Which Cycling Training App is Best? Should you chose Zwift vs Sufferfest vs TrainerRoad? 

Thanks for the review. There's some confusion about TrainerRoad in your review that I'd like to address. 1. TrainerRoad focuses on a Base, Build, Speciality progression for plans. We start with general fitness then get very specific depending on the rider’s A race. You can peak for Gravel, Road Racing, Fondos, Crits, Triathlon, Time Trials, MTB racing, Cyclocross, etc. With our new Plan Builder you can put in your A/B/C events and we’ll dynamically make a plan for you that is customized to your volume and training experience. Riders need to address different energy systems based on their target event(s) and we address this for them. With Plan Builder riders can choose the day of the week and if they want to train indoors or outdoors. You can even say that early in the plan you want to do all indoors then when it starts to get warmer you can switch some or all days to outside workouts. These workouts will then be directly sent to your Garmin or Wahoo head unit to execute outdoors. Once they are done they will get sent back to TR and you can analyze your workout with our tools and the workout gets checked off the plan. The 99% comment on our marketing site is about picking sweet spot base vs traditional base. Unless you are a high-level rider with lots and lots of time we suggest starting your training progression with sweet spot base. 2. Those studies were not about "proving" TR works. They were from a long time ago and were supposed to be a comparison between "just riding outside" and "interval training". We think that most people believe in interval training and those studies are being removed today. Sorry if they were misrepresenting us. Lots of companies just like to say that they are the best at making people faster, or that their method is superior. We think the best way to see who's faster is to just listen to the users. Here's a 1,000+ post forum thread about people's FTP improvements with TrainerRoad: forum.trainerroad.com/t/your-ftp-improvements/862 3. Of the apps you reviewed, we are the only one with a training calendar (which I think is best in class; and lots of users agree) and analytics. These replace the need for other platforms (and $$$) but you don’t mention these features in your review. Outside workouts (which is a huge plus for people) is also glossed over. We're the only ones who do this today from those you reviewed. 4. You didn't mention that our yearly plan comes out to $15/month which is the same as Zwift. Since we have outside workouts and you can execute your customized training plan either indoors or outdoors a yearly plan makes a lot of sense for our users. If you ever have any questions or want to give it a shot for a review, email us at press@trainerroad.com

Appreciate the positive comments on Xert, Alex! Left wanting more. :-)

Thanks so much for the TranerRoad podcast catalogue! I've been a big fan since I started training and definitely should re-listen to some of the discussions in there.

I'm a Sufferfet user for a few years now. Yes, the OLD video files are 'not in sync' however these are considered as classics. Look for example at the video 'Team Scream' - well played, in sync TTT with the perfect soundtrack. The App includes Yoga for cyclists, strength & mental training. A custom training plan is available on-demand and just now they've added built-in training calendar. A word about social, while the platform is considered non-social I found their community on social networks to fizzy and supportive.

You really missed the mark on TR. Sorry man.

Why the focus on price? We're riding £3-10k bikes and people are spending $400 on 5 watt saving aero bars, TR seeming pretty good value in that context.

Your comments on TrainerRoad suggest you’ve not actually looked at any of their plans! Like their 6 different base plans with 3 volume options in each! Need more homework!

So, you’re not very familiar with Trainerroad I’m guessing? They recommend SSB for most riders because (as the title of the plan suggests) it’s BASE TRAINING. Sweet Spot BASE. Fundamentals and drills and shoring up the foundations of fitness. Had you bothered to research more, you’d have seen that SSB is followed by build and specialty plans that are tailored to many different riders. So your “99%. of riders into one box” criticism is speaking from ignorance.

I'm new to cycling and will soon be getting into indoor training too next month. Thanks very much for your views of each app, really interesting stuff!! 👍 👍

Switched from TR to Xert. More comprehensive with Smart Adaptive workouts. And if you like stats, Xert has TR beat by a mile

Great video. Trainerroad user here but it is way too expensive now. I will say you missed the mark at 9:30 though. They have lots of plans. They are saying to start their base phase with sweet spot base. Then they have low medium and high volumes. Then they have a build phase and speciality with loads of plans

I find Sufferfest motivating. That is 90% of the battle.

I went from TR to Xert. Loving the FTP approach and not having to do FTP tests. And the dynamic workout approach is second to none. The races in Swift are good for variation, and I like the humor in Sufferfest.

Golden Cheetah works. Most of the time at least. And it's free software. No company stealing your data, no matter how useless it's still your data.

Never mentioned Rouvy. Who uses. I’m quite a fan.

Comment on the Zwift workouts/plans. If you`re somewhat knowledgeable you should be able to use the wast amount of rides and races to construct a trainingplan.

