day 5 I did 12x3 with 2x24 kg, pull ups and 2x32kg - did not tell like the third one.

Every training I felt like very week but I could complete series with no problems.
5th day, it was like 118hrs already I did only 1 less rep than my max with 2x32kg.

It looks like lack of food does not affect our performance too much.
 
Is there any way to get access to Geoff’s older daily emails?

Found myself enjoying reading through the ones I’ve gotten but wondering if there’s an online dump of them all somewhere so I can access older ones too?
 
I’m telling you, I was shocked how much leg work I got following this protocol. Especially my quads and hamstrings.
I know! I still try to do 1-2 days of some low volume squats. Got a knee injury that I keep at bay by keeping my legs strong, so I always strive to get a certain volume done.

Finishing W1 Giant 1.1 now, and ended up at either the same or slightly less reps than W4 Giant 1.0. It's a different kind of fatigue and my heart rate at the end of each set is higher due to a higher rep scheme. Looking forward to tracking my results.
 
Hi everyone
I’ve just wrapped my fourth week of 1.1.
In week #3 I got just a little more reps than in 1.0’s week#1
It may sound strange but I really think I’m not wired for long sets. No problems with heart rate, only my muscles giving up sooner.
I can definitely feel that those bells are flying though. I definitely feel stronger.
I’m still a little cautious about my food intake (maybe I’m missing something here)
 
Hi everyone
I’ve just wrapped my fourth week of 1.1.
In week #3 I got just a little more reps than in 1.0’s week#1
It may sound strange but I really think I’m not wired for long sets. No problems with heart rate, only my muscles giving up sooner.
I can definitely feel that those bells are flying though. I definitely feel stronger.
I’m still a little cautious about my food intake (maybe I’m missing something here)
You're not missing anything. It's a hard to do a lot of long sets. The first 5-6 reps, the bells fly but as you progress in the number of sets, those last two reps get harder and hard.

I have two workouts left in 1.1. I cut the workout time down to 20. And have been in the 40-48 range for reps. I'm not chasing any sets and just want to get to 40. On my 5th set of 8, the other day, I failed on the last rep.

1.1 and 1.2 are really hard. My only suggestion is don't do any other workout besides walking. Nothing else.
 
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