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Kettlebell "Giant 1.0"

What do you guys think about my breathing during C&P?

1. Take a deap breath and clean the Kettlebells
2. Exhale after the beginning of the pressing motion
3.Inhale during the negative pressing motion
4.Downswing and clean while holding my breath
5. Exhale after the beginning of the pressing motion
6. and so on

I ask because my breathing pattern seems not to be perfect when i do more than 5reps
 
What do you guys think about my breathing during C&P?

1. Take a deap breath and clean the Kettlebells
2. Exhale after the beginning of the pressing motion
3.Inhale during the negative pressing motion
4.Downswing and clean while holding my breath
5. Exhale after the beginning of the pressing motion
6. and so on

I ask because my breathing pattern seems not to be perfect when i do more than 5reps
 
Hi Everyone
Week 3 of Giant X1 is done! I did 27:00 of work this week and here are my numbers
W3D1: 39 Reps
I felt strong this workout although my sleep wasn’t optimal
W3D2: 36 Reps
This day was very hard and I had to take longer rests between sets (6-7 minutes)
W3D3: 41 Reps
This felt very very good and although it is a light day I feel that the 24s are becoming lighter now ane more “workable” if that makes sense.

Looking at the rep scheme for next week it looks like it is going to be tough but hey I will rest as long as I need between sets and give it my best who knows maybe I surprise myself.
 
For me the most effective way of approaching any of the Giant Programs was the 20/25/30/25 minute sessions (post warm up) wherein I did a good pace and kept that same pace for the first three weeks. The increase in session lengths added to the overall sets/reps. Then cutting back down to 25 minutes in week four and pushing density. The goal for me was to get the reps in week four that I got in week three. It was quite effective for me at least.
 
For me the most effective way of approaching any of the Giant Programs was the 20/25/30/25 minute sessions (post warm up) wherein I did a good pace and kept that same pace for the first three weeks. The increase in session lengths added to the overall sets/reps. Then cutting back down to 25 minutes in week four and pushing density. The goal for me was to get the reps in week four that I got in week three. It was quite effective for me at least.
I like the challenge of the week 4 idea…
 
Maybe you would have hit the PR in the next week, if you had a lighter week for recovery?

Why bring up a hypothetical? Plain facts are I got higher reps week one, if I ran it again to test it would never be apples to apples as either it would be a repeat of the same or
a different weight.

My point is, if you haven't tried an approach, maybe you don't know how it would work for you.

I ran the program as written. Geoff has released the Giant multiple times and has never placed that protocol into an offficial release. I believe running the program as written, and then getting positive results, is superior to jacking with it because you might be able to get better results.

I think that it’s popular in here because it’s both easier and guarantees PRs. Which cool, but be honest about why instead of acting like it’s the better way to run the program.
 
Why bring up a hypothetical? Plain facts are I got higher reps week one, if I ran it again to test it would never be apples to apples as either it would be a repeat of the same or
a different weight.



I ran the program as written. Geoff has released the Giant multiple times and has never placed that protocol into an offficial release. I believe running the program as written, and then getting positive results, is superior to jacking with it because you might be able to get better results.

I think that it’s popular in here because it’s both easier and guarantees PRs. Which cool, but be honest about why instead of acting like it’s the better way to run the program.
I think the only PR that really matters to me is the Rep Max Test at the end of the Giant to measure progress.

“20-30 minutes” is the written guideline in the program and so we’re all running as written and making progress. I don’t see the issue with it anyone’s approach.
 
I think the only PR that really matters to me is the Rep Max Test at the end of the Giant to measure progress.

“20-30 minutes” is the written guideline in the program and so we’re all running as written and making progress. I don’t see the issue with it anyone’s approach.

You’re not running it as written if you predetermine your volume before you even start the program. It also isn’t written as 20-30 minutes, it’s “20 or 30”, no range. Choose your time domain and try to get an extra set every week. To directly quote it:

“ On “good” days, the trainee can push and do a lot of work. On “bad” days, the trainee can “coast” and do a bare minimum. Both contribute to training variability and therefore faster progress.”

