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The trainer's toolbox: perfect practice leads to better performance

Men's Fitness, May, 2005

YOU WOULDN'T EXPECT TO GET better at basketball if you touched the ball just once every seven days. But we all think we should improve at body-weight exercises like pullups or pushups on the once-a-week plan. Such infrequent workouts prevent us from perfecting our form on the exercise--"grooving" it, in lifter's lingo--which can limit how much muscle we build or how much fat we burn, says strength coach Mike Mahler.

Mahler's fix: Forget about workouts for these simple exercises. Instead, think in terms of practice sessions, and perform your pushups and pullups up to five days a week--even twice a day when possible. Your goal is to improve your technique.

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Example: Let's say you can do 10 pullups in your best set and maybe do consecutive sets of seven or eight. You also know you can give your metabolism a much bigger boost if you can knock out multiple sets of 10-12. So you practice with multiple daily sets of five puIlups--half your one-set max. Instead of burning yourself out by going to failure once a week, Mahler says, you're improving technique by "greasing the groove."

If you can, do one or two sets in the morning and one or two in the afternoon, five times a week. If not, just knock out one or two sets a day, with about five to 10 minutes in between. (The object is to be fresh, not exhausted, for each set.)

Test your one-set max every two weeks and adjust your practice reps accordingly.

The trainer's toolbox: perfect practice leads to better performance

Men's Fitness, May, 2005

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