Is ‘Greasing the Groove’ Any Good for Your Strength?

All right, let’s get to the question that is on everyone’s mind (or maybe it isn’t, I don’t know): Is Greasing the Groove any good?

Greasing the Groove, in case you didn’t know, is the act of practicing a strength movement throughout the day at VERY reasonable levels. For example, if you could do, say, 10 reps of a given exercise, you would stick between 3–5 reps, and you would do 1 set maybe every 30 minutes to 2 hours.

And you don’t just do it willy-nilly, either. You have to be laser focused on the technique and overall execution of the exercise to really get good at it.

Now, a lot of people may hear this and say:

“how am I supposed to get in a good workout if I’m only doing 1 set every hour or so?!”

The answer is: you’re not supposed to get in a “good workout”. You’re supposed to get in good practice, and that practice is what will help you build unreal levels of strength and power over time without breaking a sweat.

How does this happen?

To put it simply, the more often you practice a move, the more efficient your nervous system becomes at it, which supercharges the muscles responsible for producing this movement, thus allowing you to get very, very strong at it.

So does it actually *work*?

In a word: Hell yes (okay, that’s 2 words). It works like magic.

As a personal anecdote: a few years ago, I built up to doing 20 one-leg squats in a row on each leg simply by greasing the groove with with them throughout the day (almost) every day for 8 weeks. By the end I could also do a pistol with a 70 lb kettlebell on each leg.

I was, as the English like to say, “chuffed”.

So how can YOU start effectively implementing Grease the Groove in your own training?

Here are a few thoughts on how to do it:

1. Tension & relaxation practice.

Tension and relaxation are the building blocks of strength and endurance. Both of them complement every movement that you want to get better, and when you get better at these meta-skills (i.e. overarching skills that apply to everything strength related) they’ll start sprinkling a magical pixie dust on your workouts that will yield better results.

2. Flexibility movements.

You can grease the groove with flexibility as well, and it is one of my favorite strategies for “anytime, anywhere” preparedness to jump into physical action without pulling something. Plus, it will cut down on your warm up and cool down time, meaning you’ll get in, out, and strong faster.

3. Abs & grip.

Do either L-sits, L-sit leg raises, or some form of leg raise and pair it with Captains of Crush gripper closes. Be modest with the volume on both of these, but the strength you’ll gain from this will be very impressive, and it will enhance your other movements.

Why?

Because strong abs and strong grip have a great degree of carryover into a wide array of activities, from calisthenics to kettlebells and beyond. Improve your strength in these two areas and you can reasonably expect to see some pleasantly surprising jumps elsewhere in your strength.

I would recommend practicing some relaxation exercises throughout the day if you do these, since they can be extra taxing on the nervous system.

4. Complementary movements.

Movements such as rows and other movements not covered in your regular program are fantastic if you can adequately grease the groove with them.

If not, you may consider GTGing them in the mornings and evenings only, which (while not optimal) is still highly effective.

For example, let’s say you are doing military presses, pullups, and squats in your regular programming. GTG rows (or Face Pulls) as well as swings and you’ll have a complete program that won’t take all day to do.

There are other options, but these oughta get you started off on the right foot.

Give one of these a shot and re-test your strength in 4–6 weeks. You’ll be amazed at how much more strength you have to show for your efforts.

On that note, if you like training that:

• Gives you more strength than it takes from you
• Improves your stamina and resilience simultaneously
• Powers-up every nook, cranny, crevice, and corner of your Soft Machine

Then you just might like my 9-Minute Kettlebell and Bodyweight Challenge.

As the name indicates, it’s just 9 minutes long, and it’s designed to be done WITH your current workouts — NOT instead of them.

How?

By harnessing the power of your body’s gait pattern (i.e. walking pattern) to unleash the strength ALREADY hidden inside you — via movements like crawling, loaded carries, and more.

Even cooler:

Many find that it actually amplifies their strength in their favorite kettlebell and bodyweight moves, like presses, squats, pull-ups, and more.

And best of all, it’s free.

How free?

I’m talkin’ freer than the 4th of July, my friend.

Get thee thine own copy here => http://www.9MinuteChallenge.com

Have fun and happy training!

Aleks Salkin