The Giant 1.2: Week 2

I kind of took it easy for the Monday session

For the other 2 sessions I increased the training time from 25 min. to 30 min. to see if I could do more sets, especially the 9-rep sets. As it turned out, the extra time allowed me to do an extra set, resulting in 54 or more total reps for each of those sessions.
I continued doing chin ups on the afternoons of my The Giant days, for the purpose of conditioning my tissues for doing high volume chin up sessions in the near future. I didn't have a timeline for progressing from 2 sets of 2 reps to 5 sets of 5 reps, which is the most Geoff Neupert recommends. However this week I found myself doing 4 reps instead of 3 reps per set. I wasn't thinking of trying that 4th rep - I just found myself doing it.

For warmup and cooldown, I switched from P3 Protocol (Sore Joint Solution) to SCT4KB (Systematic Core Training For Kettlebells). There is some overlap between P3 and SCT4KB so the switch was fairly smooth. Sore Joint Solution and SCT4KB both promise improved mobility. SJS is more focused on movement restoration. SCT4KB is more focused on strengthening the core. Both have you start with diaphragmatic breathing as your base. I decided to switch from P3 to SCT4KB because if either one will lead to improved shoulder mobility and range of motion, especially flexion - the ability to put your arm straight up over your head - it makes sense to focus on core strength. So far it seems like SCT4KB sessions, as a bolt-on to The Giant sessions, take less time than P3 sessions. When I do a P3 session after a The Giant session, I tended to do the diaphragmatic breathing and head movement exercises for 2-3 body positions. SCT4KB has me working out of one body position at a time.

Giant 1.2: Week 1

The Giant 1.2 is the continuation of The Giant 1.1. It's the same programming as Giant 1.1 except with a bump up in difficulty.

The hardest session of the week prescribes 9-rep sets. I was able to do the 9-rep sets just fine. However I needed quite a bit more rest after a 9-rep set compared to an 8-rep set.

The session before the 9 rep per set session didn't call for as many reps per set. I pushed myself a bit to prepare myself for the 9-rep per set session.

I continued doing The Giant sessions in the morning, 3 times a week, and doing chin ups on the same day, but in the afternoons. I did chin ups on breaks from work. One thing I changed this week was doing 2 sets of chin ups on my break instead of one set. I'd do one set, then some mobility work like ATG split squats on the stairs, hip circles, etc. then do the 2nd set. My elbows typically felt better during the 2nd set.

Cool guitar videos

Justus West playing a groovy rhythm guitar part for Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

False Fingering technique lesson

Lesson on how to practice C major triads in various ways, with rhythm instead of just free time all the time

Giant 1.1: Week 4

This is the last week of The Giant 1.1. I pushed myself a little bit more this week, but not too hard. After a set, I've rested until the burning sensation in my lungs is gone, then waited until my heartrate and breathing dropped close to normal, before starting another set. All I changed this week was wait for the lungs-on-fire sensation to go away, then rest for less time after that compared to previous weeks. It helped that my conditioning improved so that I didn't feel like I needed as much rest compared to week 1 of The Giant.

Requiring rest less between sets allowed me to do more sets overall within a 25-min. session. For all 3 sessions this week, I was able to do 50+ total reps. This led to a slight increase in appetite compared to previous weeks.

On my The Giant days, one activity I've doing sometime after a session is chin ups in sets of 2-3 reps, to try to condition my elbow tissues for pulling with supinated hands. When I first heard of the argument that too much activity with hand in pronation, and not enough activity with hands in supination will lead to elbow tendonitis, I was admittedly dismissive. Then I learned more about Davis' Law, which states that tissues model along lines of stress. Thus, I've been doing chin ups to compensate for all the pronation involved in high volume kettlebell clean + press, as well as condition the tissues for supination. I feel some pain in my right elbow when I do chin ups, but oddly enough, no pain at all in my left elbow when I do chin ups. The left elbow can be irritated when I play guitar, as I use my left hand for fretting notes - this is one of the reasons I've been spending more time practicing on piano than on guitar. Anyway, the pain in my right elbow during chin ups has gradually decreased over time. has the info about Davis' Law, pronation vs. supination, recommended sets and reps, etc.

Also on my The Giant days, another activity I've been doing later in the day is shoulder dislocates with a stick. This is one of the exercises Neupert recommends for improving overhead reaching mobility. I'd been using a resistance band for shoulder dislocates, but it comes with a risk of shoulder injury without strict attention to keeping the chest forward as the arms rotate to the rear. I tried using a broomstick but just couldn't get a good range of motion. Then I picked up one of the orange 76" long Stick Mobility sticks and attempted the movement on it. It's quite a bit longer than the broomstick. The longer width allows me to hold the stick with a wide enough grip to do the movement with a full range of motion.

