What is "Greasing the Groove"?
Greasing the Groove is a technique to build strength that focuses on improving muscular performance over muscular size.
This technique consists of doing very high volume (2+ times per day), low intensity work of a targeted muscular group. Over time, your body will become more effective at using the muscles that you are training.
How do I Grease the Groove?
To begin, select a movement pattern that you want to improve on, many people go with body-weight workouts such as a push-up or pull-up. Once selected, complete this targeted workout as many times as possible every day, stopping before you reach muscular fatigue. For example, let's say you can do 10 push-ups and want to increase this number. Start with doing 3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, and then 3 in the evening every day. Increase this number slightly each week.
Why Shouldn't I Train to Muscular Fatigue?
You will be doing a lot of volume by greasing the groove, so you will not be giving your body time to repair the muscle groups associated with these movements. Bringing the same muscle group to failure 3+ times a day will quickly result in overtraing, which can cause long term health issues. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, make sure you don't train too hard!
What Exercises Should I do to Improve my Athletic Performance?
Greasing the Groove will only improve performance associated with the movement you are doing. Thus, you should pick a movement patter that will be used in your sport. If you are unsure, here are a few examples for different skills. I attached a YouTube video showing how they are all accomplished. Consider stretching/warming-up before you do these movements so that you do not hurt yourself.
Jumping Height:
Wall Jumps - Great for basketball or volleyball players. Pick a tall wall and jump as high as you can for each movement. Ensure you do these on both sides.
Box Jumps - Good overall movement for explosiveness. Requires a sturdy box to accomplish.
Squat Jumps - Good movement for training your jump. Focus on jumping as high as you can.
Sprinting Explosiveness:
Lunge Jumps - Trains your acceleration and explosiveness during a sprint. Be as explosive as possible while training these.
Lunge with Knee Lift - Good for training your first step. Focus on driving your knee up quickly while doing these.
Consistency is the key here.
Don't overwhelm yourself by doing too many movements or too much volume. A good starting place to pick one movement listed above and do 3 sets of 5-10 reps every day. Increase your reps by 1 each week until you begin to experience muscular fatigue, then deload by 1 for a week.
Do you have any workouts that you like to grease the groove with? Contact us to tell us about them!
This post was made by Javelin Sports Inc. Download Javelin on Android or iOS to search for and join sport leagues and pick-up games in your area.
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