A mate uses The Sufferfest and emailed me this.
Looks suspiciously like the Blue Blocks of Doom to me!!
Thatās what I said a few months ago when SF revamped their platform. Itās a classic case of trying to be everything to everyone instead of defining your own identity.
Yup, announced months ago.
And FYI, one key reason for the similarities is that a former TR person moved to The SUF a few years ago. I donāt know the details, but it has a lot to do with many of the changes from the original SUF approach.
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Oh, I see. Iām thinking itās just gone live now though, this no-video workout library (i.e. TrainerRoad copy).
Youād think theyād at least not use a blue block chart with a black background. Itās all a bit blatant, aināt it?
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Yeah, might be live now, as you said.
SUF has been expanding and adding new and unique stuff (strength, yoga, mental training). This is an expansion on their own self-limiting video direction that launched them.
The addition of pure workouts is neccessary really. Thereās not much chance they could easily increase their limited workout libraries with videos only. Too much time and effort to add the vids.
I suspect they are working to broaden their workout and training plan library to more directly compete with TR, and increase their reach.
to be fair, there are really only so many ways to visual a workout, I donāt see anything necessarily proprietary about color choice
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Not to mention that TR insists on keeping a monochrome blue scheme, while SUF applies colored blocks that correspond to the rainbow of Zone colors. So SUF is not copying TR at all with regards to colors.
Apart from their āalmost trademarkā blue blocks on black background.
Iām not being precious or oversensitive about it, I just propose that itās a deliberate and mischievous/provocative choice of schematic, sort of prodding the lion with a stick, so to speak.
They could easily have tried to differentiate, but they chose to do the opposite. A few extra colour coded blocks for some of the intervals doesnāt hide that basic fact.
So, SUF is supposed to use a different color (non-blue) because TR was firstā¦ despite the fact that blue is used in nearly every colored zone chart that I have ever seen, to define the lower power zones?
Thatās a bit much to ask/expect, IMHO
There are far more impactful aspects to be concerned with if the duplication of TR by SUF is the issue. Color is the definition of superficial in this case.
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thereās stuff like perfpro, peripedal, and golden cheetahās workout mode which also have visual similarity. In the end, there arenāt a lot of ways to visualize workouts. Just like there are only so many variations of workouts you can do, you can do 2x20ās on a lot of platforms exactly the same way, for example. There are bigger picture things these companies to as their āspecial sauceā to attract customers besides the visuals of the workouts themselves.
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Haha, fair enough, Chad, I reckon we just have a different view on it! 
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I got an email recently that they are introducing a ārampā test, to use in between their full fitness test, and are looking for data to see how to use it
Now thereās something to complain about 
I just love the way they call them āNo Vidā workouts, like thatās a benefit. More of a āCanāt be Arsedā workout, methinksā¦
Finally, Sufferfest getting their act together. Just need revamped training plans with these new workouts in too. This along with the strength and yoga would put Sufferfest in top spot for me. To be complete weād need to see polarised and sweetspot plans done in the same indoor only and indoor/outdoor model theyāre doing for their current lot.
The fun video workouts can be optional. Or perhaps they can give you a selection of workouts on any given day that will meet the plan requirements, possibly with an order of preference from most to least beneficial.
Then the next step will be intelligent planning, ala Xert but without the rubbish interface and current workouts.
Things are definitely looking better in the indoor training market. Just a shame Zwift isnāt nailing the training plan thing. Their plans are a bit of a mess.
Yep, if you asked someone who had never seen TR to logically color-code intensity intervals, it would almost certainly be green for Recovery, then Blue Endurance, moving through Yellow, Red and even black. Nothing particularly proprietary about that.
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As a Suf & TrainerRoad user, iāll throw my 5c worth in
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A large number of the No-Vids are outdoor workouts from their Indoor/Outdoor plans. Not necessarily intended to be done indoors, but there for completeness and probably integration with an inbuilt calendar or export functionality down the track. Donāt seem them as a TR copy at all
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The colour is not an issue either. The blue is common in other platforms as others have said. Tacx uses it extensively for one
Overall, I think The Suf are carving out their own niche, which might be more wide reaching than TrainerRoad for sure, but not copying anyone else. They are both great
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