Greasing the Groove - a Powerful Training Technique?

Some of you may be familiar with Power to the People, the book by Pavel Tsatsouline, a former Soviet Union sports trainer and researcher, and Master of Sports. You may be familiar with the "Grease the Groove" technique, more commonly known as GTG or, less commonly, just "groove". Greasing the groove is essentially just training the motor neurons to better react to a stimulus-- in this case, bearing heavier and heavier weight. The motor neurons are slowly eased into their "groove" of bearing more and more weight.

Many times, in an emergency and adrenaline is flowing rampantly, people are able to lift much, much more than they usually can--there have even been stories of elderly women or pregnant women lifting up cars to save their children or, more embarrassingly, their husbands. This phenomenon, though it results from adrenaline, is caused really by the liberation of the motor neurons. Where, normally, the motor neurons "lock up" when faced with too much weight and refuse to try to contract to lift it, when the adrenaline is flowing, the motor neurons abandon this desire to preserve muscle integrity and no longer worry about tearing--the main concern becomes preservation of life.

An effect similar to this can be accomplished through greasing the groove, under controlled circumstances. The motor neurons slowly get used to being challenged frequently, and adapt to be able to lift more weight.

In order to take advantage of motor neuron stimulation, or, as it is also known, neuromuscular facilitation, one must lift heavy, never go near failure, lift very few reps, and lift very often.

For example, whereas the convention athlete might lift twice a week, a few sets, and a few minutes in between, and then not lift till the next session, the athlete taking advantage of neuromuscular facilitation (or GTG, motor neuron stimulation, or whatever else it can be called.) will be lifting as often as possible, while staying as fresh as possible.

If you want to put weight on your benchpress, then benchpress. Neuromuscular facilitation method makes you view weightlifting not as an act to exhaust the muscle, but as practice, per se. Practice makes perfect, perfect practice makes perfect faster, and perfect practice as often as possible is the heart of greasing the groove.

Lift several times a day; say, once when you wake up, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening, once before you go to bed, or any other way you feel would work for you to arrange it.

Each session, lift one set of three to five reps, using a heavy weight that you are comfortable with. Do not hit failure, and always try to have at least a couple of reps in the reserve. Lift, but do not exert yourself excessively.

I have heard of people putting on 50 pounds or more on their benchpress in a matter of a couple of months using this technique.

This is definitely an awesome technique that can be beneficial to anyone looking to add lots of strength without much or any mass at all. Because the technique does not stimulate hypertrophy, it is ideal for powerlifters or those who need to be extremely strong but can't afford to be bulky.