WHY THIS HAPPENS
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Functional overreaching crossing into non-functional overreaching — too much intensity, too little recovery
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Sleep quality below 7 hours, or fragmented — destroys adaptation
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Under-fuelling — chronic energy deficit drives RED-S symptoms in both men and women
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Life stress stacking with training stress — the body doesn't distinguish between them
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Iron deficiency (especially in women) — standard blood markers miss it
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Zone drift — most training is actually zone 3 not zone 2, driving accumulated fatigue
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Missing deload weeks — 3 weeks hard, 1 week easy is not optional