Ep 354 - All About "Central" or "Systemic" Fatigue

Iron Culture presented by MASS

The MASS Crew

Sports & Recreation, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 827 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Eric Trexler and Eric Helms begin by discussing Helms' competition updates and the sad state of affairs in academic publishing (that is, scientific journals). Eric and Eric then take a deep dive into the complexities of central fatigue, systemic fatigue, the accumulation of fatigue, and deloading strategies. The conversation emphasizes the importance of personalized approaches to recovery and the role of intensity in achieving hypertrophy. They close by discussing misconceptions surrounding fatigue management in bodybuilding, the necessity of understanding the mechanisms behind muscle growth, and how current trends in "evidence-based content" are leading new lifters astray.

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Chapters
0:00 Introduction and Helms Bodybuilding Updates
5:17 A New Threat to the Integrity of PhDs
8:25 Academic publishing (i.e., scientific journals) is so over
26:52 Understanding Systemic and Central Fatigue
41:31 Holistic Approaches to Deloading and Fatigue Management
1:00:42 Tiger Balm and Icy Hot
1:08:04 Cardio (To Build Work Capacity for Bodybuilding)
1:15:41 Current trends in "evidence-based content" are leading new lifters astray

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, welcome back to Iron Culture. It is me, Eric Trexler, and I am joined by the Dr. Eric Helms with a very tiny spoon. Helms, how are you doing tonight?
0:14.4	You know me? I got Greek yogurt and a tiny spoon, and I'm, uh, annoyingly obsessed obsessed with food so I couldn't be happier.
0:23.8	Awesome. Is that a newish development, the ramped up food obsession? No. I mean, I don't deal with a ton of
0:33.0	like hunger or food pangs, but I, I find that I am just far too attentive and interested in
0:39.1	the flavors of things and care about food
0:41.4	more than I generally
0:43.2	care to be because it's just not my
0:45.1	normal personality. I
0:47.2	noticed the disparity and I'm just tired
0:49.3	of it. So I'm looking forward to getting a little bit fat.
0:51.3	But not before. How long have you
0:53.3	been, how long have you been uh how long have you
0:55.4	been wrestling with that uh maybe once i got under like 190 pounds then it's just kind of like
1:03.7	steadily as uh it's a good leaner and leaner so maybe three months four four months. Yeah.
1:11.8	Well, you're near the end.
1:13.9	And there are more importantly fun things on the horizon.
1:17.2	So you feeling ready for the, for worlds coming up in one week?
1:22.3	I posted a, um, a video of me flexing my uncle's bathroom and a speedo. The beauty of it, it's hilarious. When I check my
1:30.9	Instagram stats, the day I do that, I see this big drop. Like all the people who follow me for
1:37.9	like science communication, they're like, what the fuck? Why is this guy in his underwear? Pardon my
1:42.5	French. But then like all like the hardcore bodybuilders you see it over the next
1:45.8	couple days then it trickles up so
	...

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