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Kettlebell "Giant 1.0"

Hrungnir said:
Just two to three three minute holds every other day. I would do them when I was done lifting and rest as long as it took me to clean up my area between the sets.
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So, I'm pleased and surprised to report that I've done this and also Geoff's protocol ( sitting on ground shoulders shrugged back and together, pushing down and out with hands, fingers extended) - just twice .... and the difference is AMAZING!
Almost all pain is gone...

Thank you!!
 
Hello Everyone
I am pleased to say that I finished Giant 1.1 with double 20s!
Here are my numbers for week 4 20:00 work (deload)
Day 1: 42
Day 2: 40
Day 3: 40
This week was a deload week and I took it easy. Happy that I completed Giant 1.0-2-1.1 back to back with double 20s and I am going to be doing my last phase 1.2 with double 20s next week!
I am very excited with what I will do after 1.2 which is either a phase with double 24s (3.0 or 1.0) depending on my max reps or KSK!(Which I never did before).
 
Do any of you use the 20:00 format for the 4 weeks, reducing the number of reps by 20% in the last week? Or do most of you use the 20/25/30/25 format?
I kept to 20:00 for phases 1 and 2 of Strong! and just finished week 1 of Giant 1.0 (171 reps). I was going to stay on 20:00 but the question arises (I can't imagine being able to add a set of 6 reps on the heavy day). Thanks
 
You don’t have to add reps every week. If you don’t, that’s fine the program still works. The program wasn’t written 20/25/30/25, it was written with a set time the entire program. The goal is to get more work done in the same amount of time, not get more work done in more time.
 
I FINALLY finished Giant 1!

This has been a helleva 10 days for me. I had a planned trip out of town scheduled for the back end of Week 4. I planned to complete the Week 4 medium and heavy day lifts before I traveled. I planned to do the light day lifts in the hotel gym with dumbbells.

Well......

Things didn't go as I planned. I got my medium day lift done on September 18th. Then, I woke up the morning of 20th (my heavy day) with a case of food poisoning. (Yea cramps!) So I skipped my lifts that day. I decided to just enjoy my trip and finish Week 4 when I got home.

Well......

I caught a cold on my flight. I have been congested and fatigued. I was finally able to do my Week 4 heavy day on Thursday and the Week 4 light day today. I am not feeling 100% better, but I am feeling good enough to lift. I am proud of myself for getting back at it after this crappy week.

Here are my totals for Giant 1 with 2x28k bells. (I used the 20, 25, 30, 25 minute timing structure):
Week 4: 35 sets/169 lifts (25 minutes)
Week 3: 38 sets/183 lifts (30 minutes)
Week 2: 32 sets/155 lifts (25 minutes)
Week 1: 28 sets/135 lifts (20 minutes)

Bring on Giant 2!!!!
 
DrG said:
Do any of you use the 20:00 format for the 4 weeks, reducing the number of reps by 20% in the last week? Or do most of you use the 20/25/30/25 format?
I kept to 20:00 for phases 1 and 2 of Strong! and just finished week 1 of Giant 1.0 (171 reps). I was going to stay on 20:00 but the question arises (I can't imagine being able to add a set of 6 reps on the heavy day). Thanks
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I use the 20, 25, 30, 25 minutes format. I don’t count reps ever, as I know with the above format i will be doing more reps due to the extra time each week.
 
DrG said:
Do any of you use the 20:00 format for the 4 weeks, reducing the number of reps by 20% in the last week? Or do most of you use the 20/25/30/25 format?
I kept to 20:00 for phases 1 and 2 of Strong! and just finished week 1 of Giant 1.0 (171 reps). I was going to stay on 20:00 but the question arises (I can't imagine being able to add a set of 6 reps on the heavy day). Thanks
Click to expand...
I use the 20/25/30/20 format.
 
Kettlebellguy said:
Hi everyone
I am happy that I just completed my first week of Giant 1.2 with double 20s (20:00) of work. Here are my numbers:

W1D1: 42 Reps
W1D2: 45 Reps
W1D3: 48 Reps

Looking forward for week 2!
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I'm a few weeks ahead of you, Giant 1.2 about to start week 4. I can't tell you my reps as I don't count them.

An interesting observation from the last few weeks, practicing the Giant whist in calorie surplus (with bias towards protein) is easier than when in calorie deficit! Should have been obvious really, but I had not considered it.
 
Essexman said:
I'm a few weeks ahead of you, Giant 1.2 about to start week 4. I can't tell you my reps as I don't count them.

An interesting observation from the last few weeks, practicing the Giant whist in calorie surplus (with bias towards protein) is easier than when in calorie deficit! Should have been obvious really, but I had not considered it.
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Please make a review/results post after!
 
Essexman said:
I'm a few weeks ahead of you, Giant 1.2 about to start week 4. I can't tell you my reps as I don't count them.

An interesting observation from the last few weeks, practicing the Giant whist in calorie surplus (with bias towards protein) is easier than when in calorie deficit! Should have been obvious really, but I had not considered it.
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Nice work! I have been eating really well too Let's get it!
 
The Giant 1.0 // DBL 36kg // 30min​
Day 1 #lifts​
Day 2 #lifts​
Day 3 #lifts​
Week 1​
50​
54​
60​
Week 2​
60​
66​
64​
Week 3​
65​
72​
72​
Week 4​
80​
72​
68​

Just finished 1.0 as you can see above.

Feels great going from thinking I'm doing too much, feeling like I did too much, then waking up and doing more than last session. Well, until the last week where I did not push myself at all, just let the talk test guide me.

