Greasing the Groove
A Primer on Improving Strength through Consistent Exposure
Some time ago, on our Discord server, I submitted the following post:
"What is it you do to train that is comparable to a pianist practicing scales?” If you don’t know the answer to that one, maybe you are doing something wrong or not doing enough. Or maybe you are (optimally?) not very ambitious?"
The quote came from Tyler Cowen, the Chair of Economics at George Mason University. I don’t know Tyler personally, nor do I have any idea what his physical training routine looks like. However, I like to use his way of thinking about mastery to highlight an oft-overlooked concept in strength and conditioning called “Greasing the Groove.”
Background
The simplest definition of the phrase “Greasing the Groove” (as pertains to physical training) is this:
“performing frequent, low-repetition sets of an exercise throughout the day without ever reaching failure”
And while it seems as though some sources credit the kettlebell master, Pavel Tsatsouline, with the invention of the concept, the approach seems generic enough for me to have assumed over the years that it just kind of…came into being at some point.
The overarching idea is a simple one: strength, like anything else, is a skill. As such, it requires consistent exposure in order to improve. Largely speaking, there are two ways of doing this:
Progressive Overload via an increasing stimulus over time
Improvements in neuromuscular efficiency via consistent exposure
Some may argue that these two approaches are intrinsically linked…and I would agree with them…but for the purposes of this article, I want to focus on the second approach by laying out a few strategies that you can use to improve your own performance.
Overview
Regardless of how you choose to inject consistent, submaximal exposures into your day, the overarching process looks like this:
Choose the exercise you want to improve (we’ll use pull-ups and push-ups)
Have some idea of the maximum number of reps you can hit in a single set
Calculate a submaximal goal you can consistently reach without experiencing too much fatigue (ex: 40%)
Once we have an idea of the numbers we’re chasing, we can go about setting up a “GtG” routine that can easily be implemented into our daily rhythm. To be fair, there are many ways to go about doing this; however, for the purposes of this article, I’ll lay out two approaches that have worked well for me in the past.
Option 1: Structured Approach
In my mid-20’s I decided that consistently hitting 100 push-ups a day would be a fun little side project. The number itself wasn’t anything special; rather, it was the idea that accumulating multiple days of 100 reps would lead to a significant increase in upper body strength endurance compared to not doing any push-ups at all (obviously). The setup was pretty straightforward:
Each morning, draw out a 10x10 grid on a pocket notebook or piece of paper
Throughout the day, when feasible, drop down and complete a set of 10 reps
Cross off boxes as sets of 10 are accumulated throughout the day
Now, to be clear, I didn’t always get to my 100 number each day. What I was able to do, however, was compare each day to the day before and slowly improve my consistency over time to the point where ten sets of ten reps started to fit pretty nicely into my routine.
I call this a structured approach due to the fact that note-taking and record-keeping were involved. There was a deliberate number of reps that I was trying to achieve, and a very methodical way to go about achieving them. For those who prefer a little less structure, I would direct your attention towards…
Option 2: Non-Structured Approach
While living overseas in Scotland for my master’s degree, I wanted to improve my ability to do pull-ups. For one reason or another, I’ve always been much better at pulling than I have been at pushing, but pull-ups were never something that I’d tried to intentionally improve upon. I also recall wanting to try and complete 50 total reps in no more than 2-3 sets for some weird reason, so there’s that too, I guess?
Regardless, the first thing I did was purchase one of these baddies off UK Amazon. I feel strongly that the early 2010s were the peak doorway-pull-up-bar era, and I was no exception. I installed the pull-up bar on my bedroom doorframe, and the rule I set for myself was that each time I walked under the bar, I had to complete 10 reps of either pull-ups or chin-ups. Bear in mind that this meant any time I went to my room, I was banging out 20 reps (10 going in, 10 going out). Two things happened very quickly. First, I got really good at pull-ups and chin-ups. Second, I started to come up with reasons to avoid needing to go into my room to grab stuff.
I couldn’t tell you how many reps I completed in an average day, nor did I have any set goals or rep targets in general…which is why I consider this to be a “non-structured” approach to Greasing the Groove. A similar approach would be the classic “do X many push-ups each time there’s a commercial on TV.” Again, no specific cumulative rep targets, just an agreement with yourself to complete a certain number of submaximal sets throughout the day.
Closing Thoughts
I wouldn’t necessarily advocate using this approach as a PRIMARY driver of strength for whatever movement you have in mind. Rather, Greasing the Groove almost becomes an “icing on the cake” sort of tool to shore up any weaknesses or create a novel way of injecting more intentional practice into your routine.
Remember, regardless of which approach you take, the overarching idea is that the sets are executed throughout the day SUBMAXIMALLY. If you find yourself constantly hitting failure or even getting close to failure, you’re doing too much. Scale it back, start with what you’re capable of, stay consistent, and reap the rewards over time.