I’ve read their forum for days now @Pbase !
There’s a reason I wasn’t posting there.
I actually didn’t even mean to get into this, it was just me playing around on their planner that led to this chaos 
Glad I went on this journey though. Give them a few years and come back and see if they’ve gotten somewhere with it.
I WANT to believe in it. I LOVE the idea. I like the workouts. I just find it hard to trust a tool that is intentionally made difficult to understand and with such an unfriendly approach to customer service.
At my level Xert been great.
Yes their is a learning curve
Yes it goes against the norm of having everything planned till next year
… but once you get it and Xert knows you (4 weeks) it’s a joy.
Exactly my thoughts. There are concepts in it that have literally taken me years to understand.
You can’t just sign up and do the workouts it suggests as if it’s your coach. IMO it’s more of a tool to help with self coaching.
The difference is that wko is rather descriptive and you have to do your own decisions, xert is more prescriptive and then there is more “why” questions.
But they have someting in common - their UI/UX is terrible (like many cycling usefull Apps. My recent experience with usability in HRV4 Training proves to me that we are in a niche of niches). Here is the kudos to TR for a good Ux.
Not to try to be devise, Tr does great things… but…
This is because other products have to stretch resources in other things than just manage 5 or 6 curated plans and splash them in a calendar.
Yes Xert is not perfect and have a few flaws that they are openly working on, but if you imagine the work behind creating a 3D representation of your fitness - the majority of workouts are unique to you. Also if I’m in a effort above TP (~FTP) I know how much I have in the tank (+/- 5 seconds). I could keep going (no ramp test, decay, carbs and fat burned…)
They have a lot more area to cover than TR. Yes TR just lunched AT after 10 years or so. It’s a different game.
Sorry I have just remembered that I have exact the same conversation on this forum 
I cannot use xert as I have a wahoo computer, so the only function I find great is not acessible to me, I do not care about TR Ai at the moment with current limitations and value that is not appealing to me). I was only saying - if you want new users you have to be accessible. UX costs a fracture of backend, so it is not a matter of money but I understand that every company has its own priorities. That is why zwift has been introducing exit to menu funcionality for so long 
So I am sorry for another xert discusission on TR forum.
This whole double act just looked SO off to me last night when I read it. Just looked like blatant goalpost moving for a product that has issues especially given the images I posted from Xerts front page on how they’re marketing their app.
But instead of calling this out, I figured I’d reach out and let Xert do it themselves.
I’m proving only that your comment about Xert not being a standalone product was blatantly false.
That’s all. My thread was not about any of this until you and some other guys came in here and made a bunch of comments about Xerts philosophy being antethical to structured training and it not being a standalone product.
It’s you guys who’re misrepresenting Xert and yet you’re claiming you understand it?
Clearly you guys don’t understand what it is even after years of using it, because Xert themselves say you’re wrong.
Exactly.
It won’t.
See we both agree it’s not fit for purpose. The purpose you tried to deny existed.
This is a structured adaptive training app to self coach with recommended workouts.
That has major issues.
OK, that’s enough. Seriously, you need to easy off… right now.
Stop harping on people and telling them what they do or don’t know.
You also don’t get to dictate what people do or don’t comment on.
Please refresh your understanding of the forum guidelines and resume posting in a positive and respectful manner.
Basically I was trying to use Xert as a workout planner.
And they came in here and tried to say I can’t do that because that’s not what the product is.
As if the blame was on me for not understanding it. Total waste of time.
if anyone reads this - email Xert yourself, regardless of the mod’s ire at my irritation at these guys. Xert will tell you straight up that yes you can plan your month out with their planner and it’s supposed to do everything I was trying to do with it in this thread.
It does just have issues, maybe the model is a bit off in some scenarios. I’ve been chatting to them in email this evening, they’re quite good, but what they’re saying is nothing like the above chat.
Apologies for going off on one, but being led down the garden path by guys like this is guaranteed to get under my skin each and every time. Just will not suffer certain types gladly.
I use Xert as a standalone product. It does everything I need it to do.
It adds structure to my training, analyses workouts and keeps my fitness signature up to date so that workouts are just right for me.
Mike
Be serious.
How does a customer support guy answering questions in an email about their product equate to them coaching me.
And no, just because a product has issues does not mean it’s not a standalone product. They have users who use it as a standalone product.
Doesn’t matter anyway. That’s what Xert is billing it as and that’s what they’re charging people for.
Edit and yes see, we have a user here above who uses it standalone.
