Grease The Groove to overcome Plateaus

Hi,

Is it a good idea to attack some harder exercises with a grease the groove apporach or will it be more counterproductive?

I stuck at Arch Body Holds and I thought it might be helpful to just do some holds every now and then. Like 4-5 time a day, but not so much that I feel exhausted.

Thanks for your answers!=)

I've not experimented with GTG. Feel free to try it out; I don't think it'll hurt. 

I think you'll be alright gtg'ing arch body holds, but personally I wouldn't use this approach for really hard or heavy exercises. You should be able to at least do five reps or so of the exercise, so for ABH, it's not a problem. For something like HeSPU or OAC, it's not a good idea, due to the increased injury risk.

/2c

Thanks for your answers !

I´m just at the start of F1 so when I say harder exercises I mean the ABH and others I have some problems with.

I can just dream about being able to do OAC ! (Maybe some day *.*)

I have some problems with the endurance work and GTG should fix the problems I think due to better muscle coordination and so on.

I will give it a try !

ABH and ABR are a pain and will take time to get used to. But once you get through them they will give back to you for later PE's in the courses.

Hopefully you've read all the threads about these. You are not alone having problems with these.

You may have read this before but I'll repeat.

What helped me with these was not only to think about pulling your head and but towards each other but also push/tense your abs into the floor, while doing this dont forget to breath! I had a tendency to hold my breath while I was doing it but after a while I got the hang of breathing calmly while tensing/pushing my Abs into the floor.

The above will be even more important when you get to the ABR. At least it helped me.

Dont give up!

Mats Trane said:

ABH and ABR are a pain and will take time to get used to. But once you get through them they will give back to you for later PE's in the courses.

Hopefully you've read all the threads about these. You are not alone having problems with these.

You may have read this before but I'll repeat.

What helped me with these was not only to think about pulling your head and but towards each other but also push/tense your abs into the floor, while doing this dont forget to breath! I had a tendency to hold my breath while I was doing it but after a while I got the hang of breathing calmly while tensing/pushing my Abs into the floor.

The above will be even more important when you get to the ABR. At least it helped me.

Dont give up!

quoted for truth!

I´m stuck at ABH since I started F1 in March, but I wasted like 2 months doing them with only half ROM  and then I needed nearly 2 months to reach full ROM. I´m improving but really slow and after 5 months sometimes it´s get kinda frustrating.

I read all of the threads, they really helped me to fix my ROM.

It´s really hard to push my ABS into the ground while breathing (my breathing habits are not the best due to asthma), but I try to breath slowly and calm and it´s getting better, but sometimes I lose the tension in my Abs while breathing deep.

Should I try to breath deep or shallow?

Thanls for the tipps!

Just tried to 4x48s. Was good till the last set where the last 15s my body wouldn't respond to commands to arch.

Breathing is key in this one and so is the pushing the abs. What still eludes me is to do it in that effortless manner where you just get in the position without over tension which I think is key for these holds.

If I where to GTG I'd try a single long set, like one 2 minute set for each time you felt the need to grease some groove. Maybe it'll make a regular foundation set seem short. 

Kind regards.

Another approach, if you find that you're having trouble with the jumps between weeks, is to expand the progressions so the jumps are half as large. E.g. if you can do week 7 but weeks 9-12 are too rough, you could try to do an in-between mini cycle at 4x42s, 4x48s, 5x48s and 4x24s. 

dritar said:

Just tried to 4x48s. Was good till the last set where the last 15s my body wouldn't respond to commands to arch.

Breathing is key in this one and so is the pushing the abs. What still eludes me is to do it in that effortless manner where you just get in the position without over tension which I think is key for these holds.

If I where to GTG I'd try a single long set, like one 2 minute set for each time you felt the need to grease some groove. Maybe it'll make a regular foundation set seem short.

Kind regards.

I don't know if doing a long 2 minute set would be a good idea if trying to use GTG (unless you could hold the position for 3-4 minutes straight, in which case you most likely wouldn't need to deviate from the F1 program).

The purpose of using the GTG method is to allow someone to build up a high frequency/volume of practice of a given exercise while minimizing fatigue and maximizing technique. Most of the time the prescription is to use 5 reps with a 10RM or roughly 50% of your max hold time if it's a static exercise.

So, if you could hold an ABH for a max of say 48 seconds (before technical failure, not absolute failure), then you would do multiple 24 second holds throughout your day (say like once an hour for 5-6 hours) 5-6 days a week.

I tought about doing the same holds as I would do in the week of F1, because the first two sets are pretty easy, but after that it´s get really hard.

Maybe it´sa good idea to just do 24 sec holds when you are at week 7 and need to do 36sec holds for Foundation work.

And I would do it like 5-6 times a day.

Thanks for all your tips ! =)

I will give it a try as soon as possible!

Keegan Y said:

I don't know if doing a long 2 minute set would be a good idea if trying to use GTG (unless you could hold the position for 3-4 minutes straight, in which case you most likely wouldn't need to deviate from the F1 program).

