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"Greasing the groove" and sub-failure work


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I have seen these terms used extensively on this forum and "Dragon Door", and they are considered anathema to the HIT crowd I run with... could someone explain the rationale, or direct me to the appropriate thread? This is a major change in philosophy for me and probably many other converted metal-heads. Thanks!

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training to failure places too much stress on your body... your body requires more rest because you are more "broken down"... this means that you can not train as often... it is more efficient to stop before failure and train with greater frequency...

from what i've read... hiit training should not be performed more than every other day... no more than ~3 times per week... the training priciple behind hiit is very different than when you train gymnastic lifts... hiit is stressing your anaerobic capacity and power out put... gymnastic style training emphasizes strength... they have different purposes... it depends what your goals are as to what could benifit you more...

an example... there was a study conducted with two groups... one group trained their max lift 5 times per week... the other group performed 50% of their max lift 5 times per week and did not lift to failure... equal number of sets but different number of reps between groups... at the end of the study.... the max group decreased their max by ~20%... the 50% of max group increased their lift ~20%... conclusion of the study... maxing places too much strain on the body and it is more effective not too max (atleast often)

hope this helps...

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As I understand it, with regards to this, failure takes its toll on the nervous system which means less frequent strength sessions so less gains.

Grease the Groove approaches strength as a "skill" where you practice your strength as opposed to "workout". It emphasises high tension, frequent practice whilst staying fresh. It is based around training the nervous system and only recommends two exercises; normally unrelated. In the case of the Naked Warrior book by Pavel, these are the one arm pushup and pistol.Here is an article on GTG:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/69/

By the way in Coach sommers planche/lever article he mentions not going to failure.

Hope this helps.

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GTG is a great way to work a specific skill, although you must compliment it with High intensity training, I've began to do that lately every other workout I try to work endurance rather than strength, hope it works out for me.

Grease the Groove approaches strength as a "skill" where you practice your strength as opposed to "workout". It emphasises high tension, frequent practice whilst staying fresh.

Perfect, that's the way I've always seen GTG.

Now my little story on GTG, this is back in the days of when I was only able to crank out 15 pullups for my max, within 2-3 weeks of training GTG, doing just about 70 to 100 pullups each day from around 11am to 7pm, once a week I would do lighter work, I increased my pullups to 25, at least 20 were dead hangs. I would have to say that is a great gain, now for non-gymnasts like most of us who just like to train to see the great gains I would train with a GTG routine, now if you do compete I would not follow a GTG routine.

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It still seems strange to me, but I am going to give it a good try... I have a feeling I will at least work it into my rotation, because I remember inadvertently applying GTG while learning handstands as a child! Correct me if I'm wrong, but to apply GTG for static skills (handstands, planche, etc.) hold 50% of max. TIME for as many increments sum to ~1minute, and dynamic skills (pushups, pistols, etc.) do sets of 50% max. reps. until you reach (?) Thanks again for your input, I'm looking forward to delving deeper into this theory with Coach Sommer's and Charles Poliquin's books over break... very interesting!

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GTG does not work for planche. I know a bunch of people who have tried. It's too much stress on small muscles (delts).

It does work with front lever and back lever though as those muscles can take more punishment and still perform. Most other SKILL work such as handstands and L-sits it will work on as well.

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Basically, the more frequency you train without exhausting yourself, the faster you gain strength and skill.

Read this:

http://physiotherapy.curtin.edu.au/reso ... neural.cfm

Best way to "train" the CNS is to train often and generally not to failure.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello all, first post!

I'm quite familiar with GTG and have used it to great success in the past, but with the previous poter's comment on it not working well in the Planche, I was hoping on some guidance with my plans.

Like many, I am an office worker, and trying to find exercises that I can easily GTG at my desk. The L-Sit is an obvious candidate and works well with my desk chair. However, I had been planning on doing a sort of "Handstand Press" thing (forgive me if I don't have the vernacular to be clear as of yet, not used to being a noob!) where I stand in front of my desk / kitchen counter / etc and press up as high as I can manage. Also, wanted to work the tendons and small muscles in my hands by doing the same sort of thing on splayed fingers.

Now, do these movements use muscles / CNS systems to small to cope with the volume of work GTG puts on them?

BTW, I do HIIT 4 out of 5 days. Like nearly anything, the amount you can do sucessfully is entirely dependant on your own Work Capacity. Professional athletes train with quite sport-specifc routines day after day and continue to improve, for example, as they have developed a huge amount of WC.

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