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Kettlebell "Giant 1.0"

Gypsyplumber

Gypsyplumber

Level 6 Valued Member
Man I’m happy to be back in the Giant program. I started back with 24kgs Monday, plan to run 1.0 to ease my way back and get some pressing capacity back. Then run 3.0 with the 32kgs again…not pressing for almost 3 months makes me realize how quick you can lose the endurance lol but still it feels good.
 
John Grahill

John Grahill

Level 7 Valued Member
Gypsyplumber said:
Man I’m happy to be back in the Giant program. I started back with 24kgs Monday, plan to run 1.0 to ease my way back and get some pressing capacity back. Then run 3.0 with the 32kgs again…not pressing for almost 3 months makes me realize how quick you can lose the endurance lol but still it feels good.
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Yup. It'll come back quickly though!
 

Scrumdog

Level 2 Valued Member
Had great success for my shoulders and upper body on the Giant earlier this year so going to give it a try with double front squats starting with 3.0 and a clean before each squat. Will throw in 3x5 presses or rows at the end of each session to keep my upper body ticking over.

Anyone ever done the Giant with squats?
 
ImMrAdam

ImMrAdam

Level 3 Valued Member
Scrumdog said:
Had great success for my shoulders and upper body on the Giant earlier this year so going to give it a try with double front squats starting with 3.0 and a clean before each squat. Will throw in 3x5 presses or rows at the end of each session to keep my upper body ticking over.

Anyone ever done the Giant with squats?
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Have you considered doing DFW? It's a 5RM double C&P alternating with front squats so pretty much the same starting point.
 

MarkSch

Level 6 Valued Member
@Chimp Doubles, 2x 24 , after running the first section of KB Strong
Previously I had done Giant 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 with 2x24. My snatches were always my weakest link so I wanted to firm them up for good.

How does it feel? Well, good and powerful, I guess. I'm able to manage the load, make progress, and concentrate on making each rep good.
I have not done any other snatch -heavy programs before this.

A nioce side benefit: I had never even considered a single 32KB snatch before, though I can press it for 3-5 reps. But now I can snatch 32KB, each side, for 3 solid reps, and more to come.
 
Geoff Neupert

Geoff Neupert

Level 7 Valued Member
Beast Tamer
Scrumdog said:
Had great success for my shoulders and upper body on the Giant earlier this year so going to give it a try with double front squats starting with 3.0 and a clean before each squat. Will throw in 3x5 presses or rows at the end of each session to keep my upper body ticking over.

Anyone ever done the Giant with squats?
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I believe @Reardon55 has.
 

Reardon55

Level 5 Valued Member
Geoff Neupert said:
I believe @Reardon55 has.
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Yes, I have. I was "in the rhythm" of The Giant, but one of my elbows was giving me fits; and I saw a video of a guy doing a set of 10 FSQT's with 40's so figured that'd be as good a goal as any (my "sport"..... to the extent I have one at 52, is rowing, so FSQT's seem useful) and dove into it. I didn't take notes, but my recollection is that I tried to use a 36/40 combo and realized very quickly that that was WAY TOO MUCH WEIGHT (I was folding like a cheap suit after 3 or 4 sets).

I think I ended up getting through 1.0 twice; once with 32's and once with 36's before my attention span hit its limit (no, I never attempted a set of 10 with 40's) and the 36's were WAY easier by the end than they'd been at the beginning.

My recollection is that, as my spinal erectors got strong enough to no longer be the limiter....., the limiter was largely my lungs (cardio capacity, etc.). I'm not sure I ever felt like it was my legs, so I'm not sure it's the optimal builder of leg strength, but it can't have hurt.
 

MarkSch

Level 6 Valued Member
@Chimp

One other benefit: snatches in even moderate amounts used to beat up my hands badly, particularly with left , aka "strong".
The Giant 1.0-1.2 absolutely tore them up, and battered the knuckle side of my wrist. It is, of course, my fault.

I'd get rips in center of my palm, below my middle finger, and also callus tears at the base of each finger on both hands. (yes, I've read all callus tips and followed them but still... it persisted.)

However, after a combination of buying and studying KettleBell Strong, running three session of Kettlebell Hard, running Strong + One ( snatches and swings) and now Giant 1.0 (snatches), I have ....Nothing. No tears, no hot spots--at all.

So, although I wander a lot, it appears I _am_ trainable. I wish I could whack my earlier self on the head, sensei-like, and just start with Strong! , but alas, Grasshopper.
 

