Grease the Groove Pull Ups Program

The Pull-Up Rule That Feels Too Easy (But Doubles Your Reps)

A grease the groove pull ups program works by doing frequent, low-rep sets at 50% of your max, turning pull-ups from a muscular challenge into a neurological skill. If you're stuck at 3, 5, or even 8 pull-ups and can't seem to break through, it's because you're treating pull-ups like a workout. You go to the gym, do a few sets to failure, get sore, and hope for the best. That approach builds muscle, but it's terrible for building pull-up reps.

Grease the Groove (GTG) flips this entirely. It's not a workout; it's practice. Think of it like learning an instrument. You don't practice piano until your fingers bleed once a week. You practice for short periods, multiple times a day. GTG applies that same logic to strength. If your maximum number of pull-ups is 6, your GTG sets will be just 3 reps. You'll do these easy sets many times throughout the day, with at least an hour of rest in between. It will feel wrong. It will feel like you're not doing enough to make progress. That feeling is the entire point. You are building the skill of the pull-up without accumulating the fatigue that prevents your nervous system from learning.

This is for you if you're stuck below 15 pull-ups and have access to a pull-up bar throughout your day. This is not for you if you're an advanced athlete who can already do 20+ reps or if you only have access to a bar twice a week at the gym. Frequency is the key, and without it, the program fails.

Why Your Brain, Not Your Biceps, Is Limiting Your Pull-Ups

The reason you're stuck at a low number of pull-ups has very little to do with the size of your back muscles. It's a problem of neural efficiency. Your brain hasn't perfected the signal it sends to your muscles to execute the movement pattern. Every time you struggle and fail on a rep, you're teaching your nervous system the pattern for failure. Grease the Groove does the opposite: it only allows you to practice perfect, crisp, successful reps.

Here’s the difference between GTG and what you're probably doing now:

• Traditional Training: You perform sets close to muscular failure (e.g., 3 sets of 8-12 reps). This causes micro-tears in the muscle fibers. The body then repairs these fibers, making them slightly bigger and stronger. This process requires significant recovery (48-72 hours) and is designed for hypertrophy (muscle growth).
• Grease the Groove (GTG): You perform sets at a very low intensity (around 50% of your max). This does not cause muscle damage. Instead, it strengthens the specific neural pathway for that movement. Your brain becomes incredibly efficient at recruiting the exact muscle fibers needed for a pull-up. The goal is skill acquisition, not muscle breakdown.

The single biggest mistake people make is turning GTG into a workout. They do their set of 3 reps, feel good, and think, "I can do a few more." They push it to 5, then 6. They feel a burn. They get a pump. And they've just completely sabotaged the process. The moment you introduce significant fatigue, you stop practicing the skill and start causing muscle damage, which requires long recovery and kills the high-frequency magic of GTG.

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The 4-Week Grease the Groove Protocol (Step-by-Step)

Ready to start? This isn't complicated, but you must follow the rules exactly. Do not add more reps because you feel good. The discipline to hold back is what makes this work.

Step 1: Find Your "GTG Number" (The 50% Rule)

First, you need to establish a baseline. When you're completely fresh (not after a workout), perform one set of pull-ups to absolute failure. Be honest with yourself-no sloppy, kipping reps at the end. The number of perfect reps you complete is your current max.

Your GTG Number = Your Max Reps x 0.5 (rounded down).

• If your max is 1 pull-up, your GTG number is 1 (we can't do half a rep). You'll do single reps.
• If your max is 5 pull-ups, your GTG number is 2 (5 x 0.5 = 2.5, round down).
• If your max is 10 pull-ups, your GTG number is 5 (10 x 0.5 = 5).

This number should feel very easy. That is the intention. If you can't do a single pull-up yet, your exercise will be a regression. Find your max reps for band-assisted pull-ups or your max hold time for a negative pull-up (lowering yourself slowly from the top). Then, apply the 50% rule to that. If you can hold a negative for 8 seconds, your GTG negatives will be 4 seconds long.

Step 2: Structure Your Day (Frequency Is Everything)

Your goal is to accumulate a high volume of perfect reps without fatigue. Aim for 5 to 10 sets per day. The most important rule is to rest at least 60-90 minutes between each set. You must be fully recovered before you begin the next set.

