Ep 383 - Q&A: Imbalances, Fatigue, & REDs @IronCulturePodcast
Ep 383 - Q&A: Imbalances, Fatigue, & REDs  @IronCulturePodcast
Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
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
Ep 383 - Q&A: Imbalances, Fatigue, & REDsEp 354 - All About Central or Systemic FatigueEp 387 - Energy Cost of Building MuscleEp 389 - What the Erics Actually DoEp 314 - Science Is Broken (But Fixable)Ep 385 - Do Studies on Untrained Lifters Apply to Trained Lifters?Ep 290 -  Is Caffeine An Overrated Supplement For Lifters?Ep 379 - Behind the Scenes (Iron Culture Documentary) ft. Omar IsufEp 318 - Resistance Training as a Fat Loss Tool (ft. Dr. Mike Ormsbee)Ep 305 - What is Strength? (w/Drs. Adrian Kind, Conor Heffernan & Walter Veit)Ep. 220- The Lifting Stones of Ireland (ft. David Keohan)Ep. 280- Key Qualities of Good Coaches
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Ep 383 - Q&A: Imbalances, Fatigue, & REDs

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