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Kettlebell "Giant 1.0"

John Grahill

Level 8 Valued Member
Just finished week 3 of the Giant 1.0. I'm really pretty stoked about this program. I did the 2.0 first as I felt a "break in period" with higher reps than I was used to would be a good idea and the ladders made it a bit more tolerable.

Geoff Neupert advised me that although that idea of using the 2.0 first using ladders was certainly doable, I'd probably be shocked at the difficulty of straight sets.....he was dead right! Straight sets in a density type plan just plain suck! To give an idea, today was day three of week three. On day three of week one I got 50 total reps in 30:00. Today I got 80 reps! In addition, my heart rate today actually stayed lower than it did a couple of weeks ago doing much less volume! I gotta say I'm my mind that's great progress!

Next week is the final week of 1.0 and I'm going to do a deload of sorts, just going for 20 minutes rather than 30.

This program (s) rocks!

EDIT: See also this thread about the Giant program: Geoff Neupert "THE GIANT" ??
 
I'll finish my 3rd week tomorrow (got sidetracked on Wednesday) and my results are almost identical to Mr. Grahill's.

First week I was getting ~50-55 reps; and now getting around ~80-85 (did 82 yesterday @ sets of 6; I couldn't even do the sets of 6 in week 1). I can't hardly believe the progress, to be honest. Glad to see someone else having similar experience. I thought maybe I was counting wrong!

The difference in density is surprising me as well. After 4 reps on a 6-rep day...."I have to do 2-more of these!?!?!?"

7s....... will be hard...., but apparently it's good for you.
 
Going conservative and doing 20 minute sessions.. I think I've already hit a density PR for 60 reps in the c and p..

Definitely one of Geoff's best work but it often gets overlooked as it didn't get a stand alone treatment
 
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Stuart, I think the program would be excellent with single bell c+p's too. I like single bell presses as much as double presses and have always gotten great results with them in the past. Many say that doubles will yield more muscle and maybe that's true, but that doesn't mean you won't make any gains with singles!
 
@Xene , the ROP uses a ladder protocol of 1 to 5 with 5 ladders of 5 rungs being the finish for any given bell being used which normally starts with a single 5 to 8 RM kettlebell. Takes about 13 weeks.

The Giant is actually several 4 week programs that build upon each other. It can be done with double or single kettlebells. The Giant Series 1.0 to 1.2 starts with a 10 RM bell and begins with straight sets (no ladders) and each session is done in a density style and is capped at 30 minutes (not including warm ups and cool downs). In other words the goal is to get more work per training each week than you hot last week. Density is not required in the ROP. (There is a ladder version of the Giant but it uses a higher rep range than the ROP).

I'm not an instructor and I'm sure I missed some points here but I hope that helps you. If you're asking for advice as to which protocol to do I can say the ROP should come first and the goals should be met, then venture into other programs. The ROP is a tremendous program that gets overlooked by too many in my opinion. It's in my mind like an "academy or a boot camp" requirement for everyone if they want to progress with kettlebell programs.
 
@Xene , the ROP uses a ladder protocol of 1 to 5 with 5 ladders of 5 rungs being the finish for any given bell being used which normally starts with a single 5 to 8 RM kettlebell. Takes about 13 weeks.

The Giant is actually several 4 week programs that build upon each other. It can be done with double or single kettlebells. The Giant Series 1.0 to 1.2 starts with a 10 RM bell and begins with straight sets (no ladders) and each session is done in a density style and is capped at 30 minutes (not including warm ups and cool downs). In other words the goal is to get more work per training each week than you hot last week. Density is not required in the ROP. (There is a ladder version of the Giant but it uses a higher rep range than the ROP).

I'm not an instructor and I'm sure I missed some points here but I hope that helps you. If you're asking for advice as to which protocol to do I can say the ROP should come first and the goals should be met, then venture into other programs. The ROP is a tremendous program that gets overlooked by too many in my opinion. It's in my mind like an "academy or a boot camp" requirement for everyone if they want to progress with kettlebell programs.
Thank you very much. I bought the programs and we will see how I will set up everything!
 
Stuart, I think the program would be excellent with single bell c+p's too. I like single bell presses as much as double presses and have always gotten great results with them in the past. Many say that doubles will yield more muscle and maybe that's true, but that doesn't mean you won't make any gains with singles!
Thanks @John Grahill , much appreciated.
I'll start 1.0 on Monday
 
Just starting this program this week and I've got a question about strategy. If I think of the 6 rep day as the heavy day, and the other days as light and medium, then should I focus on going all out on the 6 rep day while taking an easier pace on the other two weekly workouts? Does that make sense? I want to make sure that I don't burn out by going full tilt in every workout. I've never run a density based program before.
 
Just starting this program this week and I've got a question about strategy. If I think of the 6 rep day as the heavy day, and the other days as light and medium, then should I focus on going all out on the 6 rep day while taking an easier pace on the other two weekly workouts? Does that make sense? I want to make sure that I don't burn out by going full tilt in every workout. I've never run a density based program before.

Treat each day invididually and only go all out on week 4..

You want to be able to feel like you win each session but not at the cost of the following week
 
Just starting this program this week and I've got a question about strategy. If I think of the 6 rep day as the heavy day, and the other days as light and medium, then should I focus on going all out on the 6 rep day while taking an easier pace on the other two weekly workouts? Does that make sense? I want to make sure that I don't burn out by going full tilt in every workout. I've never run a density based program before.
Personally, I go full tilt every session and rely on " the program" (the fact that I'm staying further away from my RM on the "light" and "medium" days) to rein me in. Your question led me to go back and actually read the directions (which is a rarity for me) and it says "perform as many sets as possible in the allotted time period". In the preamble, it acknowledges that you'll have "good" and "bad" days where your work capacity will vary. I took that to mean those can come on heavy, light, and medium days.....

I don't worry too much about improving the light / medium / heavy day each week; but rather, the total reps for the week between week 1 and week 4. So far, I've improved the reps per week every week. I just finished second week of 3.0 and went from 73 reps the first week doing 20m sessions, to 127 the second week doing 30m sessions; If I add half-again to the 20m sessions, I'd have had around 110, assuming I could have kept the same pace; so it's about a 10% improvement. I feel great about it; though there's certainly the chance that next week I'll fall off, get discouraged, and quit altogether........ always walking a tightrope with this CNS of mine :) .
 
Treat each day invididually and only go all out on week 4..

You want to be able to feel like you win each session but not at the cost of the following week
@jhpowers -

I think Mark's is a great strategy.

One I typically recommend is the following:

Week 1: Easy/Moderate
Week 2: Moderate/Hard
Week 3: Hard/Very Hard/Max Effort
Week 4: De-load.
Week 5-8: (Another GIANT) - Repeat Cycle.
Week 9: Re-Test RM

There are many variations. But I think this is a good one that works for many.

Hope that helps.
 
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