Recently, I had the privilege to take a sneak peak at John Meadows’s new program, High Evolutionary. The program is out now on John’s site, so it’s not exactly an exclusive look, but I wanted to offer my thoughts on the plan.
Program Highlights
- High intensity. All of John’s programs are pretty intense, at least in the bodybuilding sense – you’re pushing to your limit of perceived exertion, or even past it! The RPE chart John uses puts this into perspective rather well: most of your sets will be at least an RPE 9, and several will be 10 or above.
- Movement rotation. In order to make progress with a sustained level of high intensity, it’s important to implement some other form of variation. John does this through movement rotation: over the course of the six week program, he changes the selected exercises to provide both mental relief (doing the same thing every day gets old fast) and to encourage muscular growth rather than neuromuscular adaptation.
- Split options. None of John’s splits are set in stone. High Evolutionary is divided into a standard bodybuilding split (legs, chest, back, and arms), but he also provides instructions for customizing that split if you’d like to put more emphasis on a specific bodypart.
My Take on High Evolutionary
High Evolutionary is without a doubt a solid program. I am particularly a fan of the shorter duration (i.e., six week) programs, as they allow more flexibility in terms of designing a macrocycle, working around a life schedule, and keeping things interesting. I also enjoy the new movements John introduces in this one!
Personally, I would use this instead of Odin Force, during the offseason – and I would rotate between that and Project Colossus in the offseason. However, again, John’s programs are quite versatile and you won’t go wrong with using them year-round, as long as your diet supports that effort.
