Weekend with Meadows

Spent most of the weekend with Meadows. Hanging out and training and went to his little 2 hour seminar yesterday.

Over and over again, John emphasized “one set to failure”.

“Sure, if you want to leave a rep in the tank then maybe it takes 2 sets. But at some point you’re going to have to push the envelope if you’re trying to maximize your potential.”

Also emphasized the need for quality sets and reps. And that’s where the growth lies in conjunction with a big focus on recovery. That should make sense to everyone but I swear no one puts any thought into recovery (pre-peri-post nutrition…life stress management…soft tissue work).

Quality sets and reps being great mechanics on the movements you select, and making sure that you’re targeting the right muscle with that work (all of this sound familiar?).

Also on the whole “natty’s have to train different than sauced guys.”

Said the exact same words I’ve said over and over again.

“I’ve had natural guys that could train multiple times a week and recover, and sauced guys that couldn’t train that often and with far less overall volume.”

Went on the emphasize the same thing I have over and over. That once you get on the sauce, localized (peripheral) recovery is enhanced, but nervous system recovery is the limiting factor for everyone.

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Hey Paul, relating to quality of reps:

Do you like to follow a strict tempo? (3:1:1 for example). And, is that a variable you’ll adjust from time to time?

Or do you mainly just look for control of the eccentric, constant tension, a strong contraction, and not worry too much about the speed itself?

Quality reps being growth stimulating reps for the tissue you’re trying to target.

John uses a more ballistic rep cadence than I do, but clearly he knows what works best for him in that regard. So there’s some things that are ideal but there’s also individual preference.

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reading john meadows articles in tnation many years changed my training style forever.

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