The purpose of using the GTG method is to allow someone to build up a high frequency/volume of practice of a given exercise while minimizing fatigue and maximizing technique. Most of the time the prescription is to use 5 reps with a 10RM or roughly 50% of your max hold time if it's a static exercise.

So, if you could hold an ABH for a max of say 48 seconds (before technical failure, not absolute failure), then you would do multiple 24 second holds throughout your day (say like once an hour for 5-6 hours) 5-6 days a week.

Not sure if my experience is typical, but my problem is usually with holding multiple sets with just the iM as rest. Usually the first, two sets I'm able to hold with stellar form and little fatigue, the problem starts around the third set. I find easier to hold one two minute ABH set rather than say 5x36s. So in that sense it'd more indicated to GTG for me as it's not as fatiguing as more work but in multiple sets.

For example if your real max in ABH in a single set is 48 seconds I don't think you can actually complete 4x24s with just the iM as rest. It's also partly psychological I suppose as it's easier to concentrate and work one single hard set rather than doing it 5 times (that's also why 5 times is mastery, once is a party trick ). 

I  never tested my real max for the ABH in a single set. Maybe I should give it a try and see.

But I experience the same thing the first sets are really easy but the low rest makes the last sets really hard.

I'm pretty sure that your experience mirrors most peoples' with regards to the holds. The lack of rest time/recovery time means that your body either has to become extremely efficient at shuttling away metabolic waste products and replenishing energy stores, or you need develop the strength and endurance in your muscles so that holding the position is quite easy for you (in reality both things are occurring as you move through the progressions).

Many people report that:

At first the first hold is relatively easy, the second is doable, third is challenging is not unattainable, fourth they fail, and fifth they fail

Then eventually they can always get the first 3, the 4th is challenging and hit or miss, and the fifth is still out of reach

Then the first 4 are good (first 3 often feel easy, especially the first), and they might just get the 5th

Finally they can nail all 5.

The truth is though that there really are no short cuts in this process. You might progress faster that what I've described above, or it might be slower depending on age, rest and nutrition, and individual strengths, weaknesses, and recovery abilities. As Coach mentioned in BTGB, your (individual) body's adaptation processes are set, and the sooner you surrender to this fact and just enjoy the process the better.

Also always keep in mind Coach's statement, (paraphrased since I can't for the life of me find the original) "many people fail to realize that slow progress is still progress."

To the original questioned, Ive had good success with (unstructured) g2g in nailing in activation for planche and lever work, on the occasion that I struggle with perfect form for the progression. I don't know if its necessary but it has worked for my co ordination

dritar said:

(...) I find easier to hold one two minute ABH set rather than say 5x36s. (...)

if your real max in ABH in a single set is 48 seconds I don't think you can actually complete 4x24s (...)

Hummm.......

I have no problem with 5x42s now, but I can't hold one set for over a minute.

Is g2g and GTG the same same thing? ^^

I willing to put a lot of work into training and I want to spend my time with things that will support F1.

I don´t really look for a short cut, but instead I search a good way to overcome the hardest exercises.

Can you post a Little video of Your longest abh?

Keegan Y said:

I'm pretty sure that your experience mirrors most peoples' with regards to the holds. The lack of rest time/recovery time means that your body either has to become extremely efficient at shuttling away metabolic waste products and replenishing energy stores, or you need develop the strength and endurance in your muscles so that holding the position is quite easy for you (in reality both things are occurring as you move through the progressions).

Many people report that:

At first the first hold is relatively easy, the second is doable, third is challenging is not unattainable, fourth they fail, and fifth they fail

 

Personally I try to keep the holds to a length where the last set is a real battle to hold (with good form), but I'm just barely able to do it for the whole time. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_QoocqvTJM

I can actually hold it for a bit longer, but my muscles are sore from training on monday.

I visisted a gym and did some benchpress and deadlifting for the first time in 10 months and don´t want to over do it ^^

Maybe I can post a video of my max tommorow or so if you want.

FredInChina said:

Hummm.......

I have no problem with 5x42s now, but I can't hold one set for over a minute.

See, I can do a max set for over a minute, but I could barely hold 5x36 on my best day and that was with terrible form on the last few sets.

PhilTaylor said:

I can actually hold it for a bit longer, but my muscles are sore from training on monday.

I visisted a gym and did some benchpress and deadlifting for the first time in 10 months and don´t want to over do it ^^

Maybe I can post a video of my max tommorow or so if you want.

Good duration, but your legs are bent. You actually need to lock your knees straight and keep then locked straight for ABH/ABR.

Phil,

I'm sorry to tell you that you have to lock your legs (they are bent) :s

Here is another video, where I try to straighten my legs as much as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksuXpRmtzF8

Is the form now okay?

Hi it's me again

can someone tell me if my form is okay now?

thanks ! =)