The Giant 1.2: Week 1

This was the first week of The Giant 1.2 with a single 16kg kettlebell. The goal is to improve my 20kg kettlebell press repetition max from 3 to at least 4. I was aware that a program called Soju And Tuba, presumably done with a 20kg KB, was another option for achieving this goal. Fabio Zonin's program Victorious was yet another option. I chose The Giant 1.2 with 16kg KB over Soju And Tuba with 20kg and Victorious, because previous experience gives me a good idea of what results to expect from the first option, while I'm not sure what results to expect from the other 2, due to lack of previous experience. Another reason is this option lets me do the most pressing volume - more volume means more practice of the pressing movement and more potential for muscle growth. Yet another reason is the 1st option is only a 4-week program. Soju and Tuba is a 6-week program and Victorious is 8 weeks.

I could have done The Giant 1.1 instead, then 1.2 afterwards, but I was confident that I could handle the Wednesday sessions. The Giant is a 3 days per week program, with a different prescribed number of reps per set for each of the 3 days. Wednesday has the most reps per set, which in the case of 1.2 is 9 reps. I got through it fine, being able to do 5 sets of 9 reps. On 2 of those 5 sets, I struggled a bit with the 9th rep but was able to complete it.

I set the timer to 25 minutes, did whatever number of sets I could manage until the timer beeped, and did one more set after that. Since this was the first week, I didn't push myself too hard. I took a generous amount of time to rest between sets, especially after the first set. I've noticed my body likes to start slow and ramp up over time.

By the Friday session, my stamina had improved enough that I was able to do 6 sets.

This was my warmup routine on The Giant days. The side lying exercises are from the P3 protocol taught by Geoff Neupert in Sore Joint Solution and Systematic Core Training For Kettlebells, though the SJS version is a bit less demanding:

1. Diaphragmatic breathing in child pose - 1 min.
2. Side lying for 10-12 diaphragmatic breaths per side
3. Side lying with 20-24 neck nods per side
4. Side lying with 20-24 neck rotations per side
5. The Pump (optional) - 1 min.

I experimented with including and not including The Pump. When I did not include The Pump, I had to contract my lats harder at the start of the KB press to keep the shoulder in place. I like to feel the lats getting stretched the hips are up in the air, I'm pushing back with straight arms, and I'm raising and lowering my heels. Something about how I do The Pump seems to set up my historically loose shoulder to stay in place while pressing the KB.

For cooldown I did a bit of walking around and shaking my body to catch my breath, then did the following:

1. Chin Ups - 2-3 reps to at least partially compensate for pronation, per Geoff's video.
2. Passive hang from pullup bar with pronated hands - at least 40 sec. for lat stretch and spinal decompression
3. Sore Joint Solution Phase 2 exercises if time allows
4. More sets of 2-3 chinups followed by passive hang in the afternoon - not necessarily once an hour but typically 3 times.

On the active recovery days I continued my active recovery day routine, which is practicing Turkish Get Up with a 16kg KB for 1-3 reps, then Hollow Body hold training.