wrong training status

Unproductive means:

"Your fitness appears to be declining but not necessarily because of excessive training loads. If your load focus is optimally balanced, it may be time to evaluate other factors like nutrition, daily stress, and sleep quality."

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/running-science/physiological-measurements/training-status/

Your VO2 max probably slightly decreasing. Check on the watch to see the VO2 max graph and the variations.

A few weeks in unproductive isn't odd. You can't always be productive. If it is that status only since September 19th then I wouldn't worry. Just continue training and it will eventually change.

Hi Andy, thanks for your response.

But I would appreciate if you can give me some additional comment on this situation.

Because in one year that I'm using my Fenix 7 I never entered the "unproductive" state before Sep 19th. I switched more times between "productive", "maintaining", "recovery"; I entered even "detraining" state once, for a week. And that status always reflected my real training condition. Never "unproductive", that doesn't provide relevant info. Even when I decreased the training to make it change (and I expect to change to "recovery", or "maintaining"), it didn't change. Looking at the various parameters that affect the Training Status the only factor that changed seriously after Sep 19th is the "Heat Acclimation", that fell down as in the picture below (in fact the temperature decreased due to the end of summer, even if not so much; from 30° to 15/20°). How this parameter is managed by the watch ? Becuase it's the only one that I cannot control, and that it's not related to my personal training activity. Thanks, Massimo

Check the VO2 max graph on the watch. It will show you how the VO2 max is changing. In Garmin Connect you only see rounded values. 

Hi Andy,

I can see only the last 4 weeks, and it started at 46,6, then fall to 44,6 and then stayed stable in the last 2 weeks. But it's declared "excellent" in any case

That it is Excellent doesn't matter. That is just a grade for how high your VO2 max is compared to your age group. You can get all different training status with Excellent. You can get Productive and Peaking even if it says Poor as grade for the VO2 max value.

What matters is the change in your VO2 max value. It went down and the status changed to Unproductive which is exactly what should happen.

Your load is increasing so if you get an increase in your VO2 max you should get Productive. If you don't get an increase in VO2 max you might get Strained or Overreaching depending on your HRV.

Thank Andy. I'm not completely convinced by your explaination, but I hope the Training Status will change in some way in the next days. If the change will be related to the increase of VO2Max I will be more convinced. Best Regards

9412305 said:

I'm not completely convinced by your explaination

Not sure why you tell that, but you can also read the official documentation which tells basically the same as Andy wrote:

What Is the Training Status Feature on My Garmin Device? | Garmin Customer Support

What Are the Different Training Status States?

Peaking: you are in ideal race condition. Your recently reduced training load is allowing your body to recover and fully compensate for earlier training. You should plan ahead, since this peak state can only be maintained for a short time.

Productive: your current training load is moving your fitness level and performance in the right direction. You should plan recovery periods into your training to maintain your fitness level.

Maintaining: your current training load is enough to maintain your fitness level. To see improvement, try adding more variety to your workouts or increasing your training volume.

Recovery: your lighter training load is allowing your body to recover, which is essential during extended periods of hard training. You can return to a higher training load when you feel ready.

Strained: Your performance ability is currently limited with inadequate recovery as a probable cause. This can occur, for example, during periods of unusually high training load. Alternatively, health and lifestyle factors may be interfering with your ability to bounce back from strenuous activities. Consider taking it easy until your body catches up.

Unproductive: your training load is at a good level, but your fitness is decreasing. Your body may be struggling to recover, so you should pay attention to your overall health including stress, nutrition, and rest.

Detraining: you are training much less than usual for a week or more, and it is affecting your fitness level. You can try increasing your training load to see improvement.

Overreaching: your training load is very high and counterproductive. Your body needs a rest. You should give yourself time to recover by adding lighter training to your schedule.

No Status: the device needs one or two weeks of training history, including activities with VO2 max. results from running or cycling, to determine your training status.

NOTE: If the overall status (i.e. Peaking, Productive, Maintaining, etc.) has not changed from day to day or activity to activity, this does not mean the underlying metrics are not updating or changing. This just means that you are still within the specific range for that overall status state.

Hi Trux,

it was clear to me that Andy in his first reply reported the official Garmin statement. Best regards, Massimo