As far as body comp is going, I thought I was losing my Maximorum size for the first two weeks, and all of a sudden started getting bigger than I was during my Maximorum attempt. I've also gained about 5 pounds of I don't know what yet after I started to reduce calories a little and will continue to little by little.

I can't wait to see how I adapt to the increasing set lengths in the next 2 months!
 
I am considering committing to The Giant but a few questions.
What fitness qualities does it not address? Is there anything we need to add? I am keen to maintain or up my VO2 max, can anyone say if the Giant does this. Any thoughts on “essential” add ons or is the best bet just to do the programme as set indefinitely?
 
stevein7 said:
I am considering committing to The Giant but a few questions.
What fitness qualities does it not address? Is there anything we need to add? I am keen to maintain or up my VO2 max, can anyone say if the Giant does this. Any thoughts on “essential” add ons or is the best bet just to do the programme as set indefinitely?
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Do the program as written and it will deliver good upper body muscle growth if you eat for it as well. I'm not Geoff Neupert, but I'd imagine any VO2 increases would be purely incidental. Probably keep up the LISS on your off days perhaps?
 
stevein7 said:
I am considering committing to The Giant but a few questions.
What fitness qualities does it not address? Is there anything we need to add? I am keen to maintain or up my VO2 max, can anyone say if the Giant does this. Any thoughts on “essential” add ons or is the best bet just to do the programme as set indefinitely?
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You won't get "big strong pecs" if all you do is The Giant. There's no squat involved, so you may want to mix those in one way or other (could do as warm-up, light on off-days, or mix in a block of Giant just using squats every 2-4 blocks; I did that trying to deal with elbow problems). Other than that, it checks every box if you stick with it long enough, vary between the 5-templates, vary between the lower and upper limit (for you; 5-7....3.0 would be really tough with a 4rm.... and 8-12) of starting weights, vary between strict and push presses, and you push hard on every session. As your press gets stronger relative to your clean (or you just skip to pp's), it can turn into a series of HIIT sessions. When you're at the limit of your presses, your rest periods will be a lot longer. I'd say that when you're working with relatively heavy weights and long (3-5 minutes) rests, maybe good to do "cardio" on off-days (I was riding a stationary bike for ~40m 2x per week; finished 1.0 2-weeks ago; which was arguably too heavy when I started, but press strength came back quickly as I hadn't pressed in a couple years).

If "maintain VO2 max" is really a concern, and your grip is strong enough to handle it, you could do the whole program with push presses. If 1.2 using push presses doesn't blow your lungs apart, I don't know what would.
 
Reardon55 said:
You won't get "big strong pecs" if all you do is The Giant. There's no squat involved, so you may want to mix those in one way or other (could do as warm-up, light on off-days, or mix in a block of Giant just using squats every 2-4 blocks; I did that trying to deal with elbow problems). Other than that, it checks every box if you stick with it long enough, vary between the 5-templates, vary between the lower and upper limit (for you; 5-7....3.0 would be really tough with a 4rm.... and 8-12) of starting weights, vary between strict and push presses, and you push hard on every session. As your press gets stronger relative to your clean (or you just skip to pp's), it can turn into a series of HIIT sessions. When you're at the limit of your presses, your rest periods will be a lot longer. I'd say that when you're working with relatively heavy weights and long (3-5 minutes) rests, maybe good to do "cardio" on off-days (I was riding a stationary bike for ~40m 2x per week; finished 1.0 2-weeks ago; which was arguably too heavy when I started, but press strength came back quickly as I hadn't pressed in a couple years).

If "maintain VO2 max" is really a concern, and your grip is strong enough to handle it, you could do the whole program with push presses. If 1.2 using push presses doesn't blow your lungs apart, I don't know what would.
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I'm not very well versed on VO2 max related biology, but when I did viking warrior conditioning I could feel the lactic acid being used by my system and it felt good. I associated this with improved recovery capacity. Just this last week, I've noticed that when I wait for the sucking wind feeling to go away I've started to feel like I am adapting to higher levels of lactic acid, just like I was doing VWC, with a little body buzz. Again, I'm not sure if this is just that, adaptation to higher lactic acid levels, or if this also means my VO2 max is getting better.
 
stevein7 said:
I am considering committing to The Giant but a few questions.
What fitness qualities does it not address? Is there anything we need to add? I am keen to maintain or up my VO2 max, can anyone say if the Giant does this. Any thoughts on “essential” add ons or is the best bet just to do the programme as set indefinitely?
Click to expand...
Your V02 max may be be different for different sports, eg running, cycling and swimming.

V02 max optimisation generally involves specific training, generally interval work at or around your anaerobic threshold in that sport.

I don't think the Giant nor most strength training programs are designed for VO2 max maintenance.

I would think that A+A programs would be better for that goal though.
 
Many thanks. What intrigued me was the idea of doing the giant for years. For me the cause of fuckarounditis/ shiny object syndrome/ programme hopping is the need to have it all. At one point in life I had my eyes fixed on comp powerlifting and it was productive, I raw totalled over 600 kgs at various body weights, lighter and lighter, which I saw as progress. From there, many iterations of crosstraing/ hybrid training/ multi sport approaches that have left me pretty fit at 57, good really, but feeling like I am constantly dealing with overuse, little injuries, bad weather, juggling many elements of convoluted training programmes I have concocted. Yeah, it’s ok, but then it became a matter of simplifying what seemed to be a big rubicks cube that I was always tweaking. Hence, the giant.
 
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