What happens if you’re feeling like a million bucks on a day with less than 30 minutes? Or terrible on your 30 minute “peak”? You can’t auto regulate because you already determined your volume for that day.
 
I think what he’s saying is that what y’all are doing isn’t autoregulating. It starts looking more like triple progression - add a set each week, then deload, then step up the rep range and repeat.
Don't put me in with "y'all" -- I haven't talked about what I do.
 
I think what he’s saying is that what y’all are doing isn’t autoregulating. It starts looking more like triple progression - add a set each week, then deload, then step up the rep range and repeat.
But the only component of the GIANT intended to be auto regulated is the rest periods. Whether you pick 20, 23, 25, or 30 minutes… it is still predetermined.

It’s also easy enough to track reps per minute in a spread sheet to compare progress week over week. It worked like a charm for me.
 
Don't put me in with "y'all" -- I haven't talked about what I do.
Okie dokie.

But the only component of the GIANT intended to be auto regulated is the rest periods. Whether you pick 20, 23, 25, or 30 minutes… it is still predetermined.

It’s also easy enough to track reps per minute in a spread sheet to compare progress week over week. It worked like a charm for me.
Autoregulating rest also autoregulates sets. Changing duration will affect that. Let’s say you grind through 5x5 on week 1/20 min. Maybe you aren’t able to add a set of you stuck to 20 min, but since you added 5 min you now get 6. Same on the third week, you now get 7. You are still autoregulating in a way, but you are also increasing the stimulus in a fixed way irrespective of recovery.

For what it’s worth I don’t think it matters and I don’t really care if that’s how folks run it, I’ve done that successfully. In fact I use my example because that’s exactly something I did before (my first run with a pair of 32s), but when I did it I knew I wasn’t autoregulating it and it was a forced progression, and then I deloaded week 4 with 5 sets in 25 min. I also didn’t care that I got rid of the auto regulation. And then I reran Giant 1.0 because how hard it was.
 
I have tried both methods. They have both worked for me. As far as this discussion goes, my personal opinion falls more in line with what Hrungnir and John K are saying. I find it difficult to track true progress when I vary the time of the session. Comparing the total reps done on a day where I do 20 minutes vs. a day where I do 30 minutes isn't necessarily an apples to apples comparison.

Also Geoff has pointed out in his emails before that you can't really compare the effort based on total reps done when you have different rep counts per day. In this example two days of the same total reps where you did say 3 reps per set for a total of 30 vs. a day where you did singles for 30 reps are just not the same session. I think this also applies to the time/length of the session. A day where you do 30 reps in 20 minutes is just not the same as doing 30 reps in 30 minutes.

Either way you would get stronger. My point here is just that I find it makes it harder to track your progress.
 
I have tried both methods. They have both worked for me. As far as this discussion goes, my personal opinion falls more in line with what Hrungnir and John K are saying. I find it difficult to track true progress when I vary the time of the session. Comparing the total reps done on a day where I do 20 minutes vs. a day where I do 30 minutes isn't necessarily an apples to apples comparison.

Also Geoff has pointed out in his emails before that you can't really compare the effort based on total reps done when you have different rep counts per day. In this example two days of the same total reps where you did say 3 reps per set for a total of 30 vs. a day where you did singles for 30 reps are just not the same session. I think this also applies to the time/length of the session. A day where you do 30 reps in 20 minutes is just not the same as doing 30 reps in 30 minutes.

Either way you would get stronger. My point here is just that I find it makes it harder to track your progress.
I think the big temptation with more time is that you keep the rest the same, so you may or may not be progressing. You may get more sets, but the density doesn't change, and what you get in week 2 and week 3 you might've been able to get Week 1 if you had just done 25/30 minutes. Maybe not, and more is still more...
 
@John K and @Ben Strong,

I don’t disagree. I have made progress both ways as well. My point was only that I think both methods are within the guidelines of the GIANT and valid approaches. I think there is wiggle room in the GIANT and that is intended by the author. Perhaps Geoff just made a program so easy to follow it’s hard to screw it up. ROFL

One more thing to throw out… after having read a lot of Geoff’s work, I think varying the session length could at times lead to faster progress due to the increased variability.
 
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