The supercompensation curve shows fitness dipping after a workout, recovering, then rising above the starting level. It is a helpful teaching picture, but real adaptation is more complex.
The model explains why recovery matters and why sessions timed too close together can accumulate fatigue
In reality, different systems recover at different speeds: glycogen, muscle damage, nervous system and tendons are not on the same clock
The fitness-fatigue model treats each session as creating both fitness and fatigue, with fatigue fading faster
Practically, consistent training over months matters more than timing each session to a theoretical peak