A doorway pull-up bar is the best tool for this. Put it in a high-traffic area, like your office or bedroom doorway. Every time you walk through it, do one set. If you work from home, set a recurring timer for every 90 minutes. When it goes off, get up, do your set, and get back to work.

Here’s what a day looks like for someone with a max of 6 pull-ups (GTG number is 3):

• 8:00 AM: 3 pull-ups
• 9:30 AM: 3 pull-ups
• 11:00 AM: 3 pull-ups
• 1:00 PM: 3 pull-ups
• 2:30 PM: 3 pull-ups
• 4:00 PM: 3 pull-ups
• 5:30 PM: 3 pull-ups
• 7:00 PM: 3 pull-ups

Total reps for the day: 24. This is far more volume than you'd get in a typical workout, yet you'll end the day feeling fresh.

Step 3: When and How to Progress

Do not change your GTG number for at least two weeks. Your body needs time to build the neural pathway. The reps should continue to feel easy. After two weeks, if the sets feel completely effortless, you can add ONE rep to your GTG number. If your number was 3, it is now 4.

Every 4 weeks, you will re-test your max. To do this, take two full days off from all pull-up activity. No GTG, no other back training. On the third day, warm up and perform one all-out set of max-rep pull-ups. Your new max will be higher. Let's say your original max was 6, and now you hit 9. You will then calculate your new GTG number: 9 x 0.5 = 4.5, so your new number is 4. You'll now perform sets of 4 for the next cycle.

Week 1 Will Feel Wrong. That's the Point.

Setting the right expectations is critical, because your fitness instincts will tell you this program isn't working. You have to ignore them.

Week 1: You will feel like you are doing nothing. The sets are too easy. You won't be sore. You won't feel a pump. You will be tempted to add more reps or do sets closer together. You must resist this urge. Your only job is to accumulate perfect, fatigue-free reps. This is the period where your brain is laying the groundwork for the new skill.

Weeks 2-3: Something will click. The pull-ups will start to feel smoother and more powerful. The movement will feel less like a struggle and more like an automatic pattern. This is the sign that the neural adaptation is working. Your brain is becoming more efficient at the movement.

Week 4 (Test Day): This is the moment of truth. After taking two full days of rest, your performance on your max-rep test will surprise you. It's common to see a 30-50% increase in reps. The person who was stuck at 6 reps for months might suddenly hit 8 or 9 clean reps. The person stuck at 2 might hit 4 or 5.

Warning Signs: The only way this fails is if you do too much. If at any point you feel joint pain, muscle soreness that lasts into the next day, or a decline in performance, you have violated the main rule. You are training too close to your maximum. Immediately reduce the reps per set by 1 or 2 and increase the rest time between sets. GTG should never, ever make you sore.

You read this far. You're serious.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to Grease the Groove With No Pull-Up Bar

This program requires frequent access to a bar. If you don't have one at home or work, GTG is not a practical choice. You can use sturdy tree branches, playground equipment, or scaffolding if they are consistently available. The program's success depends on doing 5+ sets spread throughout the day.

Combining GTG With Regular Workouts

Yes, you can and should continue your normal training. GTG is skill practice, not a replacement for a balanced strength program. On your workout days, perform your GTG sets several hours before or after your main session. Avoid doing GTG sets immediately before heavy back or bicep exercises.

What to Do If You Can't Do One Pull-Up

Apply the GTG protocol to an easier exercise variation. Use band-assisted pull-ups, eccentric (negative) pull-ups, or inverted rows. Find your max reps or max time on that specific exercise and calculate your 50% GTG number from there. This builds the foundational strength and neural pattern for an unassisted pull-up.

How Long to Rest Between GTG Sets

Rest for a minimum of 60 minutes between sets, but longer is better. 90-120 minutes is ideal. The goal is to approach every single set as if it's your first set of the day-completely fresh and recovered. If you feel any fatigue from the previous set, you need more rest.

When to Stop Using Grease the Groove

GTG is most effective for breaking through low-to-moderate rep ranges (typically under 15 reps). Once you can comfortably perform 15-20 strict pull-ups, the neurological gains diminish. At that point, you will see better progress by transitioning to a more traditional strength program involving weighted pull-ups.