Probably biased and underwritten by sufferfest but maybe some legitimate criticisms. Comes from fast fitness tips which I think is a relatively good source
Frankly I think polarized plans should be included. I plateaued on sweet spot and now that I’m doing more polarized approach I’m seeing some improvements again personally. I found sweet spot to fatiguing at higher volume and couldn’t progress.
Stopped watching when he said the apps just takes the data from trainer and shows on a screen.
I’ll have to give this a listen on my 15min break
I’m not a big video guy, but if anyone who watches it wants to give a nutshell summary I’d be interested in knowing his main points. Yes, I just admitted that I’m too lazy to spend 15 minutes listening to someone talk about a subject in which I’m interested.
I just listened to it. He brings ups some good points about all the training apps but seems to be trying to sell you something. I am not sure who he is and probably should look into that but he talks about having a personal coach or training program for 35-40 dollars a month. He sort of lost my interest half way through.
He also doesnt talk about the other aspects of TR that IMO make it best in class.
As far as polarized training goes I cant imagine trying that on a trainer. I have done long trainer rides but to do them for months at a time I cant imagine it. Also they have talked about it on the podcasts before and they dont discount it.
Agreed, they actively encourage you to take your longer rides outside ready for the weekend.
Maybe the biggest criticism in that video was the cost of TR. Ok, so I’ll admit that maybe they are a out over their skis a little bit on price RIGHT NOW. However, consider the competitive field from a business perspective. TR are competing against major, major private investment capital. I’m just gonna be honest with everybody here: there are a couple of competitors out there who are flush with capital & will probably play loss leader for the next 12 months to gain market share.
Without any specific inside knowledge of TR, the word is they’re a little more conservative. Less willing to give up equity in the biz. So if you’re not going to sell your soul to venture capital you gotta find some way to fund development. You have to make a choice in terms of timing…develop on a shoestring budget & raise prices as new features are released or take a leap of faith, raise prices, and use that cash to fund & speed up future development.
So what I would say is this: give TR a little while. Let’s see what features they’ve got in the works.
If you sign up now and aren’t grandfathered into an old price it is less than $16 per month if you buy a year up front. Trainerroad are constantly working to improve what for me is already a class leading product. The community is a great resource, not to mention the excellent ad free podcast and the YouTube content. They really are going out of their way with continuous new features such as the plan builder for the price of a few coffee shop coffees per month. Given what the majority of cyclists spend on other aspects of the hobby I find it laughable that we are so quick to complain about paying so little for something so awesome!
He didn’t really look at TR very closely before putting out his opinion. He also coaches athletes through training peaks so there is a bit of a conflict there. When he said, “TR says 99% of all people should be doing the sweet spot base plan…” he lost me. Somehow he missed the other 2 phases completely and ignored the fact that there are 30 total plans with 3 volumes each (6 base, 7 build, 17 specialty).
Okay I was wondering where the TP thing was coming from so that makes sense. Didnt mention you can dump TP for the calendar in TR now either.
I’ve done TR, Zwift and Sufferfest.
I was a bit miffed when Sufferfest pulled out of TR as I enjoyed that. But I understood why. Zwift was fun but I cant follow their training plans or sessions as I get distracted.
That’s why I am back on TR.
He started to loose me early on when he was saying ‘I’m talking Blah, I’m talking blah blah, I’m talking blah blah blah’
Basically he’s had a little help from Sufferfest and he’s trying to sell his own coaching.
I really like trainerroad and I don’t think twice about the price. But it seems that in a competitive product environment a lot of people will see this sort of video and perhaps be turned off to trainerroad. I don’t really think his assessment is fair but it’s out there and consumers will take into account. I’m pretty brand loyal to TR mostly because of the podcasts, and the simplicity of the product is the appeal. If I’m grinding out intervals all that matters is the blue bar. I’m sure this is part of a sufferfest effort to gain market share personally. They’re also pushing themselves on gcn quite a bit.
Someone should put an honest assessment of all the training apps that isnt connected to any of them in any way. TR would come out way in front IMO.
All I know is I would rather line up at a race against someone who doesn’t use Trainer Road.
One of the comments said that TR claims of improvement are dubious. Not sure about that, since I picked up 50w on my 20 minute power over 1 year, and I wasn’t exactly a n00b last year either holding 275w for the duration.
TR remains an excellent value, I find it offers far more than zwift does, for example. I use zwift and it’s a servicable visual distraction but I’d hate for it to be my main source because I wouldn’t be as focused on the workouts. I bought my Hammer a few years back with the belief that I would be all in on zwift and enjoying the sim mode and racing a lot, but I tried out TR in ERG and my eyes were opened to the quality and focus I get. And TR has only gotten better. With zwift, my impression is that folks either ride around or race, and I think that can be helpful up to a point. But I couldn’t care less about a lot of gamification, that isn’t really making me faster.
And sure, if someone is experienced enough there is plenty out there that someone can have their own workouts and plans built out and not need something like TR. A lot of us don’t have the mental bandwidth and time to plan out TSS. I really like that I can follow pretty well structured plans, pull random workouts if I feel like those, and not have to fuss with anything and just start the workout and let TR take the wheel.
I use Zwift and I’m not just ‘riding around or racing’. I have my training plans imported from Training Peaks from my coach to Zwift. Zwift is just facilitator for my workouts. I’ll do a zwift race once in a while and it’s a good time.
Not meaning to imply that’s all people do, but I think it’s what a lot of less focused people do
For sure.
All that matters for me, people getting out there and getting the best regardless of the platform.
I push a lot of my friends who are interested in structure to go the TR route. The plans are very detailed and great. I used TR for a long time before going back to my coach. TR works, Nate is a prime example. But for some, it’s not the ticket.
Author of the video is Prof.Alex Mitchell, he does his own training plans through fast fitness tips. I don’t think he is a fair judge of other apps because of this.
Also worth noting Alex is a doctor of Psycho-oncology and Liaison Psychiatry. He comments on aerodynamics on other videos, Hambini calls him out for not being competent a lot too.
Personally, I think TR is a bit expensive to attract new users.
I think the value is there once you are 3 months in and see the benefits. But if I was to start again I think Sufferfest at 60% of the cost i’d probably try that first…
I’m sure Nate and team are well on the analytics on this, and made the pricing decision wisely.