Greasing the Groove

"One of the most crucial strength skills is 'staying tight'. The emphasis on speed comprimises the tension." ~Pavel

In the spirit of the "Women-get-some-challenge", I want to talk about a little something called "greasing the groove". I learned about this while reading "The Naked Warrior" by Pavel. He talks about working on body weight exercises (pull ups, push ups, pistols, etc) continuously throughout the day to improve your strength. A good guideline is to do half of the reps that you could do if you were to give everything you have.


This philosophy is aimed at pure strength. Strength is a skill! The point is to not do more than 5-10 reps each time, but doing those reps in the hardest variation possible for you. For example: If you can only do 5 push ups on your toes, then only do 2 push ups about 4-5 times a day. If you are still doing push ups on your knees but want to do them on your toes then try getting 10 chest to floor knee push ups before attempting 1 push up on your toes. For you guys that can do push ups like they are nothing.... your challenge is to do the hardest variation possible. Let that be clapping push ups, ring push ups and my favorite.... one armed push ups! Yeah!

Sounds simple right? It is! But I can still hear some of you saying.... "but when will I find the time?" Answer: nothing gets your day started better than push ups right out of bed, your blood will be pumping, you are ready to get your coffee and your day has started! How about when you come in to work out? Try to come in a little early and do a couple. When you get home from your awesome workout, try a couple more. Get the idea? Just a couple extra everyday will give you better results and get you closer to your goals.

This works for pull ups too! Don't have a pull up bar at home? Run out and get one, or you could just come in early before a workout and try 1 or 2. If you still use the bands, try working on negatives. This is when you jump up to the bar and slowly lower yourself down over about a 5 second count. Before you know it.... you will be band free!

I am hoping to see all of my girls join in the challenge the sign up for this awesome event is January 18th. Lori, Danielle, Renee, Shannon, Janice, you all rock! Ryan, don't let this challenge leave you feeling left out I got your back. We are gonna hit your goals hard! Brenda where the hell are you?

For everyone else, come on and get with it... Grease the Groove!