This is not accurate.
I have not watched that many of his Youtube videos, but within the few I have watched. He has had long form interviews with people like Dr. Seiler and the the owner(?) of Silca.
3 Likes
The media thing, I get it, but you should absolutely be focusing as much time as available to Youtube or IG as a way to sell training plans. Plus I genuinely think he just enjoys it - sharing his knowledge and such. Theyāre interesting to watch.
To drum up training plan sales or get more clients, you should be marketing yourself. Heās probably at the point where he is turning away clients or has assistant coaches under his umbrella who work with others.
Letās say he has 30 clients and charges 200/month and then makes 2-3K a month in training plan sales. Not bad.
Youāre exactly right!
Charges 210$/mo. Fully booked but can get you in touch with coaches working for him.
https://www.dylanjohnsontraining.com/plans-pricing
1 Like
Plus the sponsorship $, youtube and IG revenue. Pretty good.
The other plus is, he can sell plans and you can even use TR to execute the workouts when inside.
Iām not a coached athlete of his, but have purchased a couple of his training plans. I am currently using his base training with weight lifting plan.
I used to use TR, then got a CTS coach for two years. Iād say his plans are structured fairly similar to my old CTS coach. My experience with the coach helps me to adjust the plans as needed.
The last two seasons Iāve done a hybrid of his plans, my own planning and I occasionally do phone consults with a coach to review my plan.
3 Likes
Surprisingly true. Having had a couple of different coaches and having also used some stock plans, I see lots of similarities in the plans I have gotten. I really think I could get a decent training plan from lots of different sources, including TR*
Where coaches really help is being objective in terms of scheduling recovery and also helping you work on weaknesses and poor habits (like poor fuelling on the bike).
*I am not at all a fan of the TR HV plans which I think are the result of trying to sell high volume training within the constraint of indoor riding. But I think I would have done well on LV/MV with added volume (not added intensity).
2 Likes
Agree. And I especially when I have a workout thatās meant as an easy or recovery day I get instructions like ādonāt let me see your HR go above XXXā or āpower should never go above XXXā
Iāve think Iāve learned enough from my current coach about proper rest and recovery and their importance that I could apply those concepts if I self coach. Iāll eventually probably go back to using TR LV or MID Volume plans. But realize itās okay to skip or workout or do an easier workout. Years ago Iād think Iād need to always suffer
4 Likes
Most YouTube videos make about 50 cents per 1000 ad views. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Considering he puts out a video every 2-4 weeks I donāt think he is making very much money off YouTube. Maybe companies are paying him for product placement but unless you have millions of followers thereās not much money out there, especially for a fringe sport.
4 Likes
Awesome result! really shows the benefits of consistancy!! can you share a screenshot showing training stress + FTP Progression? 
(understand if not)
People always ārecycleā, because he bases his training off of the same basic principles. Heās in the polarized camp, which is perfectly fine, but it is a well-treaded path, too.
Thatās not a dig, but IMHO coach ā workout selector and successful training plans aim to do similar things. Keeping an athlete motivated and consistent is in my mind a lot more important than what preference for your intensity distribution you have. Coaches also understand things like having to take care of the kids on the weekends, and the kind of constraints and limitations this places on their athleteās training.
I donāt think he makes much money off of Youtube, in the grand scheme of things, he is a small Youtuber. I think his motivation is to use that as education and marketing material for his coaching business.
Again, this might come across as dismissive, I donāt mean to. This is entirely legitimate and he attempts to make his Youtube videos informative and fun. And he is in good company: TrainerRoad and FasCat Cycling do the same. (I listen to the latter regularly and watch Johnsonās Youtube content occasionally.)
2 Likes
Exactly.
Butā¦better race results though.
With these goofy new YouTube thumbnails TRās been using I imagine weāll get a version of backwards hat Jonathan real soon 
2 Likes
I really like admillās suggestion. I do multiple sports and even the low volume plans hard to use when I add in strength training, skiing, trail running or mountain biking.
I donāt think the issues with trainerroad plans are just a labelling/misunderstanding. They just have too few plans that are appropriate intensity for most athletes.
I think for a subset of people-like highly trained athletes who can ride at 85% FTP for hours on end or people with very time restrictive schedules, sweet spot training is a nice time efficient intensity level to be at. However, for many of us, sweet spot is too high intensity-either due to formula overestimating FTP or that sweet spot in general is just too close to FTP to be easy/repeatable for that particular athlete. Most coaches and sports scientists I read or listen to generally recommend no more than 2-3 hard workouts/week which means you need to add lower zone workouts if you want to train more than a couple hours/week. This gets even harder when adding strength training.
It would be great to have plans that supplement low volume sweet spot or threshold/vo2 with endurance or tempo rides for those who are not severely time constrained. I know you can add workouts later, but this requires a fair amount of editing and you end up losing that sense of being ācoachedā and once I start microediting myself the plan starts to fall apart.
I love the trainerroad platform and podcast. The polarized plans are a nice addition. It would nice to have more plans that combine manageable sweet spot/high intensity with endurance rides.
Awesome work 
Yes, maybe a low volume plan for the āHybrid Athleteā 
I do plenty of Swimming, Running too with Strength thrown in.
Would be good if we could simply add in additional TSS outside of cycling so plan builder could take it into account ?
Recently started looking at the triathlon plans to get more suitable suggestionsā¦ but my swimming and running donāt really match up
1 Like
I agree with you that there are too few plans, but this is an issue that to my knowledge is being worked on. Basically, TR needs to programmatically generate training plans rather than basing it off plans that have been handcrafted. I also think that e. g. more advanced athletes should be prescribed more endurance work, adherence should be less of a problem than with people who are new to structured training.
What I donāt agree with is the āappropriate intensityā comment. IMHO a lot of people do not choose the right plan. This is still TRās problem, because it needs to guide users towards the appropriate plan. However, addressing the problem means diagnosing the problem correctly.
You are again mixing disparate issues.
- People who are new to our sport are often not used to working near threshold intensity.
- People who can ride at 85 % FTP for hours on end are very rare, and you need to train specifically for that.
- Sweet spot is just a workout type, and has been a very successful approach ā not just at TR, but also with plenty of other coaches.
- Other approaches such as Polarized are not easier ā especially if you have set your lactate threshold power (= FTP) correctly. Personally, I find polarized way harder, but worth it. (I combine polarized and sweet spot training blocks.)
- People should validate their FTP, no matter which method they use to ascertain it.
- You are right that most people should stick to 2ā3 hard workouts per week for optimal training ā provided they stick to the training plan. Scheduling also becomes an issue, because you should not do e. g. a strength training unit before a hard workout. Moreover, if you add e. g. a spirited group ride or Zwift race then this adds another hard workout, and your training plan might become unsustainable.
3 Likes
Iāve done both private coaching (with a CTS coach who was phenomenal) and TR. Although the private coaching was superior, it was not 10x superior to TR, although it was 10x the price. I like both very much, but for my goals, TR has turned out to be a better use of my money. I may go back to a coach in the future (if my goals change and I do more racing than just events, for instance), but for now, itās TR for me.
I wrote about this on a blog and can link to it if thereās interest in a more detailed description of my experience, but didnāt want to come across as a spammer.
6 Likes
Iād like to read about your experience. Can you post a link, please?
4 Likes
Sure. Here you go.
7 Likes
Great write up
Although TrainerRoad is not a live coach the podcast and Forums add immense value, need to bounce an idea of someone? Post on the forum 
(not saying it replaces a personal coach, but you will still get great feedback)
3 Likes