Giant 1.1: Week 3

My conditioning seems to be improving. Compared to last week, I did at least one more set per session, because I needed just a little less time to rest between sets.

My warmup was the supine and side lying positions from P3 protocol (Sore Joint Solution). For cooldown, I lay in an easier variation of supine from P3 and practiced diaphragmatic breathing - typically 15-20 breaths, until I felt my heartrate slow down to closer to normal speed. Then I practiced the Phase 2 exercises from P3 protocol.

I assumed I'd have to wait for another year or so before I could advance to Phase 2, but then I reread the Sore Joint Solution manual and found these sentences:

Some people really struggle with side lying, but supine and prone are relatively easy. In that case, move up to Phase 2, but start each session with side lying until you hit the target reps.

Turkish Get Up progress

This past December, I started practicing the Turkish Get Up again. Most of my TGU practice is on the days in between my The Giant sessions. I gradually progressed from practicing TGU with empty hand, to using an 8kg kettlebell, then the 12kg..

Today I tried the TGU with a 16kg kettlebell for the first time since I stopped doing Simple And Sinister back in May 2020. I felt a drop in my control of the KB. I got my 16kg KBs from Dragondoor. These days people call them hardstyle KBs. My lighter KBs and 20kg KB are competition style KBs. So the 16kg KB is not only heavier than my lightest KBs, it's also a different shape. So the cause of my control issues could be simply the weight but maybe the shape had something to do with it too. In any case, I switched back to the 12kg for TGU practice and did 2 more reps per side.

My main motivation for practicing TGU has changed since December. Back then it was to help me get better at the snatch. But now my motivation is just wanting to be ready for Kettlebell Burn 2.0. After I finish The Giant 1.1, I plan to do The Giant 1.2. 1.2 as a followup program to 1.1 increases the weekly volume to keep the muscle and strength gains coming. Next after 1.2 is The Giant 3.0 with the 20kg KB, which should hopefully result in my 20kg strict press rep max increasing from 1 to the 4-6 range. Next after 3.0 is Kettlebell Burn 2.0, a program that incorporates practically all the Level 1 and 2 exercises in the Geoff Neupert pyramid - TGU being one of those. If I want to practice the TGU safely with a 20kg KB, I'd better have a decent amount of practice time with the TGU first.

Giant 1.1: Week 2

StrongFirst has the Victorious course by Fabio Zonin on 25% off sale. Victorious is focused on the fine points of pressing a heavy kettlebell. My kettlebell training in the past couple of years has been mostly influenced by Geoff Neupert. I continue to be a fan of Neupert's teachings but I see Zonin also enjoys a lot of respect in the kettelbell training community, and so I've been curious about how he teaches kettlebell lifting. While Neupert is a former StrongFirst coach and Zonin is a current StrongFirst coach, each coach inevitably has their own perspective which may be useful to study.

For the Monday session I tried incorporating the Victorious pressing techniques. I realized why Zonin advises a rebuild from the ground up approach to learning and practicing the Victorious style of pressing. This style makes sense but it's hard to switch to it without putting in the time into the pressing techinque rebuilding process as advised in the Victorious course.

Also my left shoulder was feeling less stable and more irritable after trying the Mark Wildman style of kettlebell clean. It doesn't seem to respond well to the internal rotation that the Wildman style forces onto the shoulder. So for the Wednesday session, I switched back to the Neupert style of KB clean. Another thing I did to try to improve shoulder stability was, after the The Giant session, do 30 seconds per arm of waiter carry. This is just walking around with the KB held overhead with locked out arm. I got this idea from Steve Cotter and Dan John. Dan John in particular stated in this article that it does wonders for the shoulders. GMB has additional thoughts on loaded carries here

I also switched back to Neupert's style of KB press for the Wednesday and Friday sessions. Without practicing the recommended foundational exercises in Victorious beforehand, it didn't make sense to switch to the Victorious pressing style. Victorious appears to be intended specifically for improving at pressing a heavy kettlbell, and comes with recommended assistance exercises and unique techniques to practice. Victorious might be more useful for when I start pressing the 24kg KB, which at present is too heavy for me to press to full lockout. At present though I'm working through The Giant 1.1, with the intention to follow up with Giant 1.2. I do note need to switch to the Victorious pressing style now.