“Structured Workouts” are detailed workouts delivered through TrainingPeaks where every single interval is custom-tailored to you. These workouts can be designed off a wide variety of variables – such as your “Threshold” Pace, Power, Heart Rate, or your “Max HR” in order to ensure that you are getting custom-tailored workouts specifically designed and calibrated to your individual fitness level.
STEP 1 – SET YOUR THRESHOLDS & HR ZONES
Set up your Heart Rate, Power, and Pace “Zones” properly in TrainingPeaks under SETTINGS->ZONES (consult with a coach if necessary). The most common way to complete structured workouts for cycling is based on your Functional “Threshold” Power (FTP), while riding on a Smart Trainer or bike that has a power meter. Bonus: Consider joining our 4STAR CLUB to enjoy TrainingPeaks Premium as this will fully automate adjusting your zones automatically with notifications sent to you and your coach!
STEP 2 – AUTO-SYNC!
Many indoor and virtual cycling platforms and apps allow you to set up an “auto sync” and automatically import these structured workouts from TrainingPeaks to control resistance automatically on a Smart Trainer – using a PC/Mac, Phone, or even a Garmin bike computer or wrist watch as your “smart controller”. This allows you to complete workouts in one of the most powerful performance-improving ways…. using an ergometer (“Erg”) to automatically-adjust resistance in real time where there is no “cheating” as your trainer will adjust the resistance up or down if you’re going too easy or too hard, to ensure you complete your workouts precisely as designed by your coach!
Here are links to a few of the ways to enable “auto sync” integration with TrainingPeaks compatible apps. This is a great way to automate and streamline your training… so you can just hit start and do the workout!
– ROUVY (go to my.rouvy.com and click on the SETTINGS icon, then CLOUD to enable the sync)
– ZWIFT (go to my.zwift.com/profile/connections to enable the sync)
– RGT CYCLING (in the phone app, go to MENU->SETTINGS->CONNECTED APPS to enable the sync)
VIDEO #1: WORKOUT CONTROL VIA GARMIN
This is how to use a GARMIN bike computer or wrist watch to control resistance on your Smart trainer… so you can ride in any virtual cycling platform such as Zwift, ROUVY, RGT, etc. virtually while doing your interval workouts with your Garmin controlling the resistance in real-time (without needing another app, device, or tablet): https://youtu.be/wg2-KT_fWsI
VIDEO #2: “ERG MODE” WORKOUTS IN ROUVY
This is how to use the ROUVY AR app + ROUVY WORKOUTS app with ERG resistance. You can basically ride any video course WITHOUT the need to shift gears this way, so you won’t feel the hills… but you will feel the intervals! You’ll have your app apply the resistance automatically in real-time as prescribed from the workout as a smart “ERG” (like having a coach by your side adjusting resistance perfectly in real-time every second!). The only thing you need to do is keep your cadence up and keep up with the interval “target” power numbers when the efforts ramp up! https://youtu.be/iDNH5ycunVc
VIDEO #3: “COURSE MODE” WORKOUTS IN ROUVY
This is how to use ROUVY AR + ROUVY WORKOUTS without ERG resistance. Basically, this is how you would ride a hilly course while shifting your own gears… or ideally the mode you’d want to use while completing a fitness test where you try to perform your best! This is also a good mode to experiment with when getting ready for outdoor rides & races where you might want to challenge yourself to manually control your gears, effort, and cadence as you would outdoors. In this mode, the intervals from the workout are just a “guideline” – apps like ROUVY AR will simulate the resistance of hills with an actual course video, but it’ll be up to you to adjust gears, pacing, and cadence to follow the intervals in the workout app as visual guidance: https://youtu.be/5ca4Nj4o1Kk