In the first part of his UGSS presentation, IFBB Pro and elitefts.com advisor John Meadows spoke on two topics:
1. The foundational principles of his training philosophy
2. The first phase of Mountain Dog Training (Pre-Pump Activation)
For today's part of the presentation, John moves forward to discuss Phases 2 and 3: Training Explosively and Supramax Pump. Now that Phase 1 (Pre-Pump Activation) is complete, the lifter can enter Phase 2 (Train Explosively) and begin to train using explosive, compound movements like squatting and bench pressing. This is then followed my Phase 3 (Supramax Pump) in which the lifter's foremost goal is getting the biggest pump possible. Movements in Phase 3 use failure techniques such as drop sets, isometric holds, and forced reps.
Some of John's best quotes from the video:
"I do love progressive resistance and I do love basic exercises. My favorite two exercises are incline barbell benches and squats."
"If you're lowering the weight under a certain speed and driving up at a certain speed but you don't have the tension on the muscle the way it should be, then the tempo is worthless. It's garbage. It means nothing."
"Using a good weight and getting a great pump in a muscle will help you grow."
"I went out to train with Tom Platz about three years ago [...] We would do these isometric holds for seven or eight seconds at the end of our last set. Dave and I like to do them on hack squats, as a good example. As many good reps as you can and then you come down about a third of the way, and then we'll hang on the machine while the other person fights, and fights, and fights."
"You want to fight as hard as you can to maintain an isometric contraction."
"I don't think a set has to be complete annhilation to call it a set. All sets don't have to be that way. Sets working up to the crazy sets still have value, so I count them."
By the minute
- (0:05) Phase 2 — Training Explosively
- (1:30) Is there a tempo to this training?
- (3:20) Altering muscle fibers
- (4:50) Phase 3 — Supramax Pump
- (7:00) Iso-Holds
- (9:56) Mike Mentzer and one effective set
WATCH: John Meadows UGSS Presentation — Principles and Phase I