This is true but the low intensity rides in the stock workout library arent that great IMO, a lot still have more intensity than I’d like. If anyone is of a similar opinion your are better off creating your own personal workouts, say ~ 90% LTP or 60 - 70% FTP (2 to 3 diamond workouts)… Xert will then pick your personal workouts when you need an eaiser day i.e it is recomending a 2.5 diamond day
Like when the advice is saying this…
" Your current [Training Status] is Tired and should consider a [Endurance] 
½ activity or workout, generating about 123 XSS"
Again agree…
Some of those Endurance workouts are over unders using LTP for example 90 / 105% ‘Lucy in the Sky…’ maybe… I find that to much if I’m tired for anything over about 75 minutes… so I create my own. I’ve copied a few and lowered the % to say 85% under and 95% for the over (which now isnt over lol.)
The forced upgrade to WKO5 put me off keeping it, along with the fact that it’s poor for planning without a paid TrainingPeaks account. On top of that you need something to create and play workouts.
Over time I’ve stopped being so sucked into analyzing everything and Xert has a good workout creator and player for when I’m stuck indoors.
Mike
Hi @Shrike
I’m a simple weekend warrior. 6 to 8h of training a week - less than half of you. I do not represent Xert in any shape or form, but you asked a question and I’m trying to help the best I can.
Xert is a structured planning platform that gives you plenty off freedom (contradiction??? No)
The point I was making about planning the whole month is explained here How planner works - Support - Xert Community Forum
Did you ever planned 3 months of workouts in TR and then had to adapt because of sickness or just life happenned? How do you include a zwift race in that plan?
Xert is always assessing what you do and gives you an updated advice in that moment in time (everytime you open the browser).
That said, what’s the point of planning the whole month? You still have base, build and peak, and depending on your athlete type, it will recommend a certain focus and xss. Have you done an everesting in the middle of the plan or not it will adapt.
Do you want to just follow Xert recommendations? You are following Xert plan. Do you want to do polarised and you know what you are doing… you can, and you are self coaching.
Xert have many new concepts and too many buttons to fine tune and that is usually the biggest burden to overcome to new users. The UI could be better too.
Xert also hosts professional coaches (not xert employees) that can coach you through their platform. As I said in a previous post I believe is probably a thing for you to reconsider. (I read your answer to that)
I believe you had a not so good start and at this point is a bit pointless to try to show different perspectives when a decision is already taken.
By the way the planner is a secondary tool. The Adaptive Training Adviser and the Training pacer are the main tools to use.
At the end of the day if you are not competing, just ride your bike and have fun.
I’m out to the memes thread!
I wasn’t able to either in the beginning but kept pushing myself and now a year later I can hold LTP for a really long time for many days in a row. This week I have done 4 days in a row of ~6 hours each day averaging within 1-2 watts of my current LTP. I have a 10 hour ride planned tomorrow and my status is tired as of now. I feel pretty confident I will be able to finish it even though I do actually feel tired.
My TP and LTP have increased about 15% over the last year but more importantly to me is how much longer I can ride around LTP and still have plenty in the tank.
Hey @Shrike. Thanks for checking out Xert. As many people have pointed out, it more assists you in understanding what’s happening rather then blindly telling you to do this or that. For example, to plan a week, you need to monitor the Pacer since it will help you identify how much training you need to do to hit an improvement rate. Improvement is what you want to make happen. Keep the needle pointing up on the Pacer and you’ll improve. Simple as that. This applies to all the structured or unstructured stuff you do.
In making recommendations on the Fitness Planner, it looks at your past weeks and offers you something similar in terms of XSS/duration. When adding workouts, monitor the Training Pacer and don’t let it get too far left or right otherwise you’re undertraining or overshooting your targets for improvement. Pick anything that you feel like doing in terms of workouts to close deficits, just keep an eye on XSS and Focus. Do outdoor or Zwift rides even.
If you’re on the trial, you won’t see a lot of variety of workouts. A trial is more to evaluate the features and functions not something you’d use to train for an event in 30 days. Hence the restricted recommendations.
In terms of outdoor workouts, generally is a bad idea to do workouts outdoors unless you’re in a place with little traffic and long stretches of road. However, you can also look to hit the XSS and Focus targets by just riding. You’ll learn that the structure of the workout isn’t what makes you improve. It’s the strain and the Focus. Doesn’t matter really how you get the strain (XSS) and Focus but that you reach the targets.
Hope y’all don’t mind me posting here. I figure the title is asking for answers. Happy to continue on our forum.
Good luck!
