GTG for Krav Maga

In an old post on practice and repetition, I mentioned a Pavel Tsatsouline method called Grease the Groove and gave some suggestions of what types of skills are well-suited to this type of training. I’d like to expand the scope of that original post a bit and discuss more of the how and why of GTG and where it can intersect with becoming a better Krav Maga practitioner.

The GTG method is explained in Pavel’s book The Naked Warrior, which focuses on developing maximal strength with bodyweight exercises through manipulations of tension and leverages. Recall from the practice post that the central concept of GTG is:

Specificity + frequent practice = success

Here’s the simplest possible example of how to use GTG: Set up a pull-up bar in your home or office (or select a proper structural support beam out back in the warehouse…). Every time you walk past it, do a sub-maximal set of pull-ups. Over the course of the day, you will easily rack up A LOT of pull-ups. Two of the biggest advantages of this approach are that you improve quickly due to the training volume and frequency, and you don’t need a dedicated workout time and place.

This seems straightforward enough, but there are right and wrong ways of employing GTG to maximize the success of your efforts.

Here’s where I attempt to summarize GTG in one sentence (stand back!):

Grease the Groove is the focused “practice” of no more than two exercises and their variations with perfect form at moderate intensity, with high volume and high frequency, while minimizing fatigue.

Because Pavel’s focus is maximal strength—the kettlebell-juggling, Soviet-man-of-iron kind of strength—he recommends no more than 5 moderately hard reps per set. While this strength quality is important, I want to cast the net a bit wider and focus more on the practice element of GTG to apply it to the exercises and skills we most often incorporate in our training. For Krav Maga, I recommend the basics: push-ups, squats, pull-ups, and just about all combatives.

Before I describe a more detailed Grease the Groove approach for those basics, let’s delve a bit deeper into the nuts and bolts.

The Five Fs of GTG:

1. Focused – “The fewer skills you practice, the better you could get.”
   Despite boasts of multitasking mastery, no one is actually good at it. Just as you can’t write a blog post, eat lunch, organize your desk, and listen to voicemail at the same time with a modicum of productiveness ;-), you can’t simultaneously be an elite powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, marathon runner, AND a Krav Maga badass. Training is life; life is training. This is certainly a 30,000-foot view of focus, but it applies nonetheless. What Pavel is specifically prescribing is that you use GTG-style training for no more than two exercises, and those exercises should not conflict. For example, push-ups and squats are a good pairing, but push-ups and pull-ups probably won’t see the best return. This holds true as well for trying to simultaneously grease the groove with push-ups, squats, deadlifts, power cleans, kettlebell swings… all in the same week.
2. Flawless – “Practice must be perfect.”
   This, in my opinion, is the most important F of the five. Improving technique is the most effective way to become faster, stronger, more powerful, etc. When someone begins a new skill, he or she often sees a rapid rate of improvement simply because any bit of training is provoking an adaptive response from the mind and body. After a certain period of development, however, gains come in smaller increments and the trainee eventually plateaus. This is also known as the novice effect. From here, more advanced methods of training must be used to stimulate further development.

   The back squat is typically a very clear example of this. When someone first begins weight training, he or she may be able to squat very little. All other training and lifestyle factors aside, the lifter will make large gains fairly quickly as he or she learns how to squat, not because he or she is piling on a slabs of muscle.

   With any exercise or skill, there is a kinetic chain through which the energy of your effort flows from the beginning of the movement (be it a back squat or a round kick) to the goal (completing the lift or landing the strike). If there are “leaks” anywhere in this chain, that is effort not being applied toward the goal. When you correct even minor technical errors, you seal up the chain and instantly get “stronger” because more of your effort is being applied where you want it. So, in a matter of minutes, a novice powerlifter can be coached to increase his or her back squat by a truckload, and a new Krav Maga student can fold a kicking shield.

   Think back to the power of your combatives when you first started training. If you were like 99% of new students, it was probably pretty underwhelming, and you probably asked an instructor “How do I punch harder?!” Now think about your power after weeks/months/years of training. Is it really that you’re that much stronger than you were before? Most likely not. Your increase in striking power came from learning how to strike correctly and efficiently so that almost 100% of your effort is delivered through the strike.

   “Will I punch harder if I get bigger/stronger?”
   Probably.
   “Will I punch harder if I learn to punch better?”
   Definitely.

   Now, considering the volume and frequency of GTG, why should any rep be done with poor form? Why develop bad habits? It can be much harder to correct an ingrained skill than to learn it correctly for the first time.

3. Frequent – “The more often you practice, the better you get.”
   Hard to argue with that…
4. Fresh – “…you should always feel stronger after your training than before you started…”
   GTG is built on doing a great volume of sets at sub-maximal effort. If you’re truly doing sub-maximal sets, you should be able to train every day. If you’re sore or unable to train every day, you need to do fewer reps per set or fewer total sets.

