Grease The Groove To Financial Independence

When it comes to sports and working out, I’m an endurance and cardio guy.  In a typical week I ride my bike or run 6 days and lift weights one day. 

I dread weight day.  But I also know the research – as we age we must increasingly focus on building and maintaining muscle to stay healthy.  And even though a hard cycling ride or a fast run surely can build some muscle, those mostly aerobic activities cannot match the pure anaerobic muscle building of lifting heavy stuff and putting it back down. 

Knowing that one weight lifting day a week is insufficient to make my skinny cycling arms thicker, I started to supplement it this past year with something new. 

I started to grease the groove.

 

You What?

Greasing the groove basically means doing things in much smaller but more frequent chunks. 

In a nutshell it’s basically getting in any kind of exercise when you can, and getting over the idea that you have to go to exhaustion to reap benefits.  The term was coined by famous Russian hard man Pavel Tsatsouline who is known for his kettle bell workouts.

Listen to him explain grease the groove in this video.

As he says, they key is to not push yourself too hard and to do about half the reps you’re capable of, but do them more often.  Since I hate lifting weights, I’m on board with this technique!! 

For a while #greasethegroove was one of the biggest hashtags on Instagram and testimonials were popping up everywhere.

Tsatsouline refers to grease the groove mostly in terms of lifting weights but it can be applied to any movement or activity really. 

I also like the term “movement snacks” which is the principal that we should treat movement like we do snacking.  Americans snack too much and don’t move enough. 

Feeling hangry?  Ok then, go do 10 push ups.  That’s a movement snack.

So movement snacks are basically the same as greasing the groove.    

  

How I Grease

So how do I grease the groove? 

• I drink lots of herbal tea throughout the day. While waiting for the water to boil, I do pull-ups and push ups for 2 minutes.  By the end of the day I’ve typically done 20 or so pull-ups and over 100 push-ups.  These are also called “meanwhile habits” (ie “my water is boiling so meanwhile I’m going to do something else”) 
• If I go into the kitchen to get any food, I penalize myself with 5 pull-ups.  Yes, I keep a pull-up bar wedged in my kitchen door frame.  The benefits of bachelorhood. 
• While waiting in line at the grocery store or while pumping gas I’ll do calf raises and stretches.  Sometimes I get weird looks, but who cares.  My health is more important.
• When I close my laptop at the end of the day, that’s an alarm bell for 20 body squats.  No excuses.
• I take the stairs – always!  

These are just a few of the ways I grease the groove, and they add up. 

Are you a white collar worker who sits all day?  Schedule a movement snack every hour.  Do a few flights of stairs or just go to the copy room and do calf stretches or low-intensity body squats.  All you need is 5 minutes for your snack, it’s not a big commitment. 

Add a few of these simple things into your day and they add up.  You’ll start building momentum and 5 mins will become 10 then 15. 

Greasing the groove and starting small is the optimal way to build a good habit.  Trying to start a new habit by going big, like making a new years resolution to work out every day and immediately crush it, is a surefire way to failure. 

Start small and manageable, grease the groove.

 

Greasing The Money Groove

Yes there’s a money angle here.  If you’re in debt and a financial mess, it’s best you don’t try to fix it by setting a big fat audacious goal of total transformation.  It’s hard to go from financial train wreck to Mr. Money Mustache in one fell swoop.  Start small and manageable. 

If you’re not making use of your 401k plan at work, start small with what you can.  If you have too many streaming video subscription services, cut one. 

When it comes to saving, micro-investing apps like Acorns, Qapital, or Stash are probably a great place to start.  If you’re not familiar they automate the process of saving money, usually in small amounts.  

Automation and small amounts – a perfect combo to start greasing the groove to a better financial life.  I wrote about these apps a few years ago, and I’m sure there’s more of them out there now.

As I wrote in that post, I think micro-investing apps are a great way to get started, but not a long term solution to get to financial independence.  To get to FI you’ll eventually have to start “macro” saving, versus micro. 

But they are a great way to grease the groove to a better relationship with money and saving for those who are challenged.

 

Less Is Often More

It is possible to make changes through big audacious goals.  But more often than not they lead to failure. 

If you want to go from couch potato to being a runner, it’s not the best idea to set a goal of 20 miles a week right from the get-go.  Just go out and run a mile, once a week.  Heck, go run a half mile.  Get started. 

Once you build some momentum increase your frequency, but gradually.  Get in a run whenever you can no matter how short it is.  Grease the running groove. 

And it’s the same with your money.  There’s a zillion personal finance blogs and a gazillion ways to get in better money shape.  Pick one and get started. 

Grease the money groove.