I think MED is an abstract training concept that depends on your current physical reality, your desired outcome, and the time frame you desire your outcome to happen in.
If your goals exceed your physical reality your MED exceeds your MTD and your progression is invalid. If you are still progressing you are exceeding your MED and under your MTD. If you are not progressing you are over your MTD or under your MED. You can never exactly hit your MED, there are too many variables, the key is to be over your MED and under your MTD.
Per Rip's article: "The Minimum Effective Dose will be the least amount of work you can do and still set PRs on a regular basis, as frequently as possible".I really don't understand MED ( minimum effective dose).
Depends on if that meets his goal for improvement and what his physical situation is. If his goal was 3 feathers then he was under his MED or over his MTD.Take a trainee who has learned to do 3x5 with an empty bar.
The trainee adds two feathers and repeated the three sets-did he produce MED ?
Sounds like he exceeded MTD.The trainee gathers all the plates in the gym gets under the bar and earns a trip to causality-despite his injuries, did he produce MED ?
Same as the feather example, he has exceeded his MTD or fallen under his MED. If the lifter is young with good recovery he has likely reached the intermediate phase and needs a higher MED. If the lifter is older with poorer recovery his dose may have exceeded his MTD, and a lower dose may help (temporarily)Then, learning from his experience with using all the plates, he gets smart and begins to add 5lbs on every new session. He keeps on adding 5lbs until one day he discovers that he cannot complete his last set and only manages 3 reps and fails the 4th. Has he reached MED ? If he adds a further 5lbs the next week and fails the 5th rep of the third set would he still have reached MED ?
Nowhere have I seen that doing less makes you stronger. I have seen that doing too much and recovering too little makes you weaker.