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Kettlebell "Giant 1.0"

I decided to switch it up a little today and tried some clean and jerks. They just weren't my cup of tea. I much prefer the push press. Way more. I also decided to do single kettlebell as opposed to doubles. Again, I much prefer them. The question is, when doing single bell is it left, rest, right, rest, repeat or left, right, rest, repeat?
 
I decided to switch it up a little today and tried some clean and jerks. They just weren't my cup of tea. I much prefer the push press. Way more. I also decided to do single kettlebell as opposed to doubles. Again, I much prefer them. The question is, when doing single bell is it left, rest, right, rest, repeat or left, right, rest, repeat?

Personally to get the main benefit IMO of the single bell work I would do left+ right rest.

The whole reason I think I would run a single bell giant would be because I had too great a strength imbalance between sides or mainly for the conditioning benefits of having to do both arms in one set so that's my reasoning. Important note is that I have never run a single bell giant but have run ROP a few times.
 
I decided to switch it up a little today and tried some clean and jerks. They just weren't my cup of tea. I much prefer the push press. Way more. I also decided to do single kettlebell as opposed to doubles. Again, I much prefer them. The question is, when doing single bell is it left, rest, right, rest, repeat or left, right, rest, repeat?
Just my humble opinion but you could probably do the singles either way. The left + right then rest protocol is probably the most productive with respect to putting on some muscle and conditioning/fat loss because of the extended time under tension.
 
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Did my week 2 day 3 of the 2.0 this morning. Despite the frigid temperatures outside, the peak reps of the day 3 ladders had me steaming! Next week is the 30 minute sessions.

The 20/25/30/25 time template Geoff suggested is a godsend for sure!
@John Grahill would you recommend the original time template for a first pass of The Giant or straight in with the weekly split above?
 
@John Grahill would you recommend the original time template for a first pass of The Giant or straight in with the weekly split above?
That time approach is interesting and I didn’t even know it was a thing. I’ll admit I’m not dogged about the 30 minutes. All that matters is smoking more sets than the week before. If I manage that at the 25 minute mark or the 27 minute mark I happily call it a day. But this looks good.
 
@John Grahill would you recommend the original time template for a first pass of The Giant or straight in with the weekly split above?
@Pete L I personally recommend the time template l have recently been using (20/25/30/25). I find a good pace for the first three weeks and then in week 4 I go for max density. Good pace for me means one wherein I'm fatigued at the end but not destroyed. The added time per workout each week allows for more volume each week a little bit more "humanely" while still being a challenge if ya know what I mean.

For me it works better because I found that with the three 30 minute sessions each week that I went all out each workout which 1) kind of burned me out .... 2) led to poorer form...... 3)made the whole process very draining.

Geoff's suggestion of the 20/25/30/25 intrigued me and I gave it a try and really think for 'ME' it's the way to go.

I recently restarted the Giant 1.0 and completed it and am currently in the third week of the 2.0 and doing well with it......1.1 is next......my goal is to repeat the 10x10 in faster time and lower bodyweight than last year when I did it!
 
Thanks - does anyone know if The Giant is included in Kettlebell EXPRESS! - CHASING STRENGTH. As a beginner I'm wondering if KB Express might be a good place to start

Also is the Giant only C&P? Would you supplement with anything else?
The idea here is the c+p is basically a full-body movement that covers a lot of bases in a minimalist way....think "bang for buck."
 
Beautiful! Did you start The Giant as a noobie? Would you recommend it for a noobie? :p
No, I've been training with kettlebells off and on since 2008 or 2009. I'm not really certain a "noobie" couldn't do the Giant but I think I'd recommend "Enter the Kettlebell " from Pavel. I know it's an older book with "older" programming but I think it's an awesome entry into kettlebell training. I'm pretty sure Geoff Neupert also has some programs for beginners. What's nice about kettlebell training is you can always "step back" and return to any program and make progress.
 
