Greasing the Groove

Are you looking to improve a general strength training exercise? Maybe pull-ups or push-ups? Maybe something a bit more technical?

I’ve got the perfect solution for you.

Just a quick personal example.

This sweet little method helped me go from 6-8 pull-ups to 21 clean reps in 3 months. It helped my oldest son achieve a personal pull-up record of 23. And I’ve been using this method successfully for over 20 years with students and athletes to get them stronger, add some lean muscle mass and build confidence in their physical skills.

This method goes by three different names:

  • Post-synaptic facilitation or just synaptic facilitation. (Geek)

  • Grease the Groove or GTG for short. (Pavelite.)

  • Practice (most folks.)

In order for this method to work best you need these three elements to be present:

Turkish Get-Up (1).png

Basically, you pick a skill/exercise that you’d like to improve and you perform low rep sets of that exercise very frequently though-out your day.

A few tips that will help you progress smoothly:

  • Set a target number. I needed 20 pull-ups in the Marines to score a 100% on my PFT (Physical Fitness Test.)

  • Don’t train to fatigue. If your form breaks down at repetition 5, stop around your third rep.

  • Perform this practice in a convenient location. In the example of my oldest son, we placed pull-ups bars on the kitchen door frame. Every time he went into the kitchen, which seemed like a 876 times per day, he had to perform a set of pull-ups. In my example, the pull-up bars were outside the bathroom. No pull-ups? No bathroom.

  • General strength training exercises work best. Think push-up, pull-up or pistol squat, but honestly, you can use this method to improve any skill, mental or physical, fine or gross motor. I’ve even used this technique to help with speaking another language.

    Why do I love this method and you will too?

  • Using GTG helps you improve quickly without leaving you exhausted. For example, although I practice GTG all day I’m still fresh to train hard at my Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) later in the day.

  • It’s very simple to implement. There’s way too much complexity in the field of physical conditioning and preparation. It doesn’t need to be complex and you’ll experience this directly when your practice GTG.

  • It helps keep us mentally and physically sharp. You will think better and feel better by sprinkling some movement throughout your day.

Thanks for reading and watching. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments. Going back to old school.