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3260 sats \ 12 replies \ @OC 13 Dec 2023 \ on: Zwift biking Fitness
I've done over 10 000km on zwift. It's a good platform. Great if you're not comfortable riding outdoors, or like to supplement your outdoor riding due to bad weather etc. All you need is a bike, a smart trainer of some kind (kickr, tacx etc) and the right cassette to fit onto the smart trainer(the group of cogs that are on your back wheel, i.e your bike has 10 cogs on the back wheel, get a 10 speed cassette for the smart trainer). You download the Zwift app either on your laptop, your phone or if you have something like apple TV you can get it on there.
I've also used wahoo's alternative called Wahoo Systm, there are others called FulGaz , Trainer Road and Rouvy.
There's no wrong answers here as to what platform is best. Zwift probably has the largest user base, and is the most "video-game" like experience. You can ride with friends who also have zwift and you can choose between a free ride around the zwift world, doing a virtual race with other Zwifters or doing a training program to target specific goals.
You can YouTube something like "my Zwift setup/ideal Zwift setup" and you'll get hours of videos explaining it properly.
The other platforms have their own advantages as well, some use real footage instead of computer graphics.
You can often find smart trainers on marketplace or the like if you're not 100% on the idea and don't want to spend too much money, just get them to show you it works before you take it home.
Personally I love it, i'm a keen cyclist with a young family so it's a great way to get some km's (miles) into my legs when life or the weather doesn't let me get outside.
any newish smart trainer should work with Zwift. What happens is the bluetooth connection on the trainer talks to whatever you're running the Zwift app on and transmits the power/cadence data to your device
Thank you for this!
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Definitely a useful answer. Thanks!
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anytime friend. this is my niche where I can actually provide value so i'm happy to elaborate and help where I can. Thanks for the massive zap
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Value 4 value ;)
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Got my Wahoo bike set up this morning. Eager to do my first session around lunch time. Got a 1-year membership for Zwift ready to get me back into shape.
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Great job mate. Glad to hear it. There are some workout plans on there if you have a specific goal in mind, or just want to follow along with a plan without thinking too much about the "when/how much" of it all.
Best advice I can give is be consistent. Set yourself a weekly goal and do your best to stick with it. Don't go too hard too early, just pick an amount of riding that you can do week in week out for the whole year. Volume and consistency are the 2 biggest indicators of performance. I find music to be a big help on the trainer when I'm doing efforts, or I watch Netflix when I'm doing an hour of zone 2 (easy riding).
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This was fun. @OC, do you recommend making any changes within Zwift, like FTP value, or just letting the software figure things out?
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Ok good questions. I would recommend doing an FTP test to begin with (the longer one, like an hour I think). If you do it well you won't want to do it again in a hurry, you should be empty when you're done. Reason for this is Zwift training (and cycling training in general) uses power as the metric of choice. Your FTP is theoretically your 60min Max power. All your zones will be based off this number (as you get fitter you will need to re-test to re-calibrate your zones. The zones are expressed in colours.
You will need to change gears on your bike just like you would if you were riding outdoors. The only time you won't need to change gears is if you are doing a training program on "ERG" mode. The trainer will automatically adjust the resistance to the exact wattage specified for that particular program
You will need to change gears on your bike just like you would if you were riding outdoors. The only time you won't need to change gears is if you are doing a training program on "ERG" mode. The trainer will automatically adjust the resistance to the exact wattage specified for that particular program
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Great answers. I only did a training program in ERG mode atm, hence my confusion. Good to know I did not buy the extra cassette for nothing :)
Ok, will schedule the FTP test for the weekend. I used to be an IM, but now at best, I'm a Sunday rider with a beer belly. The zones seemed pretty hard at the default level.
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Wow IM! That's great, much respect. you obviously know all about training and training zones then, I'll stop ELI5 then!
Does it matter which gear I'm in? Or it also adjusts things for me automatically, based on wattage?
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