I’m new here and trying to decide if this the right place for me. I’ve been using Zwift and Wahoo for the last couple years and have been happy with my FTP improvement but it seems like I’m ready for something different. Does anyone have any comments about these training plans compared to others, like Zwift and Wahoo and how they have helped them.
Thanks!
Hi and welcome. I will chime in (as I usually do…) 
Zwift and Wahoo plans in general are very different than our Coach Jack plans. Many users that love the higher intensity plans look at ours and say “too easy.” To clarify you can make Coach Jack plans hard, it just takes some more adjustments.
Very hard plans are good for rapid gains. Our belief is cyclists should think long term. Hard plans put you at a risk of injury, illness and burnout. If you tend to be someone that is highly consistent and don’t have much problem with any of those 3 then you have more flexibility. As we age we need to be more careful as we tend to not recover as well so it’s easier to dig ourselves into holes.
We also have a lot of harder community plans that can be adjusted to be on the days you want. You also can make CJ hard by turning intensity slider way up and making a custom plan. We are adding new harder plans in the next 2 weeks for those that prefer hard.
The indoor industry knows intensity is a bit addictive so they try to get everyone pushing themselves, where I feel due to our attractive pricing I am able to focus more on honesty and with that I would repeat what most expert coaches say, that most people can only push hard for 4-6 months so you need to time that correctly for your peak desired season which for many people is around May. That means right now is still the best time for some aerobic improvement with a recovery period wrapping up the end of a harder outdoor season. Prepare yourself to start a January build period where your intensity keeps building.
Coach Jack is not optimized beyond 6 months right now, we are working to improve this.
All that said Base + Serious Italian and big climbs is our favorite and something we feel people could do year after year and continue to see gains each year.
Our opinion is that consistency and volume are the most important so if something inspires you more and more likely to keep you consistent that is the best plan. Again if you are going to be consistent no matter what then picking the right plan can optimize your performance farther.
Sorry I know you wanted specific plan advice and got lots of general training advice. Hope it helps you make your decision.
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Thanks. That’s helpful.
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I’m trying to see if this app will work with my devices. I’m using a Saris smart trainer and and Android phone. When doing the ‘Early and Varied’ workout, the efforts didn’t coincide at all with the blue intervals. At one point the target power went to ‘Infinity’ and after fiddling with the 100% adjustment I was able to get it to start working again. Is there anything I can do to get the app to work better with my setup or is this a known problem?
Thanks!
As we emailed. Strange, we can use email to figure this out.