Anyone run The Giant with other exercises?

A

anojinzouningen

New member
I (35 M) started The Giant fairly recently, coinciding with my really tracking daily calories and macros, and have been super impressed with the progress achieved. I’m planning on running through 1.2, then probably moving to 3.0, for four months total. My goals have been functional strength, along with putting on about 15 pounds.

I don’t do much on off days with the exception of the day before starting the new week, I’ll do some mobility or cardio (light TGU’s, running).

I was wondering if anyone on here has applied the gist of the program to other exercise (e.g., Goblet squats, TGU’s, double swings, snatches, ABC’s, or anything else) I know Dan John’s reasoning behind not doing something like ABC’s more than twice a week is because of the sheer number of squats you end up doing, which makes sense to an extent, although, I’m sure doing a lot of cleans and presses and am pretty impressed.

Not changing much for the next couple of months, but was just curious.

Thanks everyone. This sub is the absolute best, by the way. Super cool folks.
 
@anojinzouningen Geoff makes it clear in the book that this is an all in one workout system for busy folks that don't have time for more. It's designed such that you don't need to do anything else. It's not like S&S that's designed to be the foundation of another training regime.

If you have time for recovery then go for it. I personally, a guy that just wants to be healthy (and knows nothing about physiology) is that anything more than jogging may end up being too much for the average person running The Giant.
 
@grace302015 Sorry, maybe my post wasn’t super clear.

Was really just wondering if instead of the clean and press, people have run the program but with different exercise, like a clean and double KB squat. I think the time/session component, especially with my other obligations (work, family) is just about perfect. Am just thinking of what to do after about 3-4 months of the program.
 
@anojinzouningen Dry fighting weight is c+p and double FS.

Kettlebell Maximorum is C+P, DFS and snatches.

I'm sure someone has run the giant with something else but there's no need when there's other Nuepert programs that add additional exercises.
 
@anojinzouningen Yes, a lot more.

I'm sure it works great on its own, but I wanted more.

Geoff recommends against doing more than a few sets of 1-3 on strength exercises outside of The Giant, but I more than tripled the workload, and it worked out for me. Your mileage may vary.
 
@anojinzouningen You're welcome :)

I was doing great just running The Giant + my barbell stuff, chinups and dips. Then I got into my head that it might also work well for front squats, so I added those. Then I joked that doing it for snatches would be fun, and then I couldn't get that idea out of my head.

It was super fun to train that way, especially once I started supersetting with other stuff.
 
@anojinzouningen Running 1.0 right now and I’m adding in a whole bunch of other stuff.

Yes, Geoff says you don’t need anything else, but 4 weeks of only C&P leaves a lot on the table.

My goals are functional strength + conditioning for soccer, here’s what my week looks like:

(M, 32 years old, Double 24s for reference)

M: Giant Day 1

T: Plyo + Single leg strength work + Core

W: Giant Day 2

TH: Plyo + Deadlifts + Goblets (low volume, heavy) + Core

F: Giant Day 3

Sat: Light cardio/Mobility

Sun: Gameday

Also I hit high intensity cardio/conditioning 2-4 times throughout the week.

Lots of these kettle bell programs are aimed at the minimal style of training. It’s great for when you need the absolute minimum in a chapter of your life, but far from being an ideal workload for maximal results. If time and energy permits, add in what’s missing for your goals.

Edit: I’ll also throw in upper body accessories (rear delts, arms) after Giant days if I feel like it.
 
@anojinzouningen Not exactly what you're asking. I'm doing giant 1.0 atm, but I don't have 2 bells I can press so I'm doing c+p with 16 kg and just cleaning 24kg with my other hand.

I also walk a fair bit, do a yoga class once a week and cycle to the shops sometimes.
 
@anojinzouningen I ran giant from 1.0 to 1.2, so 12 weeks. And to be honest, on the in-between days, I felt I needed to do some lower body work, so I often did some ABC to get the squats in. I think as long as you can recover from your main sessions, you're golden to add in whatever you need.

And no one wants boulder shoulders propped up by sparrows legs!
 
@anojinzouningen I’ve been running Giant for about 1.5 years. First year I only did cardio on the off days, but I’ve started squatting on off days now. I will say, cardio had a pretty positive impact on Giant and squats have a neutral at best (negative if you include it displacing cardio). Having a bigger engine was the easiest way to more sets during Giant.
 
@anojinzouningen Hi, I recently ran the Giant 1.0-1.2 doing double clean and press and double front squats. I’d completed Geoff’s Maximorum program a couple times, and I was wanting to really focus on pressing but maintain the gains I’d made with squats. It worked fine for me, and recovery wasn’t a problem- in fact, I often found myself wanting to add in a 4th day of snatches, but didn’t. The only downside I saw was possibly a decreased in the volume of presses I was doing since I was keeping my workouts at 30 minutes. Still got what I was looking for out of it though.
 
@anojinzouningen Fundamentally, Giant is prescribing something like 50-100 reps of your 10 rep max, 3 times a week, which is not dissimilar to any hypertrophy program except the focus on one movement.

Right now I’m running Giant and Kingsized Killer together in ABA / BAB fashion which has averaged out to about 100 reps per week of clean and press and ~200 snatches (at the end of 1.1, 20min sessions). If I can rally in the morning, I try to get 5x10 front squats or goblets and 5x10 rows or pull-ups on T/Th as well.

I’m toying around with a new hybrid program for after this “giant killer” round:

DFW-like rep progression - changing reps week to week.

Same ABA / BAB two week blocks, of clean and press / row and front squat / (assisted) pull-up. Overall I think the benefit of super setting the pulls will outweigh the loss of total reps, and alternating workouts keeps thing livelier than hitting the same exercise every M/W/F.

Adding a simple snatch progression - 20 minutes of straight sets on Tuesday, 30 minutes of ladders Thursday; increasing reps week to week.
 
@anojinzouningen To answer what I think is your original question. Yes. With Giant and DFW. I’ve used the rep schemes for other workouts

Also, I saw a really awesome post in this subreddit once about how to modify the programs to run with other RM bells, and I’ve loved the workouts like that.

Currently running DFW with 18RM bells… 1=3, 2=7,…5=18. The volume gets to be a lot. Especially with the squats

I did similar with the giant 1.0 1=1.8, then multiple the reps by 1.8, rounded down, and that’s my reps to hit.

I hope to do a snatch only giant with a rep scheme next and see what’s what. But the dips and air squat DFW-based workout my fiancé is going using the DFW rep scheme has been incredible for her getting into fitness and making it a part of her weekly routine.

I hope that helps?
 
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