Greasing the groove is an old technique of teaching the body how to do an exercise through repeated, daily practice. Here’s the technique…

Pick an exercise or two that you wish to excel at. This could be a bodyweight squat, pullups, or kettlebell swings, for example. Let’s use the bodyweight squat as our example. Plan out several time blocks throughout the day, during each of which, you will perform a set of bodyweight squats.

Another way to do this is to set a timer or stopwatch to ring every 60 minutes, and each time perform one set of squats. Or, you could designate a certain area as your training zone - so every time you enter your living room, or the company lounge, you bust out a set of squats.

There are many ways to grease the groove, but what’s important is that you practice the technique of the exercise daily - and never go to exertion. You’ll want to keep your effort under 60% of MAX on all sets - striving for perfect repetitions. Perfect technique is paramount to success.

Over the course of one day, you could find yourself doing hundreds of near-perfect repetitions.

I’ve used this for short-term goals, and I recommend never doing this for more than a few weeks at a time. A couple of exercises that are popularly used during Greasing the Groove programs are pullups, single-leg squats, and kettlebell swings.

Greasin’ the groove is a great way to shock your body into adaptation, and pick up on a new skill quickly and effectively.

To your health and success,

John Sifferman, NSCA-CPT