I’m pretty sure that’s at least 1/3 of the reason why TR’s workouts are written as they are.
If I am writing workouts for TR, it makes a lot of sense to program exactly as they currently are. Reasons:
- Boredom-prevention.
- Faster results than if they did “safer” plans with more low-intensity stuff.
- Time-efficient training. The big middle of the cycling market is working professionals without 2-4hr/d to sit on a bike. If fueling is optimal and sleep is optimal, I bet the TR programs are spot-on. I’d bet money it’s under-recovery via sup-optimal nutrition and sleep that is providing for the bulk of overreached or overtrained experiences of TR users.
Dylan (guy in vid) is just setting up a monster strawman, in my estimation. His market is probably more competitive younger folks with more time, or folks who have blown up on higher-intensity plans and he convinces them to go out and ride longer with great success. I could be totally wrong.
I have not heard the TR guys defend their approach to training programming, but I do know what gets folks like everyone on this forum to spend money on a program.
Results, asap.
Not solid, predictable, boring results 6-18 months from now, but results in 2-4 weeks, and then continued results every 4-6 weeks after that.
How do I know? Because I sell weight training plans and nutrition plans for living. My best-selling plans are the most aggressive and lowest training frequencies. They’re not optimal. It would be more optimal to do more long easy stuff. But that doesn’t sell or produce fast results.
If I say “this is the best approach long term” and it really IS, but I say “I also have an approach that is at least as or maybe more effective in the next 3 months but might be less effective over the long-term” guess which plan y’all are going to purchase.
Humans might pay lip service to the super long-term development plan, and a couple die-hard folks really will make that purchase but the dollars in the fitness industry say otherwise. People pay for quicker results, even if it doesn’t set them up as well for the future.
Moreover, the biggest drivers of sales in the fitness industry are testimonials. Which is more powerful?
“I put 30W on my FTP in 8 weeks!”
“I put 40W on my FTP in 40 weeks.”
They’re both the same person.
TR’s methods reap business-growth benefits of both testimonials. Higher intensities lead to faster results.
If they did more low-intensity stuff they’d only get:
“I put 15 W on my FTP in 15 weeks.”
“I put 44 W on my FTP in 40 weeks.”
And money would flow in for the first testimonial but just trickle in for the second set of testimonials. Promise you that.
this is all just a giant guess from my professional experience