Reardon55

Level 5 Valued Member
I have some results (mostly Giantish....) to share. Started 1.0 with 28's after a RM of 6 with the 32's roughly 9-weeks ago. Made through most of 3-weeks with the 28's but they became ridiculously light after having taken many months away from any pressing (I was doing 100 reps per session), and I'm doing regular rowing training in parallel so didn't need a three time per week metcon, so I stopped and tested with 36's, hoping to get 5 and do 3.0. Alas, I only managed 4, so embarked on 1.0 again with 32's. Got about 2-sessions shy of the end and only then wished I had left my Garmin watch on the ground rather than on my wrist....even facing bottom. Developed quite a bruise so stopped....., and started Dan John's "Big 21" (barbell protocol that only includes power snatch, clean and press, and power clean and jerk and that progresses....aggressively, over 9-sessions in 3-weeks). Finished that on Wednesday (well, didn't QUITE finish; as I couldn't make the last C&J rep; and YIKES were those last 2-sessions HARD).

I feel so good and am so fired up about olympic lifting that I made a plunge and scheduled a session with a proper weightlifting coach (my son and I are doing an in-person 2 on 1 tomorrow).....and bought a pair of crash pads so I don't completely alienate my neighbors with 5:30 AM bar drops..... Extremely excited about it.

Oh yeah, the result..... Instead of a total rest this evening, I decided to pull out the doubles and do a C&P rep max. Got 4-reps with the 40s. So either the Giant works, or the Big 21 works, or they both work (probably the latter).
 
Gypsyplumber

Gypsyplumber

Level 6 Valued Member
Week 2 of the Giant 1.0 with 24s and I feel great. I think I’ll be jumping back to 32s after finishing the next two weeks. But part of me is thinking that with a program like the Giant should you ever step back and coast? For instance when people train for competitions they work up to their heaviest weight then they rest and just maintain. Is it realistic to think you should just keep pushing indefinitely? Or is it smart to step back every few months and just maintain, using a weight you can easily own? Just food for thought becuase I’ve been loving going back to 24s and just moving them like toys…
 
Geoff Neupert

Geoff Neupert

Level 7 Valued Member
Beast Tamer
Gypsyplumber said:
Week 2 of the Giant 1.0 with 24s and I feel great. I think I’ll be jumping back to 32s after finishing the next two weeks. But part of me is thinking that with a program like the Giant should you ever step back and coast? For instance when people train for competitions they work up to their heaviest weight then they rest and just maintain. Is it realistic to think you should just keep pushing indefinitely? Or is it smart to step back every few months and just maintain, using a weight you can easily own? Just food for thought becuase I’ve been loving going back to 24s and just moving them like toys…
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Great question.

Typically, go until just before you can't. (You'll know - weights start to feel heavy and slow, you feel tired.) Then step back and coast for a little to consolidate your gains. Then reload and go again. This is a different point for each individual based on their training history, training age, and current strength levels.
 

Chimp

Level 1 Valued Member
MikeMoran said:
Get through phase 1 and tell me if your shirts aren’t all tighter in the chest and shoulders. Biceps and triceps grew too!
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Just did 4 weeks except the very last light day of The Giant and I can confirm my shirt got tighter. Shoulder looks round, upper back got some mass and biceps are getting bigger from the front. Even rolling in BJJ felt stronger although this could partly be because the workouts let you recover properly.

Got up to 77 reps with double 16’s on the heavy day in Week 3 which is massive improvement from 51 reps in my first workout. Also in Week 4 I did as sort of a deload where workouts were 20 mins instead of 30. I did 50 reps so I basically did the same reps as some of the earlier workouts but in 2/3 the time. I like how I could auto regulate to control the volume and density as needed. I will take a break now as I did a ton of volume this month for double kettlebell clean&press and feel I need to focus on my legs.

I will definitely try it with my single 24kg of the lower rm version of The Giant but use a push press instead of press. Right now I need a program for my lower body and conditioning and will probably have to find one with less enjoyable exercises than the cleans&press such as the double kettlebell front squat (I hate this even with double 16’s) and double snatch.

Would you recommend doing The Wolf after the Giant? I don’t currently have a second 20kg for DFW which might have worked and I could try it with double 16’s but it looks way too easy while wolf heavy day looks like too scary.
 

Hrungnir

Level 2 Valued Member
If it’s working and translating to mat strength, why do you need to change focus? Why not run 2.0 or 1.1 and keep going?
 

Chimp

Level 1 Valued Member
Hrungnir said:
If it’s working and translating to mat strength, why do you need to change focus? Why not run 2.0 or 1.1 and keep going?
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This actually isn’t a bad idea to continue with 1.1 especially if I can perfect my technique now and do very controlled paused presses.

However, I wanted some leg size and strength to balance with my upper body and because I am now able to 77 reps in one day which feels like too much volume. Maybe I can try 1.1 and add few sets of low reps front squats.
 

Hrungnir

Level 2 Valued Member
I have hit as high as 124 reps in a single day and am in the 300 range for weekly reps typically. I haven’t had any detrimental impact from the volume.
 
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