The High Frequency Approach to Training

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

― Robert Collier

It is intuitive that if you want to get better at something, you need to do it more. As the saying goes: practice makes perfect. While that is generally true, there are a few caveats when it comes to mastering a movement skill or strengthening a specific movement pattern. There is no doubt that you will improve a movement pattern be practicing it more often, but there are a couple principles to keep in mind to help expedite the process. Strengthening a movement pattern or building a movement skill (i.e. improving the squat movement pattern) is all about teaching your body to be more efficient with everything related to that movement. You build efficiency by improving biomechanics and muscle fiber recruitment. The first of these factors, improving biomechanics, is important to think about because everyone is built slightly differently. As we practice a movement more, we start to understand what works optimally as we build more and more awareness of where our body is in space. The second factor, muscle fiber recruitment, refers to how and when our brain signals to our muscles to fire to execute the movement. Again, as we practice more and more our brain and nervous system get better at learning what fibers to recruit and when to recruit them. This whole process is referred to as motor learning. It is the way the human body goes about learning how to master a movement skill and it is the way in which you have learned every movement you have ever done.

One person who utilizes this understanding of motor learning is Pavel Tsatsouline. He outlines a method he calls “Greasing the Groove,” or GTG for short, in his book The Naked Warrior. The goal of GTG is to get really strong in one or two specific movements. The method taps into motor learning by using what Pavel calls the “Five F’s” to describe how the training should be done. These are focus, flawlessness, frequency, freshness, and fluctuation. The first of these Five F’s, focus, refers to the fact that there should only be one to two exercises or movements that you train in this manner. Pavel states that “the fewer drills you practice, the better you are going to get.” Flawlessness points to the fact that the goal should be to perform the movement with perfect form to pattern the movement correctly. It is counterproductive to go to a point of fatigue where the movement cannot be performed properly. This leads into the next two F’s, frequency and freshness. The movement should not be performed to anywhere near a state of fatigue (freshness). In fact, Pavel recommends that you only perform about half of the reps that you think that you can. He says that, “you should always feel stronger after your training than before you started.” So, for example, if you were looking to improve a push-up and you could do 20 reps, Pavel would have you stop at 10. This would keep you “fresh” and prevent fatigue. Because of this, it will be hard to train with a lot of volume since you won’t be able to perform many reps per day or training session. So, in order to amass enough volume to strengthen and improve the movement, you must train said movement frequently. Theoretically, if you keep the volume low enough you can train the movement daily. The last F, fluctuation, describes the need to switch things up once you have hit a plateau. Just like with all training, eventually variation is needed to progress. You can still train the movement, but adding variation in the load, tempo, positioning/ joint angles, etc. will be important to continue to progress. To hear Pavel describe his GTG method himself, take a look below:

Christian Thibaudeau also does a good job describing how a high frequency training plan, like Pavel’s GTG method, can effectively improve the strength and performance of a movement. Check that out HERE.

There are a couple key takeaways that you can use to improve your training that come from the concept of high frequency training and the GTG method. Firstly, if there is a movement pattern that you struggle with or aren’t very strong with, consider using a high frequency approach to training that movement. One way that I go about incorporating this idea in my programs is including some form of a specific movement pattern in every workout. For example, if I there is someone that needs to improve and strengthen their squat pattern, I will include some type of squat in each workout, whether it be in the prep or as the main lift of the day. On day 1 they might do front squats as their primary movement, on day 2 and 3 might include a couple sets of goblet squats in their prep. You can get creative as long as you stick with the principles that Pavel outlines (the Five F’s). The second big takeaway has to do with frequency. When it comes to motor learning and improving a movement skill, practicing that movement more often without getting to a point of fatigue is much more efficient than spending countless reps within one training session to improve that skill. Doing a little each day is a much better strategy than doing a lot once every few days. Obviously, this is tough for a lot of people as they will have a natural inclination to continue to practice something to the point of failure. Under the high frequency approach, most people will want to do more. That is a good thing. Motivation will stay high as well as skill retention.

The common thought for most people in today’s world when it comes to getting better and stronger at a movement is to just do as much as possible until you can’t any more. While the motivation for this idea is on the right track, the process of motor learning and strength development are a little more complicated than that. When it comes to learning a movement, deliberate practice and frequency are your friends. Going to failure with high volume is the enemy. The more frequently you practice, the lower the volume should be and it should be your goal to execute each rep with the highest level of perfection as possible without every approaching a state of fatigue.

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this! Please leave a comment or share this post if you found it at all helpful or interesting, I would love to hear your thoughts. You can follow me on Instagram @510strength or subscribe to my mailing list (HERE) to stay up to date with more content and information.