“Greasing the groove”
Coach Graves primary methodology recommendation would without a doubt be “greasing the groove” which we will refer moving forward as “GtG”.
The principles of GtG are as such, instead of dedicating a traditional workout to a given muscle group or movement, we will instead implement a set of rules or games to incorporate the movement into our daily lives.
The purported advantages of GtG are:
- Less stress on our nervous system ( easier to recover, won’t detract as much from our primary training goals *RUNNING* )
- Requires less time dedicated to training
- Easy to implement
- Flexible for a range of skills
- Easily scalable and trackable
Now you may be asking yourself, “that’s all fine and dandy, but how do you implement this?”
For the purposes of OCR related grip training using GtG we have a handful of options.
The highest priority among those options would be Dead Hangs ( 1 handed and 2 handed ), Pull-Ups ( or negatives if max Pull-Ups are lower than 5 ), Lock Offs, and Carries.
The implement of such would be as follows:
I pass by “X” room very often, every time I pass “X” room I do “X” Pull-Ups ( highest reps that lead to no fatigue ).
By practicing a movement throughout the day our neuro muscular connection improves. IE
We become better at recruiting the necessary muscles for that movement, leading to improved efficiency, power, and coordination.
Walking is a great example of this, most people have become very efficient at walking, they don’t have to think about it and it tends to look smooth.
This was not always the case however as we all needed to learn to walk. At that time a tremendous amount of focus was required, we lacked coordination, until we’d practiced enough to get mastery over the movement.
Most obstacles in OCR require some level of grip. By treating grip as a daily skill to be mastered through the GtG methodology we can “have our cake and eat it too” *Coach Graves does not promote eating cake for training purposes!*.
Beyond using GtG, we can also add grip training to all of our normal training with slight modifications. The most common of which is changing what kind of grip we use.
Doing deadlifts or bar hangs with the contact point being our fingers, instead of the crease of our hands. Experimenting with a multitude of grips and hand positions is a great way to get ready for the dynamic nature of overcoming obstacles during races.
Another option is modifying the diameter/thickness of whatever implement you’re using as a contact point with your hands. Whether that’s wrapping a hand towel around the implement or using a specific product such as “fat gripz”. That way even as you’re doing your normal exercises you will also be training your grip.
