OK I know this is probably deranged behavior and that I’m in a very small minority, but I actually prefer doing workouts in the Wahoo App or an ELEMNT instead of SYSTM. Just a stack of numbers, a graph, my own music and suffering. The videos don’t seem to do anything for me. My loss, I know.
I say this because I want to know which workouts really should be done in SYSTM. Not because you like the video or something, but because there’s additional information on the screen to get the most out of the workout.
Full Frontal and Half Monty, for instance, would not be good in the Wahoo App because you need the instructions on the screen. (And to the dev’s credit, you can only do these two in SYSTM.) What others are kinda like this?
Uh why would I stand? (Legit question, that’s the kind of thing I’m after with this question)
In the Wahoo App you get sound effects 10s before the next interval that signals whether the next interval is higher or lower power, but I typically don’t listen to them, just my music.
I have done this. Just depends on the mood I’m in. Obviously, for a no-vid ride there is no real loss (except for the commentary/instructions), but if I’m looking for some kind of audio/visual distraction I do it in SYSTM. Reality is that when the efforts are hard (like the Cotty January challenge), I pretty much put my head down and just push. I actually don’t think you’re losing much by just doing it in the Wahoo app.
Also, if it’s a workout I really like, seeing the same video over again is actually a detractor - I’d rather just do the work and watch a youtube or something.
And I generally never take the standing advice - probably should though.
For myself, I found the stand instructions mostly impossible when I started using Sufferfest. It forces you to use other muscles to do the workout.
I hear others talk about it being a nice change from sitting. Then there’s Sir standsalot Cotty than never sits. And the legendary Sufferlandrian who did entire rides on the roof of his shed with no seat which meant, their standing for entire wokouts…
I digress greatly. The instructions to stand make the workouts harder and engage more muscles.
I agree about heads down for the hardest workouts. I’ll never see most of Burgberg, but it’s also not Suf, so I am not tempted to look up to catch the humour… or do it again, frankly.
Good to know the sound cues are in the Wahoo app. I have done a single workout in it, since I love the suf videos.
I spent the first 25 years of my cycling ‘career’ riding ‘dumb’ trainers with limited metrics available. It wasn’t until I got my first Kickr in 2018 and subscribed to Sufferfest that indoor training became something more than chasing numbers.
One of the biggest benefits that The Sufferfest gave me regarding indoor training are visual cues. David and Francois did a great job of weaving not only a story line but also using timing on the intervals. Showing an attack as an interval starts and using the video to create an instinct to go when someone else goes before you get gapped.
As Dame Isa mentioned, standing vs sitting also high cadence vs low cadence are cues that come up on screen.
Workouts like ‘The Bat’ have added content (mental training) as part of the video. A true gem are some of the Week With Neal Henderson as you get his coaching input while he is doing the workouts (Rabbit Mountain and SuperFlag are really good for this).
Personally, if it is just about numbers and resistance graphs, I think there are better options than Wahoo that are using AI to modify workout programs based on past and present performance. I know the face of cycling is changing but I like to think of my indoor workouts as an adjunct to improve my outdoor cycling experience.
Not only that - there are definitely instances where there’s a significant chunk of standing time at the start of an interval with, I think, the intention of raising your heart rate more quickly. There might be a Hammer or two like this, but it’s definitely a thing I’ve noticed in a few places.
It helps you put mental strength processes on positive self talk into practice. I guess whether it adds anything to the session itself can be debated, and I don’t know if you have tried the mental strength part of SYSTM, but I found the part on positive self talk particularly helpful when suffering through e.g. a hammer of the ninth kind.
As above there are better AI based apps where you can just see a graph and data. I subscribe to one of these (Xert) and this is now where I do all my training. I use SYSTM videos for ‘off-plan’ rides and I feel like a change… after all there are some highly entertaining videos on SYSTM however I mostly use SYSTM now for S&C. Those Yoga sessions kill me
Well I’m doing this partly because I’m team Wahooligan, and partly because I bike commute 5 days a week, so my indoor training doesn’t fit into a plan, I’m just picking workouts based on what I feel like doing that day. Also, SYSTM does pretty good on price by comparison.
