[Closed] Trainer Road / Zwift / Sufferfest or...?

Sufferfest all the way for me - great range of workouts and ancillary things like yoga, strength training. The training plans are varied and adapt nicely to keep you improving without flaming out. And the vids are heaps good fun.

Zwift if you wanna race or do group rides. Dull as ditchwater as a training tool.

I've got a month free on trainer road if you want it?
I liked trainer road. Always feels like it's making you faster and fitter. Zwift is more fun for group rides and races but is more of a game than training tool .
No experience of sufferfest so I can't comment

I'd do the free trial on Zwift at least, if this isn't about a specific training goal the other elements like racing/segment time chasing etc might appeal

menothim +1

Trainerroad is perhapse more structured with its training plans but sufferfest is more fun.

e.g. trainerroad might give you 5x 8min intervals, sufferfest gives you a video with 5x 8minute races up hills with attacks, steep bits, sprints at the end etc.

The yoga and strength work is worthwhile as well.

Sufferfest for me as well.....much better for actual training.

But I’m Zwifting at the moment, 88% of the Neon Bike task complete. Soooo close, only about 4 more trips up the Alpe. Fun fun fun!

I’ll be going back to Sufferfest soon though. Just got nothing to actually train for at the moment.

You should be able to get free trials for all three so give them all a go! I can provide a TrainerRoad code but if you are only dabbling prob isn’t the best choice.

I’ve used sufferfest for a couple of winters now and enjoyed it as a training tool. Never really got on with Zwift. Going to give it another go as my club is active on there and organise virtual club runs. Been using RGT for the last two months as their premium version is currently free. I’ve enjoyed that. I’m quite a lazy cyclist so tend to sign up for training plans online as motivation which they all do

Ive just been doing the mtb plan in Sufferfest, not training for any thing in particular but it does seem to be working.

My only gripe is its quite hard (impossible) to integrate into outdoor rides. The ones in the plan are usually quite short (60-90 minutes) and at "cruising" pace. It'd be good if it occasionally had "go for a fast group ride and knacker yourself" or "2 hours with lots of short sharp hills" or even just let you download the plans as training files so you could follow them on the road.

My way round it is to go outside whenever I feel like it, and just do the indoor rides and rest days in the order it prescribes them. e.g today is a rest day, im going out for a few hours after work. I'll just have a rest day before I do the next indoor session.

Cant understand the appeal of Zwift. Why (COVID asside) would you choose to do an unstructured ride indoors. And if you want a "race" just go out with a faster group and you'll do the same effort.

I think it will depend on you and what appeals most. I have had them all. I love the TrainerRoad approach and their YouTube channel but can't hep gravitating back to Zwift when training indoors. Sufferfest has come a long way and they have what seems like a really sensible approach to characterising fitness with their 3-D [or what ever its called] stuff. Great thing is you can try them all. I suspect if you are fighting to get fit then the most engaging platform is likely to be zwift.

I’ve used all 3 over the last 2 years. Zwift is the only one that would make me want to get on the Turbo. Brings an element of enjoyment to the suffering, second place would be Sufferfest, good upgrade to Sufferfest about a year ago that allows you to overlay it on Netflix etc if using a pc. Also allows you to turn down the effects and music. Sufferfest raised their monthly subscription about 2 months back so it’s now the same as Zwift so I’ll be definitely sticking with Zwift for the next while.

Sufferfest included strength training videos/programs and Yoga videos if that’s of interest.

If you're reasonably in shape then Trainerroad is too hard to do just for fun, IMHO. It delivers, but the plans are hard and take a lot of focus and motivation, and there's not exactly much to train for in the immediate future. If you're well out of shape, like you've been on the couch for a few years, then it's easier as you'll see big gains quickly.

I got on zwift when the lockdown started and the races are great - very motivating and can be very hard efforts indeed. Similar to what feed is saying above - the best turbo training plan by far is the one you actually complete, and zwift would deliver here. I've not tried any of the solo plans, but I think if I was training on it away from the races I'd do group rides. There are a load of groups who go out at various levels in a structured way, and the interaction adds a lot.

If you have the free trial on iOS for Zwift, you'll only get 25Km out of it.  I gave up before I got that far as I didn't like the interface (cluttered, graphics not footage).

Out of all the platforms I tried, Sufferfest was by far the most engaging.  Good content, good training plans that match the time i have available, and I'm seeing some decent progress because of this.  In additon the strength and yoga plans, Sufferfest also has a mental strength training program to help you with goal setting and overcoming obstacles.Their 14 day trial is good for getting a really good understanding of the platform as well.  You can use the videos with RPE if you prefer using rollers, no need for a smart trainer.

