@@dougp9382 Greg is a shill and only trying to sell cookbooks and coaching. He started using in his early 20's and he's continually lying about it to seem like he's got some inside knowledge about training and diet. He doesn't. He's somehow a fake natty and an open user all rolled into one.
Rest In Peace legend. Thank you for everything you’ve given the fitness community and also the personal wisdom as a mentor to many. You were a rare specimen of a man and a gem in between all the rocks in this industry. You are well respected and loved and always will be. Thank you MOUNTAIN DOG
Well said,JAY KUN . all us RU-vidrs are in disbelief,,numb,,feel empty, very hard to believe, won't see another new video of our mentor John Meadows... RU-vid has some great people on here,,but they leave us too soon..R.I.P.
@@mrsmountaindog1851 sending you prayers of peace and comfort. I can’t imagine losing my spouse. May God continue to grant you wisdom and peace as you live life and raise your wonderful children
The incline- decline plate adjustment tips is awesome. I never thought of that and now I can do incline without feeling like I’m taking away from my OHP!!!
@@mountaindog1 wow honoured and suprised you replied, just been binge watching some more of your training vids especially the dumbbell stuff, amazing advice, happy I found this channel and I've subscribed after seeing some more vids how could anyone not. Thanks for being you mate
1 - Use slight angles AKA smaller angles instead of winder angles (ex: incline and decline bench. Credit for the idea: Dorian Yates). It helps your joints. 2 - Use correct width. A wider grip puts more stress on the sternal portion of your chest. A more narrow grip gives you more upper chest activation. 3 - Incorporate movements that put a good stretch on the muscle. (ex: camber bar push-up, machine flys, etc). Recommended for last exercise. Happy New Year, Meadows gang!
Started doing slight decline press because of you for the last 6 months or so, and it does wonders! By far the best pump/squeeze/activation in the chest than any other type of press I’ve done. Never thought of bringing my grip in closer on the incline, but it makes a lot of sense, will start that next chest day, thanks John! True OG in the game.
John is the type of guy you feel you can easily approach at the gym for a quick pointer. Such a humble dude who has a genuine love for sharing his knowledge of making your body a better working machine. I deeply appreciate all your work, sir. Thank you!!
Agree, a slight decline is great for chest activation, & I’ve found the closer grip (not too close) to be better for building your chest overall. Angles really do matter! Always solid honest advice John! 👍💪
John Meadows was the greatest coach in the fitness industry. I learned a lot from his videos which, improved my mind, body, and soul. Rest in Peace John and God Bless you. God bless Mary and her two sons.
I’ve been doing pyramid sets,starting at 20 reps -light weight to I rep at max wt.,and back down on the weights and up with the reps to where you started! Huge pump
Rip mountain dog...you will be sorely missed. The fitness scene won't be the same. He left a legacy behind. He has so much well-deserved respect. Just one of the best around... Rest easy, old friend.
One thing i use to make the elbow path correct in most pushing instances is stacking the elbow joint with the wrist, makeing the forearm point straight up
Yeah, that pronated grip fly has definitely been a game changer for me. Vic Martinez is a big advocate of them as well. I can really feel them more than traditional fly's.
I'm 61 and stopped doing benching years ago because it was bothering my shoulders and have only been doing flat dumbbell flys just the way he showed ,I never liked doing them with my hands the other way because it doesn't feel natural at all. But I do plenty of flys to make me sore and feel it working. I always enjoy these videos.
Your video couldn’t have coke at a better time. Struggling with chest lately. At 45 (almost 46🤦🏼)with nagging injuries from too many years of abuse , joint health has def been more of a priority. Can’t wait to try your tips!
John’s tips are so effective, I’ve only been training for 2-3 years but these small technique tweaks are really smart if you really think about. Will definitely be trying these out soon
I always thought that I had a very good chest mind-to-muscle connection, but today I just tried this type of incline chest press. I had the sickest chest pump in years. It just amazes me how these little details make a huge difference in a workout and the amount of knowledge you have of these overlooked aspects of training. As always, thanks a lot for sharing you knowledge with us.
I have started using slight declines instead of flat bench since last month. Man .. What a change I have felt on my shoulders !! It took a huge pressure and pain of my shoulders and I can feel my chest waaaay better ( I have a history of shoulder impingement ). I gotta give the incline bench a try on my next workout ! Have a good one ! 👌🏼
I've been at this for 28 years and I was lucky enough to learn these secrets also over the years. so I can say I know you know what you're doing and thank you for sharing with everybody I wish this video would have been around 20 years ago for me. Your credit to the rest of us my friend
I always thought I was doing close grip bench presses wrong because I could feel my upper chest being worked more than normal. Turns out it’s just a benefit of close grip benching. Thanks John 👍🏼🤙🏼
Wow!! I tried putting a plate under the foot of the bench for a slight decline during close grip bench. Worked awesome and my shoulder pain was much less than before!! Thanks Brother!!
I discovered this channel about a year ago. I'm 46 years old and have been regularly going to the gym for about 2 years. I don't approach my workouts from a bodybuilding perspective, but I really enjoy the technique aspect of Joh's videos. I watch them all the time, and use his tips/recommendations as much as possible in my own workouts.
