Imagine if there was a (filter) button that was labelled Alternative Workout one could tap and be presented with a selection of alternates to the one scheduled.
That would be awesome!
Great idea
GCN+ with the workout overlay (MacOS). The only way I’ve managed to repeat many of the inspiration vids over the years.
I do very much wish Wahoo would expand the workout overlay option to work w tablets (maybe even smartphones?) though. Cough Cough Minions cough.
Really great suggestion. I reckon that 90% of my usage of the workout list browser is to just look for alternatives to a given workout.
At one time there was some work going into naming alternate workouts in the workout description itself. I don’t know when I made this list for myself but it would have been based on what was written somewhere. I won’t vouch for its veracity:
SUF Rides of Similar Effect
14 VG- revolver downward spiral
Attacker - defender
BG tempo 5x4 - goat
Defender- chores rookie
DAYT- revolver joy ride
Goat- power station TWO
GCN Ready Steady Go-igniter
GAWI - EOS GOAT
Joy Ride - Revolver 14 VG
Power Station- TWO, Goat
Who Dares - The Bat, Fight club
Ooooh, I like this.
Being able to choose alternates would be awesome, as would having all the new content shuffled into the plans.
I… er, am not using SYSTM right now; I miss the immersion, but this was totally one of the problems; I think there’s a two-axis input to whether I can do a given workout again and again and not be bored by the content: One on axis, how amusing/pretty/engaging is the content, and on the other, how nuked am I by the workout itself (in terms of that thing where at some ventilatory threshold or other I start to think all kinds of things are funny, even my own jokes).
Thursday Fields is a great story, but twice was my limit, and I never want to see that stupid hamster from cadence builds again, but that’s partly 'cause I hate cadence builds and especially holds.
I still chuckle when I think about whatever that quote is… “This is the hit by a wall race. You look like you got hit by a donut.” And all sorts of similar silliness.
Like Glen says, being part of the story seems to make it. Some of the documentaries are really quite good, but after one or two viewings I’m really done with them. The classic Sufferfest stuff is my favorite, and riding with Cotty is good, too.
I have a spreadsheet where I have all workouts, IF, 4dp ratings and a general comment on the main intervals (eg. AVDP=5x4m MAP). It has proved very useful in selecting alternative workouts. I’ve been adding to it more this week, prompted by this thread.
I treat getting a similar training stimulus as more important than matching the TSS. In addition always try and make sure that overall fatigue doesn’t get too much (actually I’m very bad at this, but I’m trying…).
I never try and choose alternative workouts for the endurance or recovery sessions. Theres not really any difference between them and none of the videos are particularly engaging for me anyway, so I’ll just either do what’s on the plan, or pick something at random of the length that I want, then look for alternative mental stimulus.
@jesseransom All the videos allow you to turn off both video and sound and add your own entertainment. Alternatively you can send the workouts to RGT and pick whatever course you want to ride on.
Also as @leebo notes it is fairly easy to swap out workouts for others based on the star ratings along with the duration. I do that frequently with the on location rides and the inspiration videos.
Further, with strength and yoga, once you have the routine down you can just record using the Wahoo Fitness app and select the category and wear a heart rate strap and the workout will appear on your calendar and in your history.
So there are lots of options if you are willing to get creative.
Care to share this as a spreadsheet that we as a community can manage/complete/change?
Personally I don’t mind, though the data in it is arguably proprietary to Wahoo and only obtainable with a subscription, so I’m not really sure it is for the public domain (or at least not my place to make it so).
In short though I have all the workouts listed with time, tss, IF and the 4dp scores out of 5 (i.e. these
Sorting that list by the various data points then lets you very easily identify workouts that are similiar in time, stimulus, IF, etc. (TSS gets outdated as it changes with your 4dp profile. Given the drawbacks of TSS, though, that’s not a huge deal really).
I’ve also grouped together workouts that appear together in particular plans/weeks. e.g. It made the MAP efforts in the week with Sir Neal pretty clear and I swapped that week in for one of the weeks in a MAP building block to great effect. Similarly the week with Ian was clearly very ftp-like.
All simple stuff, also very easy to lost yourself in. Data is my friend.
Searching was easier in the old app where you could not only search on a particular 4DP focus, but the degree of 4DP focus as well.
A while ago, maybe 9=10 months ago, somebody put up an Excel spreadsheet that listed all the workouts and their parameters. I have it saved, but it should still be available in the forum somewhere.
Found it: SYSTM List of Cycling Workouts
Really? I don’t recall that level of specificity?
In the drop down list, you could sort by 4DP Parameters and the number of colored indicators for each parameter.
The old app no longer works, so I cannot give you a screen shot.
I do remember this. You could ask for (say) all FTP workouts with a score (severity?) of 3 or more.
Obviously it was redundant as no one ever asked for anything < 5, right?
Ha there you go. Not so different (though my has fancy automatic colours, thank you very much ). I didn’t want to tread any any IP toes.
You might be interested in something less than 5 for the 4DP metrics other than your primary emphasis for the workout.
If I recall the only 5 star across the board workout is Full Frontal.
No no no. 5 or nothing.
(Or maybe a 2/3, it’s only wednesday).