How does None-Training load matched decay method work? I am doing workouts nearly every day yet right after workout I have certain stats which decay by about 0.5% within a day. Is there a way to actually select No decay? It might make sense if I was training once a week but it makes no sense to drop daily.
TL matched doesnât freeze your signature.
The setting simply matches your signature to your modeled training load. That always changes slightly day-to day even if you work out daily.
E.g. a lower intensity workout or shorter duration is less TL.
So your signature should float up/down regardless of the decay setting. 
What matters more is the week-to-week trend over the block of training you perform. I.e. is TP trending up, down, or floating?
You can track that on the XPMC. (Progression tab)
Reference â Signature Decay in Xert: What It Is, Why It Matters, and Which Setting to Use â Knowledgebase
I mean it changes in between workouts constantly, Iâd assume it would only change from actual workouts. This is the part I donât understand. I thought tl matched would only recalculate it after every workout.
Xert recalculates continuously not just after a workout is uploaded.
The training load model includes recovery load.
Changes will occur even without workouts. 
Xert also splits strain into three buckets (low, high, peak) so itâs modeling LTL/LRL, HTL/HRL, PTL/PRL â continuously.
Are you used to training with a fixed FTP number until you improve it with a periodic test?
Well, Iâd just assume my performance values will stay at a point after a couple hours rest, not go down⌠Itâs kind of counter intuitive to me. I wanted to have it fixed so I will actually start the next smart workout with higher expected values which means I could push just a bit more.
IMHO The amount your signature will decline on a day to day basis if you are training regularly is so negligible that itâs not worth worrying about. The signature has to be precise because thatâs how the maths works, but the reality is it will vary day to day depending on how you slept, what you did the day before, whether you travelled,had a bad day at work or anything else that affects your life positively or negatively. As @ridgerider2 says itâs the trend that matters.
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I think, though Iâm not sure, that it is also affected by Training Load. If your XSS per day is less than your TL then âfitnessâ decreases and if it is above then TL increases, albeit by a very small amount. When Iâm training, I try and have more XSS per day than my TL - if nothing else TL increases and that does result in a positive fitness change, even if it is just how big a âspongeâ you have to soak up the training.
For cross-country mtb-enduro type events, Iâd rather have a higher TL and lower TP than a lower TL and higher TP
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Ok, so to add some extra info. My problem was that my stats arenât updating much which I assumed happens based on how easy workouts are. I assumed signature updates based on HR or keeping in line with targets. I have read up some more on it and it seems I actually still need to do breakthrough workouts or similar in SLOPE mode.
This is what I wanted to avoid because I donât want to shift during workouts as my derailleur is set for my road wheel and Iâm currently working out on a smart trainer.
Would another option be to just say increase workout difficulty by 10%?
Like going for ironman 45 (or similar) and just adding 10% to it, or will I actually need to exceed expected MPA (ironman 45 does not pull it down far enough and Iâm not sure 10% will be enough to do it).
Performance metrics really arenât that granular.
The math may be precise to a decimal point, but your body isnât a machine.
With TL matched enabled performance gains will be tied to your TL increase over time.
To prove those gains youâll want make breakthrough efforts now and then.
For example, ride the standard fitness test or a variant on a HIT day when youâre feeling especially fresh.
Ride entirely in Slope mode and adjust slope % to suit the effort required.
E.g, 1% during warn-up and rest intervals and increasing as high as 5% for the sprint efforts.
That will be easier than adjusting % intensity in AUTO mode (ERG control).
Youâll need to experiment during your first test to see what slope % works best wiih your trainer and the gear you want to remain in.
Well as I said slope mode isnât all that great for my setup because I donât switch gears at all.
I tried an Ironman 45 at 105% today and it was awesome. I also saw yesterday that I can modify pretty much any workout so I could just take a baseline and tweak some values to make it harder.
However, just changing the difficulty I can also just roll it back down if itâs too hard.
Well if I understood it right, your TL is average XSS per day over past 42 days, so at some point doing more XSS per day than you have TL is impossible as TL will also consequently increase in time.
hmmm not sure about that. If I have a TL of 75 then you are right that the average TL for the past 42 days is 75 XSS. But I can still go out for 2 hr ride and do 3x8 minute hill reps for a XSS of 123, so 48 XSS more than my current TL. that is the way to improve.
Obviously as you have hinted, that can not continue indefinitely as you run out of training time
I donât think you get my point. Say you have a TL of 75. Yes you can do a 123xss workout which is more than your current TL. But that will also increase your TL a bit.
If you do 1 xss over TL every day for 42 days, then your TL will also increase by 1 point and you will need to go even higher.
If for example you do 80xss per day for the next 42 days, then your TL will rise to 80.
So yes you can do harder xss workouts but going higher than your training load every single day will bring it too high to keep up at some point (which wonât happen anytime soon if youâre just going barely above, but if you keep doing double your TL, then you will quickly get into unreachable levels).
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Yes. that is correct. It is not possible to increase the training load indefinitely because that would require indefinitely amount of training.
You come to a point where you have no more available time and the only way then to keep increasing the training load then is to increase the intensity. At one point thats not possible either.
So the traditional way of handling this is to take a break or a period with less training now and then to allow the training load to drop. With a new lower training load and hopefully new levels of energy and motivation you can start increasing the training load and keep improving. The improvements is driven by the increase in training load.
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No need to switch gears. Stay in same gear.
Change slope %, not gears.
The higher the slope, the higher the resistance.
Thatâs going to be easier than futzing with % intensity in AUTO mode plus you can control duration of the interval.
In AUTO mode intervals will simply end whether you attain the intended result or not.
If you prefer to ride all workouts under trainer control, try Fitness Test Version 3.
Notice the MPA line drops and flatlines in two places.
If you donât fail at those points, it wasnât a true fitness test which includes one or more maximal efforts to failure.
In Slope mode you can ensure that happens.
Sorta. We look at all your existing breakthroughs that Xert has already detected, noting your signature at the time, and your L/H/P training loads at the time. This helps us generally understand how your actual numbers (TP/HIE/PP) respond to their respective training load (TP/HIE/PP, respectively).
The âNo Decayâ feature then allows us to make estimations about how your TP/HIE/PP have changed since your last Breakthrough based on changes in your L/H/P training loads (all this is done for yourself based on your own data).
If your training load(s) are overall going up, youâll see gradual increases in your numbers, even without breakthroughs. As @ridgerider2 mentioned, itâs this trend that matters: training is going well, training load & fitness signature trend upwards. Train less, then training load & signature will gradually decline.
If your training loads are generally stable, then your signature will stay fairly stable (on a week to week basis at least). Your FTP might drop a watt or two after a day or two off, but youâll likely see it bump back up a watt after each training. As @carytb mentioned, the day to day impact is pretty negligible.
Getting BTâs from time to time is still helpful to make sure that your âtrueâ signature doesnât drift too far from the estimates over time. Personally, I find it really easy to do if you do any sort of racing or hard group rides.