I been declining my bench with a plate like that for almost a decade. I knew I wasn’t crazy, I Never had should pain again and the contraction you get on the chest always felt better
I've seen results from all three of these tips, but I have to say there's just something wonderful about getting a muscle pumped up and then putting it on stretch. Great video as always.
So I just did the platform under the bench tip and OMFG did it work like a champ! I feel like I normally would at the end of my workout and I hit max pump just 30 mins into the workout!!! Whaaaaaaaaat!? Thanks John!
This dude is a legend! Real ingenuity every video. I’m still doing meadows rows... think I’m going to start doing this for decline. The steep decline always wrecks my delts.
Elbow path, from my experience (which is limited, I'll admit). I was doing a lot of flies and found that I connected a whole lot better when I focus on moving my elbow in rather than my hands.
I always like to finish my Chest with a Pullover hold with my elbows at a 45 degree angle. Always puts fire on my chest, particularly after I can't lift anything higher than 10kg at that point.
@@zakkhan6054 for me, it's the stretch. Getting all the fibres in my chest to be stretched out with a slow ecentric or hold at the bottom works great. Try to keep the arms straighter, else it jumps more into your lats. But specifically that mid to upper pec.
I agree with the 20 degree decline and incline philosophy. my current chest and shoulder press routine is low on direct volume but do to pressing at so many angles has a ton of indirect volume to compensate. on all these angles i target 6-8 reps for the top set and number of reps on warmups should be the minimal needed to feel warmed up . i start with hammer decline where I angle my body forward instead of downward so I am pressing at a 20 degree decline and it is all on my chest. i do warm ups up to a heavy top set, fully rest then take a plate off and do a 5 second negative followed by 3 quick partial reps and keep repeating till I am at the beginning of failure. then I go to smith machine incline of 20 degrees and do the same thing but not the drop set. then up the bench to normal incline and do one top set with same weight. then up to high incline and same thing but lowering the weight by 20-30 pounds if necessary. then front shoulder press and rear shoulder press with lowering of weight as necessary. so my 20 degree incline top set is usually 3 plates with my rear shoulder press set being 2 plates. i then do two drop sets the same way i did the decline hammer drop sets at 20 degree incline and flat. then i do a couple of sets of moderate weight one arm shoulder presses on smith machine by sitting sideways and to finish chest i would use 30 pound dumbbells for a set of incline and then flat flys where I'm doing slow negatives and stretching as wide as possible for high reps. then i do 1 or 2 sets of downward cable flys with 40-50 pounds doing a most muscular pose for the fly movement. that is the best way i currently know how to train chest. i hope anybody that reads this trys this routine and gets improvement from it.
Definitely gonna try all this today. I have a right shoulder issue and I can feel my left pec easily when working out. My right side, not so much. And theres a big hole basically in my right upper pocket compared to my left which is full
20yrs of training....steep decline pushes it into shoulders. Yup, just a little is better. And same for incline. John I 100% agree with tip #1. Tip #2, spot on. #3 hate dumbbell flys but machine can be great.
I’m 45 and never had as good of results as I have had after finding these videos a few months back. Glad we got all of this GREAT info on record before he passed. RIP.
Kids these days have it so easy - all you have to do is subscribe to John and you've got decades of expert knowledge FOR FREE. Us old guys had to figure this shit out on our own, and if you're lucky you got it %50 right
I like putting dumbbells on the floor shoulder width apart, then getting in a push up position with my palms on top the dumbbells for a isohold stretch
You always seem to put out a video of exactly what I'm needing. I was just thinking why am I not seeing the chest develop. From this I can tell you that my grip has been too wide, to get the upper chest, so now I can work that into the routine. Thanks
I've always thought it was just me. My shoulders always hurt when doing the over exaggerated inclined movements. This makes such sense what you are saying! I so appreciate this info.
The incline bench hand position tip and the fies tip sounds like top notch for me. I always come back onto this channel for bodybuilding wisdom. All the best !
At the end of every chest workout when I still have a good pump I like to take like lighter dumbbells and on go a bench and sit at the bottom part of a bench press and really went the weight stretch the chest out. Stay light to stay safe
Hey John, just in case you haven't already, make sure you have a dermatologist check out your right bicep for melanoma. The abnormal shape and size of the mole just on the peak of your bicep looks suspicious to me, and you can never be too careful with that kind of stuff. Your videos are super useful! Appreciate you for what you do.
Thanks again John and hopes for more of the same. I wasted more time pressing and wondering why I was getting only minimal gains and it wasn’t until I started following your channel that I realised it was because I was not using the angles and grips that you advocated
thanks john. I'm for sure one of those guys with not a naturally developed chest. Your training videos have helped me a lot in bringing up my chest last year and I plan on making this year the year of the pecs! your awesome man.
Incline barbell press seems to aggravate my shoulder joint but the dumbbell incline, no issue. Dumbbell press allows for a more natural movement for me. I can't go as heavy with barbell as dumbbell. They just feel a lot better to me.