Sufferfest - I find this a bit teeth itching and try hard (in a bad way) for me.

Zwift - had it for a couple of years. It is very good. But I was never in to racing on it, the training programs are not that extensive and (bizarrely) I found the crowded nature of in the first weeks of lockdown too stressful! The whole ride another thousand km and you too can unlock a pair of tron wheels is not a motivational tool that rings my bell.

So it's back to trainer road for me. The indoor/outdoor training program really is very good. You do need to be the type that gets there entertainments from music a film or an audio book however as it's as boring as anything to look at.

Cant understand the appeal of Zwift. Why (COVID asside) would you choose to do an unstructured ride indoors. And if you want a “race” just go out with a faster group and you’ll do the same effort.

It's only as unstructured as you make it. We do quite a number of group work outs.

Equally the races fit in at times when there's no group rides going. ....such as 9pm. .... 5.30am.... always a group going out and that's only got better during lockdown with the number of rides going

Find it far more pleasurable than some kind of faux regimented regime with no end goal. - spent long enough with a regimented regime. Ridings for fun now and zwift manages that.

FulGaz is pretty fun, it's definitely motivating me to get on the trainer. They will be using this as far as I know for the virtual RAAM in June if you want something to target (you don't have to do the whole thing, there are 3 different races).
You can also run it passively if you want to use workouts from other apps too (I use TrainerRoad).
14 day free trial to see how you feel about it.

Enough variation on zwift to keep it interesting, lots of pro lead rides currently. TTs for short fun, or race up the Alp or just find a short loop and try to improve your time. Enough courses as well to keep you interested.

Fulgaz is my main app been using for over 18 months, plenty of variety I've also got a Zwift Sub going (12 days so far!) been using that for some variety, group rides, did a STW one and this evening a Norco group ride, as well as the Tour for All mix of group rides and racing, thought have found the group rides as fast as racing.

Prefer the real life videos of Fulgaz vs the digital worlds of Zwift though.

I don't think there's a 'best' app out there as they all have slightly different ways of keeping you engaged and motivated.

From what I've used recently:

TR
- best training plans
- includes really good calendar and plan generator
- choose your own entertainment
- best implementation of ERG mode
- group video workouts
- requires a bit more self-motivation and discipline to use. I'm not using it at the mo as I've got no target

Zwift
- it's an OK computer game
- workouts not as good as TR
- can do group rides with friends
- time goes pretty fast when zwifting
- scenery getting a bit same-y for me

Sufferfest
- quite good plans/structure
- don't take the videos seriously. They are silly and fun.
- ERG mode a bit finnicky compared to TR.
- videos can feel a bit repetitive after a while
- strength/yoga vids are pretty good.

At the mo I'm riding a bit on zwift so I can ride 'with' my friends (we use discord or zoom to chat) and using the sufferfest for strength and yoga. I'm basically just trying to stay healthy and not looking for any kind of performance.

Once I get a goal in place I'll be back on TrainerRoad as I know how to work well with their plans and actually get faster using them.

Stevious - this was the bit I missed really in that I don't also think there is a best app and we all have different motivations and goals so it's finding something that maps to that too and keeps you wanting to ride.

I don’t think there’s a ‘best’ app out there as they all have slightly different ways of keeping you engaged and motivated."

 

Bkool. Looks better than zwift. Cheaper and less social. Can't see the big appeal of zwift.

I use it whenever I get bored of trainer road and want to do an indoor ride without structure. You can race yourself from previous rides and add actual riders from around the world as well as virtual riders that push you.

Sufferfest – I find this a bit teeth itching and try hard (in a bad way) for me.

I quite like Sufferfest, but I can see how some people could react this way - the humour is a bit silly and clearly not to everyone's taste. Still, a free trial would clearly make it clear if you like it or not. Personally I didn't get on with Zwift: all that riding through people, the stupid tron wheels, people with weird floaty tablets on the front of the bikes, etc. And all a bit clunky on the graphics front, although that might be due to my computer. BKool was a lot better for just riding around. But in the end I come back to the "thrash yourself to a sweaty mess" fun of the Sufferfest videos.

So my vote for Sufferfest, I'm not doing structured training, just workouts on my own. It's boosted my FTP at least 20% since lockdown started so it clearly works. (I'm sure any of the other platforms would probably have worked, too!). There's an additional 30 day free coupon available (or there was a month or so back), it's: ALLINSUFPLAN.

Cheers all, I'll work through the free trials and see how we get on.

Cheers!