✓ Accepted Answer
The reason periodization confuses so many people is that most explanations start in the middle — they describe the mechanics without establishing the underlying foundation.
Here is what you actually need to understand: sports works because of recovery. When you internalise that, everything else follows logically.
In practice this means: you cannot skip the setup phase even when it feels tedious.
Most people optimise before they understand. That is why they hit walls later.
What actually works better: build your mental model first.
Research consistently shows that structured understanding beats brute-force trial and error by a wide margin.
by meronbekele29594