Train Like John Meadows: The Mountain Dog Band Pack and Seven Workouts to Use It
What's in the pack, why John trained this way, and seven of his own band workouts you can run today.
John Meadows was a friend. He was also one of the smartest hypertrophy minds this industry has ever produced. Columbus guy, pro bodybuilder, coach to some of the best in the world, and the man behind Mountain Dog Training. When John passed in 2021, the strength world lost someone who could not be replaced, and a lot of us lost more than that.
What John left behind still works. His training philosophy is all over YouTube, in his programs, and in the way thousands of lifters now warm up, sequence exercises, and protect their joints while still growing. Bands were a big part of that.
Most bodybuilders in John's era looked at bands as physical therapy toys. John looked at them as a tool. He used them to load muscles in ways free weights can't, to keep beat-up joints in the game, and to build entire training sessions when a gym wasn't available. He did it on camera, hundreds of times, and those videos are still teaching people today.
That's what the elitefts Mountain Dog Band Pack is. A hand-picked set of nine pro resistance bands matched to how John actually trained. This article covers what's in it, why it's built the way it is, and seven of John's own workouts, embedded below, so you can put the bands to work the same day the box shows up.
Why John Trained With Bands
If you've been under a bar long enough, you know the problem. The muscle can handle more work. The joints can't. Elbows, shoulders, and knees rack up mileage, and the heavy pressing and pulling that built you starts to beat you up faster than it builds you.
Bands solve a piece of that. The resistance is progressive. Light at the bottom, hardest at the top. That means the tension peaks where the muscle is fully contracted, right where free weights usually go dead. You get a brutal contraction and a massive pump without loading the joint in its most vulnerable position.
John gave bands four jobs. Warm-ups, to get blood into the target muscle before the first working set. Pump and finisher work, to pile on volume at the end of a session without more joint stress. Rehab and prehab, to keep shoulders and elbows healthy enough to keep training heavy. And travel or at-home training, because a full set of bands fits in a gym bag and turns a hotel room or a garage into a usable gym.
This is not influencer band content. This is how one of the best hypertrophy coaches in the world actually programmed for himself and his athletes. The proof is in the videos below. Watch how he sequences the work. There's a reason behind every exercise.
What's in the Mountain Dog Band Pack
Nine bands, six types. All natural latex rubber, all seamless loops, made to take years of abuse. Every band in this pack was chosen because it shows up in John's training. Nothing in here is filler.
| Band | Qty | What It's For |
|---|---|---|
| Pro Short Mini | 1 | Lateral walks, glute activation, single-leg work, adding tension to smaller movements |
| Pro Micro | 1 | Pull-aparts, face pulls, rotator cuff work, curls and pressdowns for high-rep pump sets |
| Pro Mini | 2 | Banded presses, flyes, rows, pushdowns, and most of the upper body work in John's at-home sessions |
| Pro Monster Mini | 2 | Heavier rows and presses, banded squats and deadlift variations, added tension on the bar |
| Pro Light | 2 | Pull-up assistance, heavy lower body work, hip and hamstring movements, serious rowing tension |
| Pro Average | 1 | The heaviest work in the pack. Squats, good mornings, leg presses against the band, and stretching |
Why a pack instead of buying single bands? Because if you've never trained with bands, you don't know what tension you need yet, and it changes by exercise. A band that's perfect for pressdowns is useless for squats. The doubles in this pack matter too. Two Minis, two Monster Minis, and two Lights mean you can run any two-handed or two-legged movement the way John demonstrates it, one band per side or one band anchored under both feet.
The whole set weighs next to nothing and packs into any gym bag or suitcase. Home, garage, hotel, deployment, doesn't matter. If you have a door, a post, or your own bodyweight to anchor against, you have a gym.
Seven John Meadows Band Workouts You Can Do Today
You don't need me to write you a band program. John already did it, on camera, better than anyone. These seven videos come straight from his channel, and every workout in them runs on the exact bands in this pack. Don't just watch the exercises. Watch how he orders them, how he talks about tempo and intent, and how hard he actually works. That's the education.
Push and Pull at Home
Three complete upper body sessions. The push workout hammers chest, shoulders, and triceps. The two pull workouts cover back and biceps from different angles. Run them as written and you'll stop thinking bands are easy about four minutes in.
Legs
Seven exercises, no machines, no barbell. If you think you can't train legs hard with bands, this video will fix that opinion. The heavier bands in the pack were picked for exactly this kind of work.
Back
Back was John's calling card, and his back training is some of the best content he ever put out. Seven exercises to build thickness and width, with the kind of detail on angles and contraction you won't get anywhere else.
The Fundamentals
Start here if bands are new to you. John's top ten band exercises, covering the whole body. Learn these ten movements and you can build your own sessions for any muscle group, any day, anywhere.
Keep Your Shoulders Healthy
Spider crawls for rotator cuff health. Two minutes with a light band that will pay you back for years. This is the unglamorous work that keeps you pressing when everyone else your age is getting shoulders scoped. Do it before every upper body session.
Who This Pack Is For
Bodybuilders will use it exactly the way John did. Warm-ups, pump work, finishers, and weak-point training that keeps volume high while the joints recover between heavy sessions.
Powerlifters and strength athletes already know bands from accommodating resistance work. This pack covers that, and it also covers everything the barbell doesn't. Upper back health, shoulder prehab, and hypertrophy work on the muscles that support your big three. The strongest lifters I've trained with all did more small stuff, not less.
Beat-up lifters, this was built for you. One of the reviews on this pack came from a guy laid up after ankle surgery who used these bands to keep training when he couldn't drive to a gym. That's the point. Injuries, surgeries, and mileage don't have to mean sitting on the couch losing everything you built. They mean training smarter with the right tool.
Coaches and gym owners, this is a cheap way to expand what every rack in your facility can do. Warm-ups, activation work, assistance exercises, and rehab options, all hanging off one hook.
One honest note. Bands don't replace the barbell. Nobody ever built a 600-pound squat on bands alone, and John never claimed otherwise. Bands earn their place around your heavy training. They extend it, protect it, and fill in when life gets in the way of the gym. Used that way, they're one of the highest-value tools you can own.
Get the Pack
The Mountain Dog Band Pack is $118.65 for all nine bands and typically ships in one business day. These are the same pro bands we've been making for powerlifters, strength coaches, and college weight rooms for over two decades. They'll outlast anything you'd buy off Amazon by years.
John's mission and ours were the same. Learn everything you can, train as hard as your body allows, and pass on what you know so the next lifter doesn't have to learn it the hard way. Every time someone picks up these bands and runs one of his workouts, that mission keeps moving.
Live, Learn, Pass On.
Dave Tate / elitefts
