John Meadows' Revolutionary System for Building Muscle Part 2
John Meadows' Revolutionary System for Building Muscle - Part 2
In this concluding segment of a two-part feature we explore the groundbreaking philosophy of 212 competitor John Meadows, who has carved a unique niche as a bodybuilding coach. For Part 1 click here.
“Gimmick” training systems are a dime a dozen, and most of them are nothing more than a few random techniques from other systems mashed together and branded a catchy name. Yet there have also been a few training systems that earned reputations as being highly effective for many people. Dante Trudel’s DC Training and Hany Rambod’s FST-7 come to mind. Then there’s Mountain Dog Training, the invention of Ohio’s John Meadows. John was not gifted with stellar genetics, and was forced to experiment and be innovative in his own training to take it to the level that eventually landed him in the IFBB. He began sharing his knowledge online over 15 years ago, and his ideas and principles became known as Mountain Dog Training. Why is it so effective? How is it really different from other ways of training? These were just some of the questions I had for John about this system that thousands of bodybuilders now swear by.
I am a firm believer that too much emphasis is put on the contest-prep phase, while contests are really won or lost in the off-season. Do you agree?
I do, but let me clarify something for you. I think in the off-season, if you’re cycling in periods of really good rest, then that is a huge factor in how well somebody does. But it has to be done intelligently. I’m not saying to stop training or be like Kevin Levrone, and take six months off at a time. I’m saying, you bust your butt as hard as you can for a show, then you intelligently layer in hard training and rest. Work hard, work hard, work hard …OK now, pull back. Let your body breathe a little bit. The problem is, some people never train very hard at all, and others train too hard for too long without any break from that intensity. They take every chemical known to man, they go nuts and then there’s nothing left to do come contest time. You can’t train any harder. You can’t add any chemicals to your arsenal. You leave yourself with nowhere to go.
Here’s a personal example. After I got my pro card in July 2015, I competed in a lot of shows. I was sub-four percent body fat for what turned out to be 12 weeks. When I went to the last show in San Antonio, I looked completely exhausted. Every joint in my body hurt. I felt awful. After that, I didn’t take a set to failure for probably 10 or 12 weeks. Then, when I started my prep for the 2016 Arnold, everything felt better and was working very well. I saw some really good improvements. I worked very hard for the Arnold, maybe even too hard the last couple of weeks. But after that, I did the same thing. I pulled back and didn’t train to failure for many weeks. Now I’m a week out from Toronto, and my body is reacting very positively again. This is at 44 years old. So I think everybody has to find that balance of how long to go hard, and how long they back off. It’s going to be different for everybody. You have to find out for yourself. As far as the off-season, no, you don’t want to sit around doing nothing and being undisciplined with your eating. But you don’t want to kill yourself, either.
You are old enough to remember when bodybuilders all shared a serious passion for training hard and heavy. Do you see that has faded over the past couple of decades?
I think it’s overblown. I’m one of the ‘90s guys, but I’m not gonna sit around and whine about how the guys in the ‘90s trained harder. The difference is that you just see a lot more of what more people are doing now on the Internet and on social media. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it wasn’t like everyone in the gyms trained their butts off. If there had been social media back then, you would have seen that. There were plenty of guys goofing off and not training hard or correctly. And there are plenty of guys now who train their butts off, too. I know a lot of guys who train heavy and push themselves very hard. I also think guys are getting better with rest. I always use to look at guys who shrunk down in the off-season at times, and thought they were slacking. Now I look at that with the utmost respect. I think … this guy is smart. He’s going to be around a long time. He’s pulling back, he’s resting his joints and getting healthy, and when he turns it on, he will look fantastic come show time. I know a lot of guys our age are like, “Nobody trains hard anymore.” Not true. Plenty of guys do. It’s just that we are inundated with pictures and videos of people who don’t. They’ve always been around and in force— you just didn’t have them posting pictures and videos for the whole world to see.
What is your philosophy on bringing up weak body parts in Mountain Dog Training? Do you train the area more often, with greater intensity, or both?
The first question to ask is, are you actually executing the movements correctly? For example, somebody comes to me with a weak chest. You’ve seen guys in the gym who when they bench press, their sternum caves in and their shoulders roll forward. That guy can train his chest seven days a week and it won’t matter, because his form is awful. He’s not activating the right muscles. So the first thing I do is critique the exercise execution and correct it. Sometimes it’s as simple as raising the sternum, slowing down the negative or squeezing the target muscle at a certain point. Activate the muscle— don’t just move the weight from point A to point B like so many people do. A lot of people think the solution is to just train a weak body part more often. If you’re training it wrong, how is that going to help? It’s not. So I do two things. First, I evaluate if they are training correctly. If they are, I do like to add frequency. But you can’t just add frequency to everything. You don’t have an unlimited capacity for recovery. So you have to pull back somewhere else. Let’s say you have an awesome, giant back, but your chest is weak. You may want to pull back on how much you do for your back as you add more work for your chest, so your body can recover.
