John Meadows' Revolutionary System for Building Muscle - Part 1
John Meadows' Revolutionary System for Building Muscle Part 1
In this first 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.
“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.
Which training innovators influenced or inspired you?
Tom Platz, simply because of the intensity that he trained at. To be more specific, his ability to work through the pain barriers and go to places you don’t think a person can go. Louie Simmons was also a huge influence. I spent time at Westside Barbell as a powerlifter, and learned a lot of training under Louie. Those were also some of the most fun training days of my life. If I were to say somebody else, I’d probably say my partner Dave Tate, the guy who runs EliteFTS. Dave and I are constantly thinking about what we can do to make something better. It’s constant analysis. How can we do this better, or that better? I know a lot of people don’t like that, but I enjoy that aspect of it, trying to find solutions to problems. So those three, for those reasons.
What issues or aspects did you feel weren’t being properly or effectively addressed with existing training systems?
I think the biggest flaw with most training systems is that they think of hypertrophy from a one-dimensional perspective. In other words, it’s either progressive overload, and that’s all it is, or it’s classic German Volume Training, 10 sets of 10, etc. They don’t take into account that there are different ways to stimulate hypertrophy, and there’s no law that says you can’t use multiple techniques within a given workout that stimulate the muscle in every way possible. That could be through mechanical loading, which would be progressive overload, or chemical changes in the body, lactic acid … things like that. I think a lot of training systems look at training one-dimensionally and don’t really consider that this can make a muscle grow, and this can, and so can this. So let’s layer in those techniques to get the absolute maximum benefit we can out of the muscle group.
What makes Mountain Dog training unique?
Two things pop into my mind. Number one, everything is done with a very logical sequence. My second exercise builds off my first, my third exercise builds off my second and my fourth exercise builds off my third. The way I structure it, you can train heavy, you can train hard, and the way the training is structured, you’re at a very low risk for injury. It’s probably the most longevity friendly program I’ve ever seen. I build it specifically so that people can continue to enjoy compound movements, drop sets and things like that. But it’s all put together in a way that doesn’t also destroy your body, and you can recover. So it’s really the intelligent design of Mountain Dog Training, in my opinion, that makes it unique.
How has Mountain Dog Training changed and evolved, and how does it continue to?
It’s constantly changing and evolving. There’s never an end. Recently, I started incorporating some higher frequency training for different body parts. Some have worked well, and some didn’t work so well. There’s been a lot of experimentation with aspects such as can you pull back the intensity and train more often, versus training the muscle less often, but harder? To me, to be really good at training, you really have to have good instincts and know your body. I think where a lot of guys struggle is they get stuck in these mindsets like, “I gotta lift more weight, that will make me bigger” and six months later, the guy is injured. Or, “I’m just gonna do pump work like Arnold used to do,” and they don’t really accumulate any muscle density.
I’m always looking at different ways that can better the program, whether it’s with different exercises or different sequences. I’ll give you an example I’m using for my lower lats. I think my back has improved quite a bit. I found a sequence where I do a one-arm supinated lat pulldown first, squeezing each lat really hard. I feel all the tension in my lower lats. I do that, then I go do rack pulls with 225 or 275 pounds. But I lock my lower lats, and I do all the pulling with my lower lats. When I get done with that, I have this huge pump in my lower lats. If you tell people that or they see it on paper, they say, “Wow, lat pulldowns and rack pulls, there’s really nothing special about that.” But the activation and the squeezing you’re doing first, and then the technique that you’re using with the rack pulls, is special. I have a pretty fragile lower back, and I’ve been doing this three times a week. Rack pulls three times a week sounds excessive, but I do them differently. I’m not slapping 600 pounds on a bar and just moving it from point A to point B. I’m actually locking my lats in, like an isometric contraction, and it’s improved my lower lats tremendously. It’s also rehabbed my lower back. It’s feeling healthier than it has in a long time. So that’s the kind of thing where I put thought into it. It didn’t happen by accident. That’s a brief example of what’s going on with my training. I’m always trying to figure out things like that.
How did you come up with the many unique exercises and variations on standard exercises?
You see probably half of them. The other half didn’t do any good, so I dropped them. When you experiment, some of the stuff doesn’t work. I will try things that don’t turn out to be effective at all. But sometimes I find something that works really well. When I was in my early 20s, Jim Seitzer trained at my gym. He had competed in the Mr. America with Tom Platz in the ‘70s. One day he said, “I’ve never seen anyone who can think as creatively as you. You can take an exercise, change the way the elbows move or how this or that is set up, and get a totally different, more effective exercise.” So that’s an instinct I’ve had for over 20 years. I would find that doing some exercises the way everyone else was doing them didn’t work for me. And a lot of my tinkering around was due to poor body parts that weren’t responding. If you look and see which muscle group I have the most unique movements for, it’s the back. My back is what I struggled the most with over the years. All the standard barbell rows and deadlifts just didn’t build my back the way I wanted to build it, so I had to do something different. It was out of a necessity to get better. I think a lot of people get in these ruts where what they’re doing doesn’t work, but they don’t care. It’s what they do, so they keep doing it, and they never look any different. I’m just the opposite. If I don’t see something getting better, I need to figure it out. I’m going to figure out a way to make it better.