No, I've been training with kettlebells off and on since 2008 or 2009. I'm not really certain a "noobie" couldn't do the Giant but I think I'd recommend "Enter the Kettlebell " from Pavel. I know it's an older book with "older" programming but I think it's an awesome entry into kettlebell training. I'm pretty sure Geoff Neupert also has some programs for beginners. What's nice about kettlebell training is you can always "step back" and return to any program and make progress.
Thanks for the message. Amazing work! That's a hell of a journey :) I've been looking at ETK, I assume you mean Rite of Passage? I'm trying to work my head through the programming of it, sometimes its a bit complicated to understand
 
@Pete L I personally recommend the time template l have recently been using (20/25/30/25). I find a good pace for the first three weeks and then in week 4 I go for max density. Good pace for me means one wherein I'm fatigued at the end but not destroyed. The added time per workout each week allows for more volume each week a little bit more "humanely" while still being a challenge if ya know what I mean.

For me it works better because I found that with the three 30 minute sessions each week that I went all out each workout which 1) kind of burned me out .... 2) led to poorer form...... 3)made the whole process very draining.

Geoff's suggestion of the 20/25/30/25 intrigued me and I gave it a try and really think for 'ME' it's the way to go.

I recently restarted the Giant 1.0 and completed it and am currently in the third week of the 2.0 and doing well with it......1.1 is next......my goal is to repeat the 10x10 in faster time and lower bodyweight than last year when I did it!
Thanks for the detailed explanation!
 
No, I've been training with kettlebells off and on since 2008 or 2009. I'm not really certain a "noobie" couldn't do the Giant but I think I'd recommend "Enter the Kettlebell " from Pavel. I know it's an older book with "older" programming but I think it's an awesome entry into kettlebell training. I'm pretty sure Geoff Neupert also has some programs for beginners. What's nice about kettlebell training is you can always "step back" and return to any program and make progress.
John, in Sense-Eye’s case, a professing “newbie”, do you think that the Strong videos would be most beneficial as far as meticulous instruction goes? From there one could go anywhere.
I have both programs and Giant in my opinion is for someone who already has the know-how and the why that are explained thoroughly in the Strong videos.
I may be wrong here because I haven’t looked at the Giant program in a while. I’ve been on Strong for 24 weeks.
 
John, in Sense-Eye’s case, a professing “newbie”, do you think that the Strong videos would be most beneficial as far as meticulous instruction goes? From there one could go anywhere.
I have both programs and Giant in my opinion is for someone who already has the know-how and the why explained in the Strong videos.
I may be wrong here because I haven’t looked at the Giant program in a while. I’ve been on Strong for 24 weeks.
I agree with this assessment. KB Strong is a great instructional video set. I've benefited immensely from it and I keep watching the videos and reading the PDF often to take cues on my technique. Also KB Strong gives a very systematic way to build strength ... even for a beginner. GIANT definitely is for someone who is well versed with the movements and is not looking for any teaching but an intelligent program.
 
John, in Sense-Eye’s case, a professing “newbie”, do you think that the Strong videos would be most beneficial as far as meticulous instruction goes? From there one could go anywhere.
I have both programs and Giant in my opinion is for someone who already has the know-how and the why that are explained thoroughly in the Strong videos.
I may be wrong here because I haven’t looked at the Giant program in a while. I’ve been on Strong for 24 weeks.

I agree with this assessment. KB Strong is a great instructional video set. I've benefited immensely from it and I keep watching the videos and reading the PDF often to take cues on my technique. Also KB Strong gives a very systematic way to build strength ... even for a beginner. GIANT definitely is for someone who is well versed with the movements and is not looking for any teaching but an intelligent program.
I may be wrong here but generally speaking I thought it's recommended to start with singles rather than jump into doubles. I remember a video with Chris Lopez and Geoff wherein I believe Geoff recommended starting with single bell work and that the only exception was a professional athlete he worked with.

I don't know if that philosophy has changed.

Having said that, I think anyone would benefit from Geoff's instructional videos in Strong! I just don't know if starting there is a good idea. I was just offering a suggestion as "noobie" to me means beginner.
 
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