More Fitness Breakthroughs with W Prime on PerfPro Studio

W Prime Provides a VISUAL approach to Intensity and Fatigue. I posted a few days ago about how my clients were successfully using the W Prime feature on PerfPro Studio, to achieve fitness breakthroughs. Well, it’s happened again. The second day of testing consisted of a 5 minute, 3 minute, and 1 minute test. I […]

Using W Prime in PerfPro Studio To Get the Most Out of Your Body

[caption id="attachment_1276" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]W Prime PerfPro Studio Analyzer What’s that Green Line? That’s Your W Prime Line![/caption]

W Prime is a great way to measure your training load.

Not everyone owns a power meter for their bike. Some people do not want to make the investment in equipment. Some just want a great workout and want to see how hard they can push their bodies. W Prime in PerfPro Studio is a great tool to help athletes measure their effort better.

PerfPro Studio has added features almost weekly now for several years. This is a robust, solid training platform that is my go-to for indoor studios. It is consistent and is easy to operate. PerfPro Studio shows riders what they need to know, both on a dashboard and graphically, so they can achieve their goals.

Since 2015, I have been employing W Prime testing at my studio, Cycling Center Dallas. It’s a great tool, and in this post I show you how to put W Prime to work for you.

Five Stars On Xert: What It Takes To Get to Pro Level, Part Two

See Part One (Free) for the background on Dr. Keeter’s incredible progress.

BUILDING FITNESS AND CAPACITY TO GET TO FIVE STARS.

[caption id="attachment_1251" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Keeter Xert Progression Chart Five Stars Kyle Keeter Stress Progression Chart 5 Stars[/caption]

Let’s start with the “Stress” Chart in Xert.

Dr. Keeter basically began from scratch, with a low fitness level, and few hours per week in his legs. He was certainly not UNFIT, but he was far from TRULY FIT. Here’s how we got him to Five Star Performance.

Five Stars On Xert: What It Takes To Get to Pro Level, Part One

    I’m excited to announce that my coached client, Dr. Kyle Keeter, has gotten to Five Stars Training Status on Xert! A Five Star Training Status is the result of A LOT of work on the bike! This means that his training volume, per his daily and accumulated “XSS” (Xert Strain Scores) values, has […]

Xert In a Crit: Prime Win and Victory!

Xert Podium cycling

Travis Pope is a big guy with a big engine. He loves to ride, loves to race, loves Xert, and he loves to train with it. He has been a client for years, but has suffered several crashes that left him on the sidelines. It also affected his training consistency.

But this year has been a different story. Travis has trained consistently. In early June, he bought a Garmin 1000 and began training with Xert Fields.

 

The Race According to Xert

[caption id="attachment_1089" align="aligncenter" width="1005"]Xert Criterium Profile Xert Profile of Travis Pope’s Criterium Win. Note the severe drops in MPA in the middle and the end.[/caption]

Last night, it all paid off! Here’s how Travis used Xert training to turn his hard work into success on the podium.

Interval Shapes – Intensity Over Time

[caption id="attachment_1064" align="aligncenter" width="806"]Interval Shape Defines Intensity Which Interval Led to the highest average power?[/caption]

Take a look at this graph. Each interval has a different shape.  It shows four separate 45-second intervals of maximal effort, on a 4% slope. I used PerfPro Studio to design this workout. Recoveries were three minutes each.

We also need to take into account that these intervals are taken 53 minutes into a 60 minute workout. The rider was fatigued, but the lesson is still relevant.

In this post I’ll show you how to use not just intervals but interval shapes to craft your intensity over time for maximum gains in fitness and available power.

Reliability, Accuracy, Results: The Beautiful Consistency of PerfPro Intervals

Coach Wharton Uses PerfPro

I’ve been using PerfPro Studio since it first came out in 2008. I’ve watched its capabilities grow, especially as we developed workouts and schedules for controlled progression and periodization. The workouts allow you to ride with absolute wattage, wattage as a percentage of Threshold, wattage based on percent of slope and any mix in between. […]

“On The Fly” FTP: Using Xert’s What’s My FTP App On Your Garmin

Xert What's my FTP app

Not even a month ago, Xert by Baron BioSystems, released What’s My FTP? on the Garmin Connect IQ ecosystem. The premise is simple: if you have a smart Garmin head unit (520, 820, 920, 735, 1000) and an on-bike power meter, you can determine your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) with just a few solid, hard efforts, over a period of time.

I’m always skeptical about new product claims, but given Xert’s incredibly short but solid track record of apps that are dead-nuts on, I decided to give What’s My FTP a try. I put it to work for two of my clients, and all I can say is Wow—the results are incredible!

Now let’s show you how to get the same results for yourself.