What are some misconceptions that people have about Mountain Dog Training?
They see some things I do in videos, and assume that’s all I do. A lot of people think Mountain Dog Training is all about using bands and chains, and there is no heavy training. It’s kind of funny. I love using exercise bands, but I only use them in maybe three exercises a week. But if someone sees a video, it’s “all he does is use bands, that’s Mountain Dog.” Or if I am doing a movement light and squeezing, it’s “he trains so light.” They don’t see the heavy leg presses and hack squats in the same workout. I do everything. I look at what creates hypertrophy, and I do that in my workouts. Obviously, I like to film some of the more unique stuff. Then people say I don’t do any of the basics. My three favorite exercises are the incline barbell press, squats and rack pulls— all very basic, compound barbell movements. I even found a way to do rack pulls three times a week! So that would be it. People often see one exercise or technique used in my training and jump to conclusions.
- Website: www.mountaindogdiet.com
- Instagram: @mountaindog1
- Facebook: John Meadows
Mountain Dog Training by Body Part (sample workouts)
Legs
Lying Leg Curls 4 x 20, 20, 12, 10
Goal: Activate and pump
Barbell Squats 4 x 6
Goal: Train explosively
Leg Extensions (with partials)* 1 x 12
Goal: Supra-max Pump
Barbell Stiff-leg Deadlifts** 4 x 10
Goal: Work muscle from stretched position
Leg Press/Toe Press 2 x 60 seconds
Goal: Supra-max pump
*Use the heaviest weight possible while still achieving a full range of motion. Hold each contraction for three seconds at the movement’s apex. Do 10 partial reps from the bottom after the set.
**Bend your knees at the bottom of the lift.
Chest
Incline Dumbbell Press 3 x 10
Goal: Activate and pump
Barbell Incline Press* 6 x 8
Goal: Train explosively
Seated Machine Chest Press 3 x 10, 8, 8
Goal: Activate and pump
Stretch Push-ups** 2 x 10
Goal: Work muscle from stretched position
*Do not let the bar touch your chest.
**Place two flat benches or raised step platforms about three feet apart. Place one hand on each bench so your body is in a wide-grip push-up position between the benches. Do a push-up, sinking very low. Drive up to return to the starting position.
Shoulders
Dumbbell Bent-over Laterals 3 x 10
Goal: Activate and pump
Seated Smith Machine Press 3 x 6
Goal: Train explosively
Dumbbell Lateral Raises (with partials) 1 x 30
Goal: Supra-max pump
Triceps
Rope Pushdowns 4 x 12, 12, 10, 10
Goal: Supra-max pump
Lying Triceps Extensions 2 x 10
Goal: Work muscle from stretched position
Back
Meadows Rows* 2 x 8
Goal: Activate and pump
Goal: Train explosively
Narrow-grip Chin-ups 2 x failure
Goal: Supra-max pump
Dumbbell Pullovers 2 x 10
Goal: Work muscle from stretched position
*Place one end of a barbell in the corner of a wall. Load plates on the opposite end. Stand parallel (facing) to the bar. Grab the end of the bar with an overhand grip— this will be the short side of the barbell. Row the barbell toward your rib cage, similar to a one-arm dumbbell row.
Biceps
Hammer Curls* 2 x 10
Goal: Supra-max pump
EZ-bar Preacher Curls** 2 x 10
Goal: Supra-max pump
*Do five partial reps from the bottom after each set.
**On the last set, have a partner give you four forced reps or do a drop set.
Train abs twice a week on any two days of your choosing. Pick one lower-abs exercise from the following list and do two sets of 25 reps.
• Hanging leg raises
• Leg raises with elbows supported on pad
• Decline bench leg raises
Pick one upper-abs exercise from the following list and do two sets of 15-25 reps.
• Incline sit-ups
• Rope pulldowns/crunches
• Band crunches
The 4 Phases of Mountain Dog Workouts
Phase 1: Pre-Pump Activation Exercise
This movement is easy on your joints, tendons and ligaments. It allows you to feel the target muscle, serving as a warm-up for the compound movement. This exercise is not an isolation movement designed to pre-exhaust. It’s used to pump yet not fatigue the target muscle.
Phase 2: The Explosive Exercise
This exercise is a compound barbell movement in which the weight is lowered under control, and driven up hard and fast. Sets are done by gradually adding weight until you lose speed and can barely keep the bar moving.
Phase 3: Supra-Maximal Pump Exercise
Your intention is to maximize blood flow and metabolic stress. You’ll hammer the target muscle with high-intensity techniques and pump it to its limit with drop sets, partial reps and forced reps.
Phase 4: Loaded Stretching Exercise
The goal is to get a complete and safe range of motion, with the target muscle being fully elongated. In addition to these dynamic, loaded stretching moves, do loaded static stretching at the end of the workout to encourage greater elongation of the muscle belly.