John Meadows knew more about training the human body than most people will ever learn. He also knew what it meant to train around problems, through problems, and despite problems. He lived it. That's what made him worth listening to.
The video above is John demonstrating band spider crawls using the elitefts Pro Short Mini Band. It's a simple movement. John didn't overcomplicate things that didn't need to be complicated. But simple and easy are not the same thing, and simple and unimportant are definitely not the same thing.
I'm sharing this because the video matters. John matters. And the work he's showing here matters.
What Spider Crawls Do
The shoulder joint takes a beating in this sport. Years of heavy pressing, years of working around minor injuries that grew worse over time. Most lifters don't think seriously about shoulder health until something goes wrong. By then, you're managing damage instead of preventing it.
Spider crawls address the stabilizers and the rotator cuff before you load the shoulder under a bar. The band creates light tension throughout the movement. You're not just going through a static stretch or running through a basic rotation drill. You're moving in multiple directions with active resistance, which is much closer to what the shoulder actually has to do under load.
John understood this. He built his whole approach around taking care of the body intelligently so you could keep training at a high level long-term. This drill fits that philosophy exactly.
Why the Short Mini Band Works Here
A full-size loop band is the wrong tool for this. Too much band, wrong geometry, harder to control the tension through the movement.
The elitefts Pro Short Mini Band is 12 inches long, 25 pounds of resistance, and built with layered latex construction. It fits the movement. The tension is consistent, the setup is clean, and the band isn't fighting you while you're doing the actual work.
We designed the short band line specifically because the standard length bands created setup problems in certain applications. This is one of them.
How to Do It
Loop the band around both wrists with a little space between your hands so there's tension before you start. Face a wall, place both hands flat against it, fingers spread, elbows slightly soft.
Then crawl. One hand at a time. Up, down, diagonal, across the body. Don't just go back and forth. Get the arm overhead, get it down low, move in the direction that's harder. Let the band pull back against you throughout. Keep the elbows from locking out. Let the shoulder do the work.
Watch John in the video. He's not rushing it and he's not going through the motions. That's the whole point.
A Note on Sharing This
John was a good friend. He contributed to elitefts for years, trained alongside people we both cared about, and brought a rare level of knowledge and genuine care for others. Losing him in 2021 left a real hole in this community.
Sharing his content is one way to make sure what he built keeps reaching people. If you learn something from this video, that's the point. If it makes you go look up more of his work, even better.
The elitefts Pro Short Mini Band is under five dollars. Add it to your warmup. Do the work John's showing you here.
