In Praise of SYSTM

Success Stories
1

I’ve become a little bit obsessed with the Forum and found it really useful and understandably there is a lot spoken of what doesn’t work and what’s missing, so I thought I’d give a different perspective.

5 weeks in and I am VERY impressed with SYSTM today, as an holistic coaching tool.

I’ve ridden competitively and recreationally for 25 years. I’ve been coached for the last 10 or so, either remotely (CTS) or face to face (Elite Cycling) and so have a pretty good idea of what works for me, personally, and how to train, follow a plan, prepare for an event and be coached.

Whilst this isn’t about my humble palmares - at my best, a 21 minute 10 mile TT and; top 15% in the Maratona dles Dolomites - I understand the value of training plans and coaching in getting results.

Following 6 months of pretty much zero cycling in the second half of last year, I had seriously fallen out of love with riding, but knew I needed to get back and have something to motivate me. For the riding I was doing, I no longer could justify a one-to-one coaching relationship.

As a KickR owner, SYSTM hit the radar. And so, with a free trial, on Jan 1st, in a basement in Toronto, on my mother-in-law’s hybrid with a dumb trainer, a HRM and my power pedals I began again! Now back in London with a fully equipped pain cave and more tech than can be believed, I am fully into SYSTM.

So my praise of SYSTM comes from my experiences of being coached, following plans, preparing for competition and using virtual environments for training (from Zwift to Rouvy to FulGaz )

I find the look and feel of SYSTM really good, detailed but clean and engaging, 4DP (I’ve done loads of RAMPS in the past) has been a great benchmark and the workouts that are driven by it “feel” at the right intensity for my fitness just now - not just on their own but as a week by week plan.

I’m on the Mountain Fondo plan and starting at the lower intensity because of my break. I’ve included Yoga too. I like the variety of workouts a lot. I’ve not use Sufferfest before, and obviously these are serious efforts, but when combined with the other rides it keeps it fresh - I’m not one for just constantly banging my head against a brick wall! And even the inspirational videos, which I didn’t think I’d like are a great way to do an engaging recovery ride - I was wrong!

Everything about SYSTM is familiar with how I have trained in the past, but in a new and very engaging way.

The introduction of Yoga has also been really positive and the beginner sessions are great for me - and, importantly, targeted for cycling.

Sure, there are things I’d like to see, such as incorporating outdoor ride data files into my SYSTM plan, but for me this is a great and holistic approach to training and structured workouts with a goal in mind. I’m looking forward to the next developments, but as it stands I’m not sure I’d go back to professional 1-2-1 coaching - and I’ve not even tried the SYSTM 1-2-1 experience yet…

Hope everyone else is enjoying it too!!!

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Well, you don’t have to convince me, I totally agree!

I find this forum an incredible asset. I appreciate that people feel free to call the app a PoS and still engage in a meaningful conversation.

Now it’s up to us, as users, to provide constructive feedback to minions and coaches to make sure SYSTM keeps providing value for money and stays on top of the latest developments.

p.s. also a London based sufferer, will wave when you fly past me :wink:

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Nice post @AndyR! Welcome to Sufferlandria (sort of). You can never leave :). Hopefully you’ll find the time to join the Tour of Sufferlandria Feb 27-March 5. It’s a great great time. In fact it’s the greatest grand tour of a mythical nation in the whole wide world. Even if you have to adjust your schedule a bit, you won’t regret it.

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@AndyR Welcome and congrats on your success thus far!

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Congratulations @AndyR on your success, and the use of SYSTM.

Please remember that the vast majority of complainers (including myself), still use SYSTM regularly, including MTP, Strength, and yoga. Why else would Blender be today’s workout?

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Fully agree, it’s a brilliant all in system :blush:. Thing is with online forums and social media the trend is the negative stuff is posted so it’s refreshing to see a positive post. Thank you :+1:t2:

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I too am new to SYSTM and am loving it! I am in the middle of my 4th week with my new kickr bike and all the trimmings. I replaced my first indoor trainer a Proforma Tour De France 4.0 because it was time. Its a great bike and I love the up and down but it was stuck on ifit only.

I fully intended to get into Zwift but I really like the SYSTM videos so I took the 7 day prep training the 4DP and really haven’t looked back. Though I do use Zwift on my rest days, because I found as competitive runner total off rest days are bad for me. My body doesn’t react well to them.

Currently I am 3 weeks into a 4 week MAP improvement plan and that is followed by a 4 week FTP plan then I may do ToS.

I think the training schedules are great, I can’t wait to get on the trainer in the morning and I am already trying to figure out how I can incorporate the Wahoo Kickr and SYSTM into my training when the weather turns nice. Especially in light of my registering for the Leadville Silver Rush MTB race in July. For those who don’t know its billed as the 100 mile race with all the easy parts taken out.

Tomorrow is Attacker and I can’t wait!
Stages Cycling Silver Rush 50 MTB - Leadville Race Series

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I could not agree more. I use this test outside as well as a Garmin workout.

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Attacker is one of my favourites. You know it’s a good workout when you are motivated to push yourself hard.

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I started SYSTM in mid November (came from the woods mostly, but have had a kickr for a year and was doing Rouvy), started with the fitness kickstarter - it felt way too easy at the beginning, but increased in intensity towards the end. I then did the 4DP and decided to try a 4 week MAP block - phew, this is what I have been looking for (its intense and engaging).

I was able to sneak in an outdoor MTB ride last week, I felt slow but was trying to improve my use of cadence and figured my lack of good technique was part of it - then I finished my ride and it was tied with my fastest time of 2021 when I was in peak shape. I didnt break any PR’s (yet), but they are now clearly in sight - felt plateau’d most of last year.

I love the yoga (and needed it badly) too, I also like the commentary here on the forums and have tweaked my nutrition after reading the sufferfest nutrition guide posted last week. More please!

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Raced SR last year and SUF was instrumental in preparing me. Keep getting after it. And yes, there is nothing easy about SR. Good luck!

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