My Tacx vortex has a proprietary only ant-connection (which I don't even use). So I don't use any software (not even the Tacx tts4 software). I just do my LSD (zone 1-2) rides on the trainer in the winter. I don't need software for that (Usually I don't even bother to wear my HRM). I might throw in some polarized stuff later on and I could use an erg mode for that probably (I'd still rather do that outside). I don't like or need zwift (which doesn't feel social to me at all even when I compare it with a proper group ride with a bunch of strangers). And If I want to watch a video I'll go to youtube (or netflix or whatever)

Sufferfest has around 50 cycling workouts. Not 1000. MaximumTrainer has retired.

Awesome video, excellent review of the major apps, I wish you had done the smaller ones too however. In my opinion most expensive (ie trainerroad) does not always mean best. It depends on your riding style, your motivation and training pattern.

Here is our video response to the hate mail and abusive comments I got from some TR users afer I posted this video:: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BZ_QwwKv_Bg.html. Summary: I asked all apps for a free code, only Sufferfest responded. I took no money from any app. All opinions were my own. All the evidence for and against sweetspot is here: medium.com/fastfitnesstips/sweetspot-or-sourspot-ba596ea718ed?source=collection_home---4------2-----------------------

Fantastic video, start to finish. I can't believe you created that podcast catalog - so useful and amazing!! Thanks, mate

Kudos for not holding back your opinions! I like the value for the money you take in your videos. Not many people have the guts to point out that the emperor is naked! I was a little surprised that you didn’t really mention TrainingPeaks in this video.

@trainerroad

I guess I am on the opposite scale in that I hate zwift for two reasons. The whole social aspect is more annoyance than benefit and I believe is having a massive impact on a loss of rider skills. The fact that you can just push forward and every other rider just gets out of the way has resulted in a loss of awareness by riders out on the road. This is seen at its worst in major events such as the Amy Grand Fondo this year which left me to scared to go back as this was like the past 6-7 years ( after missing 2018) combined in the first have of the ride. At every rest stop I watch riders shift from the left (fully closed roads) to the right with the last 10 meters before the rest stop where as in the past they would position on the right a couple of km beforehand. Now when you look at the behavior of riders in the bunches it was obvious they had no idea how to manage changes in the road and even saw a mate brought down because someone thought it was ok to just surge in between them. The second is the miss connection with training sessions and the road. I would constantly find myself riding uphill in a recovery and down hill during the interval, this just did my head in. Personally I like the Sufferfest as at least I get something to watch and the yoga sessions are a good ad on.

Trainer road for the past 2 years. Used zwift for about 2 months, just seem flimsy and cheap. The Sims for cyclist.

I think you said all in one phrase if you use the app then it is worth the money. The majority of cyclists will improve no matter what

Why are you sitting in a fireplace?

Thanks for including SUF in this overview, Alex. I would encourage your viewers to check out The Sufferfest and experience for themselves how much more effective 4DP-optimised workouts are than FTP-based sessions. We have the best sports scientists in the business creating our workouts and training plans, including Coach Neal Henderson, the man behind 48 world and national championships, Olympic medals, Grand Tour stage wins, and two World Hour Records. The Sufferfest is also the most comprehensive training app available, with strength training for cyclists, yoga for cyclists, and mental toughness training included with every subscription.

Nice video Alex! I've used Zwift and TR, now I'm working with a coach so looking for a free OR near-to application with a simple workout builder and metrics displayed. Any you can recommend out of the twenty or so you mentioned?

Xert for me it's brilliant! And a good price.

So you can read specs from a website... Good for you...

Great review

This guy is the real deal. He is on par with GPlama, DC rainmaker & Dylan Johnson. TR works for many but I can’t stand it. What you enjoy more is going to get you improving more IMHO.

Sufferfest still offers a better training metric for accurate power zones. No other app offers 4DP profiling. We all want to know what our max power zones for different durations for the most effective training.We are all different. I have to agree with Alex ultimately. Trainer road is also lacking an accurate power zone metric too. Zwift does not give you accurate power zones which also correlate with heart rate zones. Adding the data onto Training peaks shows how inaccurate the TSS is also. It’s a good platform for virtual cycling but not precise for training. Sufferfest all the way for me. Group rides for being social on Zwift is okay but a zone 1/2 ride is different for every rider.

You clearly have no idea what TrainerRoad offers. Why would you make a video review then? Because you are being paid by Sufferfest? Gotcha.

Their podcasts are kind of annoying. All over the place and strongly based on their opinions. I'm a flexible person and I feel that I can write my own plans so at $20/mth I'm out in April. People cite all the variety, but if you're focused on one kind of racing (CX or crits) then its basically sweet spot for base, general for build, and 1 for specialty; with 3 levels of volume. And it follows the 4 week laddering structure like every other plan. With coronavirus this season isnt even likely to happen so I'll experiment with what I've learned from coaches like Dylan Johnson and see how CX goes.

First !

You talk too much !

Trainer Road:Ask a cycling coach podcast is free on spotify and can be summed up as... "All we ever talk about is sweet spot base". It's annoying to listen to once you notice that.