Iron Cardio planning

I've settled on Iron Cardio as the program to do until I'm ready to do The Giant 1.0 with single 20kg kettlebell. The prerequisite to do The Giant 1.0 with my 20kg KB is to be able to clean+press the KB for 10 reps. My current 20kg KB c+p rep max is 2, so it looks like I'll be doing Iron Cardio for a while. There are other training options out there. Maybe one of those options would be a faster journey to 10 reps of 20kg KB c+p. That said, I like Iron Cardio because of the numerous options for customizing workouts, like doing only the Classic sequence, or Classic + Half Snatch, or doing Traveling 2s; as well as a bunch of parameters like training for time or for volume, training time if going for time, target number of sets if going for volume, and so on and so forth. Another goal Iron Cardio was designed to achieve, besides strength, is improved general endurance, which should also help when I do The Giant 1.0.

Today I did a 15-minute Iron Cardio session. I did 14 sets of the Classic sequence of 1 clean, 1 press, and 1 single front squat. After the 8th or 10th set, I felt like I was expending more effort on each press. Thus, I think a Iron Cardio Classic session for 10 min. rather than 15 would be suitable for the easy day; if I go with a easy-hard-medium scheme.

For my hard day, I'm thinking of adding a Half Snatch. A Half Snatch is also a Half Press, with the 2nd half of the movement being the negative phase of a Press.

Thus for my first full week of Iron Cardio I plan to do these sessions:

• Monday - easy - Classic - 10 min. Followed by KB waiter walks, then KB swings.
• Wednesday - hard - Classic + Half Snatch - 10 min. Warm up with KB clean, KB clean to 90 degree elbow position, KB clean to higher position, etc until snatch is achieved; lowering to rack hold each time.
• Friday - medium - Classic 15 min. Followed by KB waiter walks, then KB swings.

For week 2, I plan to repeat the week 1 routine, except with 5 min. added to each Iron Cardio session.

The purpose of the waiter walks is to continue improving shoulder stability as well as overhead lockout technique for press and snatch. The purpose of the 1-arm swing is to help improve performamce in the KB clean and snatch. Also, the Iron Cardio manual recommends practicing swings on occasion

The intention of these first 2 weeks is to ramp up my strength and conditioning. I have some idea of what to do for Week 3, but I'll see how Weeks 1 and 2 go. If I average 1 set of Classic per minute during the first 2 weeks, I'll swap in a Traveling 2s day to my routine starting Week 3. Traveling 2s would be a good way to acclimate to doing 2 consecutve presses in one set, as I'd only have to do that once every 3 sets. Thus it'd be a good progression towards increasing my 20kg press rep max from 2 to at least 4.

The Giant 1.2: Week 3

8/31
The Giant 16kg - 49 total reps - left shoulder still destabilized by the 3rd or 4th rep of the 3rd set, so that I had to do shorter sets than prescribed to finish the session.

9/1
Sore Joint Solution practice:

Supine Level 3 - 10 breaths - diaphragmatic breathing warmup
Side Lying Level 3 - 7 breaths per side, rest as needed, then 20 neck rotations per side, then and 20 nods per side
Phase 2 practice - Hit all the milestones to advance from Level 1 to Level 2 in both Positions 5 and 6.

9/2
The Giant 16kg - 45 total reps - once again the left shoulder destabilized by the 3rd or 4th rep of the 3rd set, thus once again I had to break up the prescribed sets into sets of 2-3 reps. The shoulder was fine with the shorter sets, even for a rep total higher than 40.

Since I am unable to maintain left shoulder stability in the clean+press once I start doing the 3rd set in The Giant 1.2, I don't think there's any point in continuning. I suspect the shoulder will do better with lower rep sets with the heavier 20kg weight. So Friday I'm going to retest my 20kg clean+press rep max, then decide where to take my training, based on the result.

9/5
Sore Joint Solution practice:

Supine Level 2 - 10 breaths - diaphragmatic breathing warmup
Side Lying Level 3 - 20 breaths per side, rest as needed, then 20 neck rotations per side, then and 20 nods per side
Phase 2 practice - Tried Position 4 sitting on 6 stacked puzzle mats instead of on the floor. Hit all the milestones to move up to Position 4, Level 4. Instructions say I can practice Level 4 with elevated sit bones so I'll go ahead do that. Position 5 Level 2 was fine. Limiting factor seems to be endurance in holding the position.

9/6
Clean+Press Rep Max test warmup - 16kg clean+press 5 reps, rest, then 6 reps - was going to do 7 but the shoulder destabilized after the 6th rep.
20kg Clean+Press Rep Max - 2
Iron Cardio Classic - 10 min. - 8 sets

I was disappointed about my 20kg clean+press rep max not having improved from 2, after 3 weeks of The Giant. That 2nd rep required so much effort that I knew I wouldn't be able to do a 3rd rep. It can't be helped. I wasn't able to perform The Giant 1.2 as specified, due to the left shoulder instability, and therefore I wasn't able to realize the gains I could have had from The Giant.

On the bright side, I was able to do Iron Cardio classic for 10 minutes without any hip soreness. The Sore Joint Solution sessions must have helped.

Thus, a possible path forward, from here, is to do Iron Cardio Classic for the next couple of weeks. To minimize risk of left shoulder instability disrupting training, I think I should start with 15 min. sessions, and gradually increase volume over time. Pushing the volume too soon seems to destabilize the shoulder.

To start The Giant 1.0 with the 20kg, I need to improve my c+p rep max from 2 to 10. Ideally I should train with the press focus example from the Iron Cardio manual. However, I need to be able to do at least 3 reps of KB press in one set to use the press focus example. I think once I average 1 set per minute, I'll be ready to switch to the press focus example as described in the manual. The key is to be patient and don't force my body to do more volume than what the shoulder is ready for.