Q and A with John Meadows (MountainDog1)

[AndrewGpv03]

Thank you for your answer and your time Mr. Meadows.

[mountaindog1]

Stumbled upon this recently: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20200983

Yep, I like it!

JM

[Quadriceps]

John,

I'm going to give the GDA a try and was wondering about dosing. I'm doing on training days around 60 pre-workout and around 60 post workout followed by 40 grams 1.5 hours later. Then on off days around 60 grams for meals 2 and 3. I saw you recommend 1 serving(2 caps) per 100 grams of carbs somewhere, but how would you recommend dosing it with this diet?

Also, when to take it? 15 mins before eating?

[c.m.]

Hey John,
thoughts on deadlifting? suck from the floor, not bad from the rack. pretty much a go on anything else back related.
what do you think about a back developed with no deadlifts from the floor, or occasionally no deads at all

[mountaindog1]

John,

I'm going to give the GDA a try and was wondering about dosing. I'm doing on training days around 60 pre-workout and around 60 post workout followed by 40 grams 1.5 hours later. Then on off days around 60 grams for meals 2 and 3. I saw you recommend 1 serving(2 caps) per 100 grams of carbs somewhere, but how would you recommend dosing it with this diet?

Also, when to take it? 15 mins before eating?

on your off days I would take 2 caps with meals 2 and 3. On training days I would up the post-workout to 4 caps and then probably one more 1.5 hours later with that meal. I have been taking 2 caps with every carb meal (25 grams and up) since my contest (except preworkout), and I am findinthat staying lean is really easy. Especially considering I am on a cereal and raw milk kick...i do that once a year after pre-contest prep..lol..

[mountaindog1]

Hey John,
thoughts on deadlifting? suck from the floor, not bad from the rack. pretty much a go on anything else back related.
what do you think about a back developed with no deadlifts from the floor, or occasionally no deads at all

You should read my article on TNation about how I formulated my back training philosophy. To sum it up. Deadlifts are generally awesome, floor, rack, defecit, you name it. They did nothing for my lat development though, but my training partner got a huge back doing them. I switched to things like 1 arm barbell rows, Meadows rows, etc, and my back took off....so moral of the story is don't get married to any exercise. If it doesn't work for you, don't do it. Put a pic in here of your back, and I can give you further suggestions.

Thanks for the question,
JM

[c.m.]

fall 2010. you were a couple down from me onstage actually
I have been married to deads lately. been trying to get my numbers up on squats deads and incline's , so 3 spouses.
went through a back injury earlier this year, combo of lousy decline bench and low squats, so transitioned into these goals.
Been going crazy trying to get the deads up since disc herniated. started up high on the rack and worked my way down
recently saw something that you said you are not a fan of doing deads, so there is the reason for my question

will go find the article you mentioned

[mountaindog1]

your back looks great in that shot. I like deads, they just didn't work for me. I trie every damned permutation reps, volume, and style you can think of. I have recently started doing something weird that I am enjoying. A rack dead followd by a set of chins. I hit about 9 sets of these. I do 3 x 5, 3 x 3, and 3 x 1 on rack deads, and then do about 8 chins on each set. We'll see how it works..it sure feels good.

You could use thicker spinal erectors...do you have a reverse hyper? Awesome machine. Also your back is very balanced, but if you could just add mass to your lats via one arm barbell rows and meadows rows I think it would help alot. You have sweet low lat tie ins, something I don't have (jealous). So when your back gets bigger, it will be doubly impressive. Your rhomoids and lower traps are solid.

[c.m.]

ah yes..... When my back gets bigger. Searching for the magic potion.
Appreciate the response
Like to do the reverse hypers with bands most of the time, just a pain holding the plates is all, usually every other session, but I'll be sure to not neglect
again thanks for the advice
-c

[mountaindog1]

ah yes..... When my back gets bigger. Searching for the magic potion.
Appreciate the response
Like to do the reverse hypers with bands most of the time, just a pain holding the plates is all, usually every other session, but I'll be sure to not neglect
again thanks for the advice
-c

not hypers - but i LOVE those too, reverse hypers...the machine Louie Simmons invented...

[c.m.]

ok overlooked that detail

[Atlas429]

John,

Thoughts on grass fed bison? I assume this a good choice.

By the way, in the past two weeks or so I've not incorporated grass fed butter into my diet (stuff tastes awesome!) but I visited a local farm to buy some grass fed beef! Pretty cool experience despite the fact they wouldn't let me pet the cows. I'll be making a return trip very soon. I still feel great! Thanks for taking the time to share all of this info.

[johngorman]

There a million different things you can do..

here is one of the top of my head..

pre - food - oatmeal and peanut or almond butter, and whey iso if this is pre-workout, why the fats added, oatmeal is already slow and by the time it's broken down into useable fuel for the workout it's already late right?
Intra - tons of casein and whey hydrolysate and citruline malatewhy casein as a slow digestion protein during training?
post - food - ezekiel toast with fruit preserves, whey iso curious as to why the fructose as a fuel source for replenishing glycogen most would argue it's an inferior source for muscle replenishment or is it just for tastes on the toast
1 hour post post - grass fed beef and sweet potato

John, not trying to challenge you here just curious as your reasons for the choices above, i'll put my thoughts next to each if you dont mind just curious as to your thinking on this. thanks!

[Doberman]

I totally stole these from you. I remember you doing these back at Worlds. Great exercise. I never thought much of them back then, but then I read your article and tried them. These are a big part of my shoulder program now. Now a realize people don't hit the rear delt nearly enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wmwuTZ3d_s

[mountaindog1]

I totally stole these from you. I remember you doing these back at Worlds. Great exercise. I never thought much of them back then, but then I read your article and tried them. These are a big part of my shoulder program now. Now a realize people don't hit the rear delt nearly enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wmwuTZ3d_s

HA..I love it! I have an advanced version too. Here is what I personally do. Grab 50's and do 60 swings, then drop the weight and grab 25's and do 30 swings, then drop the weight to 10s and do 10 reps...I call it a destroyer set...!!

Quick tip..get a little high er on the bench so the dumbells are out in front of the bench and can come together..and realx your traps..just swing...your rear delts will still have to fire to move the weight!!!

love it!