Hi forum! For the past year I’ve been running TR indoor workouts on Zwift, but have decided to cut some costs this summer and am stepping away from Zwift, at least for now.
So I’m curious - those of you who just run TR for your indoor workouts, how do you make the time pass? For hard workouts I can usually just throw on some music through my earbuds and power through, but what - if anything - do you use for diversions on TR rides?
Thanks!
I spend a good 7-10 hrs on the trainer much of 2025. I watch primarily gravel racing and adventure bicycle riding videos on YouTube: VC Adventures, Impossible Routes, Dan Cycles the World, Joe Goettl Kerry Werner, Payson McElveen, Phil Gaimon, Alexey Vermulen, Dylan Johnson, Ted King, Maddie Nutt, SAFA Brian etc. (may have butchered some of the names).
For intervals, I created a long playlist a month or so ago from a creator called “cycling motivation” mostly European racing clips with some narration and lots of good motivating music. Super killer for interval days.
When my gravel racing/adventure playlist doesn’t have a long enough que to get me through a ride, I created a 3rd playlist that’s all one day races/world tour events. NBC Sports has amazing long recaps, around 20-40 minutes each, for each TdF stage. I just finished the 2024 tour, now doing the 2023, then I’ll do the 2023 Paris Nice, and keep working my way back. I just started doing this a couple months ago and have become SUPER interested in watching this style of racing. I hadn’t watched enough of it seriously before, other than maybe a little clip here and there. I’ve learned a ton and enjoy it more and more.
I’ll tend to do more outside workouts at this time of year but I’ve never found that for Z4 stuff and above that I have time to let my mind wonder beyond the countdown timer. For Z2 work there’s more cycle racing at this time if year so I’ll have that on.
Podcasts, tv/movies, cycling, breaks, snacks (e.g., fuel the ride, but also treats: I set up x peanut butter cups or other yummy things in a line.. and allow myself 1 every 30 minutes). I can do 4 hours of endurance indoors, but no amount of distractions makes it not suck.
A Max subscription works great for me. Not as well as GCN+ worked, but close. And if I run out of races to wartch, there’s usually a ‘podcast’ to watch on YouTube, or an IFSC (climbing) competition to watch.
Podcasts are all I need. 
For key sessions that are a bit more intense, music seems to make a difference for me, though. 
I only watch tv series/movies when on the bike (or on family movie night). This motivates me to ride because I want to see the next episode or finish the movie. Of course this depends on the ride I’m doing, it’s not like I’m trying to listen to a quiet conversation while doing VO2.
I watch MTB pov vids on YouTube. I mainly ride mtb and some gravel, and find seeing trails, gnar, and associated scenery more interesting that road riding povs. I was on Wahoo Systm for a few years and most of their workouts include vids, including the famous Sufferfest vids.
Same trainer time is basically my only TV time (says during rare time he’s watching TV on the couch). So mon-fri TV series. Longer weekend sessions usually a movie.
Lots of good suggestions here already.
I have a tv and a Blu ray player and a growing collection of discs, lots of movies and a few tv shows. Some of the films are straight forward action films, some are just my personal favourites. Interesting to watch them with the commentary and learn more about behind the scenes details.
Some may find this strange but putting music in while watching construction videos with sub titles has gotten me through long workouts. More skyscraper or cabin builds than HGTV kitchen videos. I’ve learned a bit about the process and it’s just completely new. Plus these videos can be super lengthy series of Timelapse content
And - chess. 20 minutes on chess.com gives you time to think between moves, but know the game will be over in 40 minutes max. It’s usually less than that so for a 120 min ride I play a few games then swap to watching something on YouTube.
For recovery… currently going through old shows of cheers, mash, fresh prince, Star Trek Next Generation, etc. will also watch a true crime documentary on occasion (heist and scams, nothing heavy or dark for me). Podcasts are great too… but they have about 2-3 min to be interesting max.
For intensity… I will throw on some old MTB races on mute with music playing.
Ha! Yeah hi @Saddlesaur. Long time no chat!
Wait.. Why are all you watching borring stuff?
I normally do the “trainer test” on shows and movies.
Can it make me forget how long I have been on the trainer?
Yes → Brilliant
No → Booooooorring
Need action that make me think of something else.
I maintain two separate youtube playlists.
One of them this just easy to digest stuff like music videos, reviews, and funny skits. These ones are watched during interval style TR workouts as it’s purely entertainment/motivation so it really doesn’t matter if I zone out or not.
Then I have a separate playlist which is heavier stuff like Huberman podcasts. These ones require more attention, continuity, and could potentially have a bigger impact on my life. I watch these ones during my easy, endurance, and recover rides where I have attention that I can spare.
After each ride I clear watched videos from the playlists.
UFC events are great if you are an MMA fan. 5 min rounds good by quick and tend to align well with shorter intervals.
For intervals, just a high energy music playlist. I can’t follow a show or a podcast when the intensity goes up. I found some pov nature hikes that I sometimes watch for chill rides. Speed them up a bit since walking speed is pretty slow.
I’m doing a low volume/masters plan, so I’ve not had to hang out on the trainer for 4 hours straight. I imagine there are bathroom breaks in there somewhere? I did a 2 hour session while watching Dune.
I just run my workouts from my garmin these days (no erg mode, just the intervals to follow along with) and watch a tv show or racing. TV only works for me on z2 stuff, harder rides I do the racing and some tunes.
Boxset, after boxset, after boxset.
I’m kinda the opposite, in that I’ve only gone back to zwift since the integration. The integration coincided with Discovery/ TNT cutting off Ireland from on demand cycling - I used to catch up on the racing during my TrainerRoad sessions.