   Even if you’ve plotted out your volume perfectly, there will certainly be days when you just feel sapped, and you should not train. Being physically tired will inevitably lead to breakdowns in form which will negate the positive benefits of practice. Being mentally tired can also have a negative effect. If your mind is not entirely focused on the practice at hand, you may not be making the necessary neuro-muscular connections to improve. Think of it as studying for a test while tired or distracted. How does that usually work out?

5. Fluctuating – “Train ‘same but different’.”
   This is training variations of your chosen skill and also changing your daily or weekly volume. Fluctuation is important for the following reasons:
   • Adaptation. Anything you practice is a stress on your body in one form or another, and your body will adapt. This is a good thing; it’s how all training—be it mental or physical—works. You don’t want to plateau, however, so you need to change the stimulus in order to drive your body to a new tier of adaptation while still reinforcing the same core movement pattern of the skill/exercise.
     1. Strength exercise example: for push-ups, change your hand position (narrow, wide, offset, etc.) and/or change your body angle (hands higher than feet, feet higher than hands). You could also practice a different but related exercise like dips, which is also an upper-body pushing movement that will strengthen your chest and triceps. Just make sure your chosen variation compliments and doesn’t compete with your core exercise.
     2. Krav Maga skill example: for side kicks, once you’ve mastered static side kick holds while balancing with one hand on a wall, hold a side kick without the assistance of the wall. You could also practice a different but related skill like Front Kick (Vertical Target) or Back Kick, both of which will help your balance, range of motion, and hip mobility.
   • Overtraining and overuse. GTG is a high volume, high frequency methodology. Depending on your chosen exercise or skill, this much training could eventually begin to take a toll on joints and the nervous system if you don’t smartly periodize. Most exercises and skills should not be trained GTG style for more than a few weeks without taking a week or two off or fluctuating every few weeks. See also F #4.
   • Burnout and boredom. You’re going to get tired of training the same skill at such a high volume and frequency.

Now that you’re an expert on GTG, let’s return to those basic calisthenics and Krav Maga techniques. We’ll look at two examples: push-ups and side kicks.

Again, we’re broadening the definition of Grease the Groove a bit. As soon as you can do more than 10 or so push-ups with perfect form, the push-up is no longer an exercise for maximal strength unless it is weighted, and then there are better alternatives for horizontal pushing strength like the bench press or one-arm push-ups. However, standard close-grip push-ups are a regular part of our calisthenics, they strengthen the same range of motion as straight punches, and they are an exercise that most people want to improve.

Here’s an example of what GTG could look like for push-ups:

• Your max push-ups with perfect form: 20
• Intensity: Roughly half the total reps of which you are capable. These are supposed to be sub-maximal sets, so do not struggle with any reps.
• Volume:
  • Reps per GTG set: 10
  • Sets: A LOT. Any chance you get throughout the day.
• Frequency: If you’re doing sub-maximal sets, you should be able to do this every day. If you’re sore or unable to train every day, you need to do fewer reps per set or fewer total sets.
• Variations: Any other push-up or “push” variation (e.g., dips). Also, if you can’t do full-body push-ups with perfect form, you could do them from your knees or with an upper-body incline.
• Programming: You could simply do sets of push-ups all day, everyday, or come up with a scheme like, “I’ll do a set of push-ups during every commercial break.” If you want to get more elaborate, you could do something like this: You do 100 total narrow-grip push-ups Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, and you do 50 wide-grip push-ups on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. The next week you do 50 total narrow-grip push-ups every day. “Same but different”.
• Periodization: Do this for 2-4 weeks then take a week or two off, or rotate to a different exercise.

Here’s what GTG might look like for a Krav Maga combative:

• Your combative to improve: Side Kick
• Intensity: Your intensity will be very low unless you have something you can kick full force all day long. With kicks, you will typically perform static holds and slow kicks exaggerating the full range of motion. The goal here is to increase the power of your kick by perfect the technique.
• Volume: Because you don’t have a max effort number from which to calculate a rep scheme, just do A LOT.
• Frequency: You should be able to do this every day. Some kicks can be rough on tight hips and hamstrings. If either of these are really bothering you, adjust accordingly.
• Variations: Any other kick on the horizontal plane to a vertical target.
• Programming: A starting point may be static holds with balance support. Every time you walk through a certain doorway, place one hand on it and perform a few long static holds with each leg. If kick height is an issue, gradually increase the height of the kick and how long you hold it at that height. Once you’re good at this, try not to hold the doorway. Got that? Now perform side kicks completely unassisted. Do them during commercials, do them every time you go to the bathroom, set your watch timer and do a few at the top of every hour.
• Periodization: Something like this isn’t going to create overtraining or overuse problems unless you’re always kicking full force. Do this until you can’t stand doing it or until your side kicks are so stunningly awesome that you don’t need to practice anymore, then move on to a new skill.

These are just examples. These practice-based “workouts” can be applied to almost any strength exercise or combative. Just be sure to follow the guidelines and always use PERFECT FORM!

Stay tuned for a fun GTG-style challenge we’ll be announcing in June!

Ref: Tsatsouline, P. (2003). Naked Warrior, The. Little Canada, MN: Dragon Door Publications.
Photo credit: camera_recycler, on Flickr