Constructive Feedback - Because I am a fan & care. Not trying to bring you down, but build a better podcast since I listen to every episode. 1. I thought that by giving 2.22 hours of my life and valuable attention (almost enough to listen to an audiobook, definitely expensive attention to buy for an ad) I would get in return some ability to "use and interpret my Blood Tests". Obviously, I would not become an MD or need to get rid of mine. But still expected some sort of knowledge that makes me less reliant on the expensive services & professionals. More in control of my life. Instead, I got an insight into how someone who knows "how to use and interpret Blood Tests" thinks and approaches blood tests of high performance. It is interesting. and useful-ish, but not worth that time and attention, since after listening. I still can't understand my test much better, make lifestyle changes or even know how to find and verify if a doctor I work with knows how to do this. Yes, there were some actionable useful bits, like "don't trust the results, because it is different in athletes" "diet exercise and lifestyle make the biggest impact" (anyone listening to this podcast is already doing their best with lifestyle, and is listening to get an edge.) But it seems like all the actionable stuff could be compressed to one youtube short. And the rest of the time was fluff. 2. I expected a lot more numbers for the markers (clear and useful) 3. I expected a lot more levers to push according to blood test results. I appreciate that there is nuance. I would have preferred 2 hours on one bio marker or one topic like 'dehydration and bio markers'. So that when I finish listening I am confident in actually doing something in the physical world, and actually understanding what's going on. But if this episode was titled (promised) "An intro on how an Elite Performance Coach Thinks about Bio Markers", it would be more honest, I would not feel cheated out of my time in the end. And would have had the choice to spend the time. I may have listened to it anyway. In any case, would deeply appreciate, if you did entire episodes actually teaching how to use one bio-marker or subject (like biomarkers for hydration, or overtraining, etc). Would be a great series.
Agree with everything you shared here. I commented as well as I took the blood test as well and felt the same way as you. What’s disheartening about all of it is he obviously comments on all his positive comments, but has nothing to say in response to really good constructive criticism. Doesn’t leave you with much inspiring hope.🤷🏽♂️
Super valuable content! I'd love additional deep dive sessions into particular categories; It doesn't really matter which, any category would be immensely valuable.
Typically I draw CMP, CBC, etc… At 8:00am, fasted no caff. Will an easy jog, or a bike ride the morning before Jack with results? Nothing intense, just a base zone 2, 1hr workout. Very hard to skip 48hrs of no workout (addicted 🙋🏼♂️) TIA ❤ your work!!
This was suuuuper interesting!!! Can't thank you enough!!! Can't wait for you to cover breathing rate at rest in people overdoing cardio endurance exercise/training. Thank you!
Thanks Andy, such great insights into human physiology! Here goes another long one, sorry. There's lots of useful information here that they don't teach in med school. Practice changing when it comes to optimizing performance for sure. It’s great that you emphasized the focus should be on treating people/symptoms rather than lab values. I find patients often fixate on labs without taking into account the big picture. Med students early in training tend to do this as well. The public perception seems to be that that biomarkers answer questions without ambiguity. You did well to convey that this isn’t the case. Everyone who has ever had a blood test should listen to the reference range section haha. Separating signal from noise in this context can be challenging. However, like any subject in academics, it is teachable and this was a great intro. Thanks again and keep it up!
Would love to see a talk about first responders such as military, law enforcement fire service. I feel like they are so complex as far as physical/physiological requiremnts, daily stress management from the type of work, shift work, in vehicles for hours with body armour on etc.
JUST AWESOME!!! NEXT LEVEL. EVERY DOCTOR and FRANKLY EVERYONE SHOULD LISTEN. One question on 1:00:40 you talk about Fructosamine being better than HbA1C. But right after that phrase you say- "It requires normal albumin to interpret, and if your albumin is off, then Fructosamine will naturally be off" So how then Fructosamine is better than Hba1C? Or maybe you meant Albumin is required for Hba1C?
Thank you for the link on the Magnesium survey. I heard about Mag supplemental from Attia recently but it's nice to able to quantify it. I was in the midrange of the score.
Great podcast Andy! Thank you for providing all this information! Assuming an athlete doesn’t have any of the issues you mentioned (like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, alcohol consumption, or elevated CRP), is there any evidence of liver or kidney damage from long-term elevated ALT, AST, and GGT levels due to training? Really appreciate it!
43:20 "heel strike hemolysis", when you said it, i (a tennis player) was like "does he literally mean running smashes blood cells??" And that's exactly what you explained!😂 I had no idea this was a thing. Fun stuff
I had these questions after the muscle building episode. I am curious about isometric holds type exercises and muscle/strength building. What role do you see them being most applicable in if at all in a program. For example, I am progressing towards a free handstand and front lever outside of my resistance training in the gym. I know I'm improving in strength/muscle endurance since I am progressing, but am curious how isometric hold times correspond to rep ranges. In the same way that there are general rep ranges for strength and hypertrophy, are there analogous time ranges for isometric holds, or is any isometric hold basically only training muscle endurance? I hope you have a chance to discuss this in a future episode.
Isometrics are great! They can be useful for strength, stability, joint health, tissue tolerance, muscular endurance, etc. However, they aren't as effective as other outcomes like speed, power, or hypertrophy.
Thank you for the excellent content you provide. Today's episode however leaves me with the need to emphasize again caution when interpreting lab results. It is not without reason that we as physicians spend quite a few years in training and under supervision of experienced doctors. It really takes time to reliably identify biological patterns and it is even harder to ask the right questions in the first place. You really said something like that, but it is really important not to overlook a potential serious problem. For instance you mentioned CRP and ESR First: CRP is normally not indicative of a viral infection.Serious elevations are seen in bacterial infection or In states of severe inflammation and trauma. A combination of high ESR and low CRP can also be interpreted as a hint for a hematological problem and not as a resolved problem. Enough said.. You are probably very versed in using this type of analysis and will recognize potential medical conditions. But most of the people should see a dedicated sports physician to answer their questions. Again thanks for your great work! Cheers
Thank you for this. My albumin levels are always 3,9-4.0. I have been curious about this, because it shows up as a marker that decreases my “biological age” on tests, despite being in the “normal” range. What does this mean and what can be done about it?
Man I wonder if you PhD guys ever feel like just going to med school just long enough to not have to walk on eggshells to avoid looking like you’re giving medical advice
It’s generally frowned upon to give specific medical or financial advice to a general audience mainly because people will not hesitate to sue you if they lose all their money or are injured, or worse. I say that to say you’ll find that even MDs walk on eggshells on the internet
TL;DR: interpretation of blood test results is very useful but a very subtle art best done by medical doctors for medical contexts, by sports scientists for athletic contexts and virtually everybody else (especially recreational laypeople) had best be super humble and dial their confidence in their own interpretation skills wayyyy down.
