Success Breeds Success: Greasing The Groove

Almost a month ago I added “grease the groove” (GTG) training into my everyday activities. According to legend, GTG training came from Russia to the USA via Pavel Tsatsouline. Later, with Dan John, the concept was expanded into “Easy Strength” – there is a book of the same name published in 2011 and later updated by Dan John in 2022 into an entire training program. But you don’t need all that stuff to benefit from GTG training; all you need to understand is go easy, go frequent, go perfect.

I chose four key full body exercises I wanted to progress. Four would be the absolute maximum unless you dominate at recovery. It is also ideal to choose body weight exercises as these can be done anytime with very little equipment. A pull-up bar, a band or two, or some straps is pretty much all that is required. We have a home made pull-up bar, and I got three bands from Aldi for under $10 and a TRX clone for about the same price. It’s easy to make TRX clones if you don’t have a spare $10 and all sorts of things can substitute for a pull-up bar including a tree branch. If you can afford coffee and a muffin at a café, you can afford the equipment required to get strong.

My exercises are pistol squats, front lever, pull-ups, and push-ups. Starting with just two single repetitions separated by a good amount of time I do the exercises with as perfect form as I can. If I’m really tired from a big day out, I skip them. The idea is to be fresh each time you practice. I need assistance for pistol squats (there’s various ways to do this including bands on a squat rack, a TRX clone, or even a doorway or chair), and I am currently working a regression of the front lever. But, in just one month, the number of pull-ups and push-ups I can do has doubled (from an admittedly low base). That’s pretty significant after only three weeks of training.

If you are out there thinking, one day when everything is perfectly aligned, I’ll start strength training, GTG is a simple, easy, non-stressful, affordable way to strength train in your own space and requires virtually zero equipment. Success breeds success so put away your excuses and get started today.