I would greatly appreciate some help regarding choosing TR or Systm.
I have used Systm plans for a while now, and have followed them to a certain extent. I am now focused on hitting a 5w/kg FTP, and I am ready to fully focus on regimented and structured training. I love Systm, but I have also looked into TR recently and like the look of adaptive training, as well as their extremely structured approach (although I haven’t read many articles regarding the most effective form of training, whether its polarised, pyramidal, following base, build then prep phases, etc. It seems it is very debated, and there isn’t a concrete answer as everyone responds to training differently. Hoping the coaches could weigh in on this?).
Where will I get the most effective performance benefits from training plans, Systm or TR, or another online program I can use my smart trainer with?
I’ve used Troad for a couple of years. Their calendar is great. With adaptative trainingplans and the trainnow function is very easy to get things adapted for your shedule. Its the app I would use if I wanted a substitute for a real live coach. Just miss some entertainement and more variety (changes) within the workouts because the intervals are almost always too steady like in most workouts of all apps except in Systm where in an interval you can have several resistance/power changes within the range of the zone you are targeting.
That said System for me is better at the moment because now Im not really in too serious fitness gains. The training plans available are very limited and not really adaptative to you your your shedule. I always have to change workouts around but its better for me because the workouts are not so linear and the video and music footage makes every new workout I make a good and pleasant workout. Just wondering when I get all video workouts done if I dont swap back again.
Its your pick!
Best results come from following the plan, so whichever platform helps you do that. You wrote that you have followed them to a certain extent. Are you able to identify why you have not be able to follow them completely, there could be easy wins here?
For me I need the engagement of the SYSTM videos to get me through a hard workout. Ultimately though its an endurance sport there is a limit to what you can achieve as a time crunched athlete without adding on hours and hours of Z2 endurance riding.
I don’t see how TR is good value for money for anyone that isn’t new to structured training. You have to provide you own videos and or music. Whereas SYSTM videos include music that even matches to the target cadence.
I think AI and adaptive training are just gimmicks to attract and hook a certain type of customer, a bit like powerups in Zwift and the badges in SYSTM.
Doesn’t answer the question between the two but I’ll throw out the option I use, https://join.cc/#CompetitionIsGood
It’s a mobile based app with an adaptive strategy. It will change the plan based on how you react - ramping up or down, and if you do something off plan it will take it into account. Workouts can be pushed to TrainingPeaks so you can do them using anything really or they have a workout player in the app. You specify your availability and it adapts accordingly, and you can change the availability to be more or less the day of even. I’ve found it to be personally exactly what I want.
I wouldn’t focus too much on theoretically comparing training approaches and instead try to follow one approach consistently. All the theoretical comparisons will tell you, how the majority of riders tends to respond to different training methods but you will never know how much of an outlier you may be in the cycling population or how close you come to a statistically modeled average athlete.
In the end, every rider will respond differently to different training regimes. It’s only through experience and listening closely to your body to figure out, which one is most suitable for you and your goals.
So if I were a newbie rider, I might look into a polarized training plan, because that seems to be the method best backed by statistics right now (don’t quote me on this, I did not check it. It’s only my assumption from what I have heard and read). On the other hand I would wonder if I really have enough time available to follow a polarized training plan. However, if I were a more experienced rider and I was facing a plateau in my training outcomes, I would try to just look into another training approach than what I used to do and see how I respond to it.
Thus you might want to ask yourself if you were able to follow the SYSTM plans thoroughly and just don’t improve anymore using this approach. In that case, following another training approach might be best for you.
Just keep in mind: You can never leave Sufferlandria.
I look at it more as an attempt to automate what a live coach would do as far as making adjustments to plans and workouts that are responsive to how the athlete is doing. A coach will sketch out a long term plan to reach an objective, but they continually fill in the details and modify it in response to how the athlete progresses.
Will say I’m tinkering with TR layered on (free) Zwift, starting my off-season. LOVE the TR calendar and training adaptations, but yeah - for engagement it’s no SUFF.
That said, since I plugged into Zwift this past week, I will say the TR training has worked pretty well - other than some annoying pairing issues between the two and my motley assortment of sensors.
Really kicking the tires hard this winter, since my SYSTM annual comes up in February, and I can’t justify paying subscriptions to multiple training apps.
Very, very torn. Honestly I’m waiting to see what Wahoo plans for the Feb/Mar “event” as a possible tipping point.
I recently received an email message from Davis Phinney Foundation with dates (late Feb to early March) for the 2024 “Wahooligan Tour.” I assume it will be much like the 2023 version, with the obvious difference of no RGT stage.
For me the draw of SUF has always been the race footage. Where else can I ride in the pro peloton? And it’s not just watching a race, everything is integrated, music, footage and motivation (Suf love).
There’s AWW the Cookie Monster, Pro Rides, and He Who Never Sits.
Yep. TR can get pretty darn tedious. The variety within SUF/SYSTM workouts and plans as well as the coordinated/curated videos helps a great deal with the tedium of indoor training. Sure, I’d find and cue up some video when doing a TR workout, but it’s more work and not as good as the SYSTM stuff. Of course I do that with SYSTM no-vids. IMO, there should be no no-vids in SYSTM. You can turn off the vid in any workout anyway, and I will and cue up something else if it’s a vid I’m tired of.
I had a look at Join but was surprised to see they didnt, amongst the other Gran Fondo plans, have one for the Majorca 312. Systm subscription auto renewed today so looks like the 200 mile gravel grinder plan for me. I was going to leave Systm but the post RGT offer of free Zwift for a year has kept me here and the hope more sufferfest style content will make its way to the app.
@bob_dynowski JOIN support is pretty nice, if you revisit it in the future and such a situation occurs you can probably email them with your intended event and ask for a training plan recommendation with what they have.
No-vids are very important to many of us who use them extensively. And it’s easy to ride them and add your own video or music or dual-record with another app. Or choose not to ride them. Either of those are better than removing them.
I was only interested in The Sufferfest since I started using it when you could only watch the videos while riding a dumb turbo. I tried zwift very early on, stayed with it in parallel for a few years until they upped the price to give running for free, and I became a beta tester for RGT. I used to use the Training Peaks calendar with SUF to do plans.
So. Wahoo (I did already own a Kickr1 and a bolt. ) took over SUF, added stuff I’m not interested in, diluted the Tours, renamed them even. [spit] bought RGT, developed a bit, then dropped it in a legal battle with zwift. My sub was up in mid Nov. So I got 3 months free zwift on the compensation.
Guess how happy I am? I’m not renewing and I put all that in my reasons text box. I might, if I get bored of zwift, go for some monthly subs of system to get a Sufferfest fix, but I won’t be going annually again.
