I have wanted to write a little post on “Greasing the Groove” for a while now, and how it can help you become a better athlete. Recently a few of you have asked us how to improve certain exercises and we have mentioned the “Grease the Groove” method. Whilst digging around on the net, I found a good article on it, that I wanted to share with you guys;
“Before I get into the background and specifics, I’ll get right to the bottom line. Grease the groove is an amazing technique that can help you improve exercises like pushups, pull ups, or even bench press and squats. And the secret ingredient is…
PRACTICE
Let me say that again three times in case you missed it…practice, practice, practice. Big secret, right? Well, in reality, practice does make perfect
Grease the Groove
Pavel Tsatsouline is a former trainer for the Soviet Special Forces. Pavel came up with a simple equation for getting better at particular exercises:
Specificity + Frequent Practice = Success
What does this mean? It means you have to perform a specific exercise over and over again to get better at it. As Pavel says, “if you want to get good at pull ups, why not try to do…a lot of pull ups?” The key is not training to failure. I think this is best explained with an example. If you can perform a maximum of 10 pull ups, then you’ll want to train by performing 5-8 reps, 3-4 times per day, 4-6 days per week. Heck, you could even hang a pull up bar in your doorway and just do 5 pull ups every time you walk through that door. Now that’s practice!
Why does this work? When you perform strength training, your muscles gradually get more efficient at the movement. During this neurological process of getting more efficient, it becomes easier for your muscles to repeat that movement. Hence, by doing more pull ups or more pushups, you get better at doing them. This technique does not only work with bodyweight exercises either. You can easily increase your bench press or squats by incorporating the same methodology.
Workout Routine
You can grease the groove with 1-2 exercises at a time. In the past, I’ve done it with pull ups and pushups at the same time, although I’d generally advise sticking to one exercise for simplicity. Essentially, you’ll want to perform 50-80% of your maximum number of reps so that your muscles avoid failure. You should do this 3-4 times per day: morning, noon, night, before bed, any time really. The more often you do it, the better you’ll get at pushups or pull ups. The next day, you’ll repeat the process. Always stop at least 1 rep shy of failure. You don’t want to teach your muscles to fail during this process.
Do as much quality work as possible while being as fresh as possible – Pavel
Start Practicing
For whatever reason, if you’re looking to learn how to increase pushups or increase pullups or even increase bench press or squats, just remember the old adage: practice makes perfect. By using the grease the groove technique, you’ll find your numbers continue to improve as you get more efficient at your target exercise.”
After reading this is reminded me of the video where they follow Rich Froning (CrossFit Champ 2011 and 2012)for a day. Several times a day he will do the “On the minute” protocol, which you would have done with us in some WOD’s. The “On the minute” stuff is not too disimilar in the sense its high reps, sub maximal weights, not going to failure and greasing perfect technique.
http://youtu.be/wX-U8GixmDA
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“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights” – Muhammad Ali
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