Ep 383 - Q&A: Imbalances, Fatigue, & REDs

In today's Q&A episode, the Erics work through a few listener questions. First they tackle upper/lower body imbalance — why lagging body parts usually call for improving training quality before adding volume, and why standout muscle groups can be maintained on surprisingly little work. Next is a long discussion on managing fatigue and exercise sequencing in high-frequency, non-traditional splits, including why the "48 hours between muscle groups" rule is more dogma than requirement and how to think about fatigue as continuous rather than categorical. The episode closes with a multifaceted question on REDs (relative energy deficiency in sport) — what it is, its warning signs, and the limits of what bloodwork can actually tell you.

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Chapters

0:00 Intro

4:25 Fixing upper/lower body imbalance

6:39 Quality before quantity

9:03 Why standout muscles hold with less work

12:25 Fatigue & sequencing high-frequency training

17:58 How to actually sequence back-to-back days

23:56 Lifting "rules" set in concrete

26:09 Are lifters too worried about fatigue?

39:34 REDs (relative energy deficiency in sport)

40:51 Liver enzymes, creatinine & training stress

46:07 Cholesterol/LDL & other markers

1:00:21 Wrap-up