I’m new to Xert and still in the trial, I watched all the videos and googled everything I can find, but I got one question I dont find an answer to:
How to tackle progessive overload, when I reach my limit on weekly hours?
If I understand correctly, I’m supposed to set IR to “maintain” when reaching max possible hours. But that also means target XSS will not be raised anymore - Xert simply aims to maintain my current fitness. At least thats what I found regarding IR and weekly hours. The answers stop here though.
So if I still want to get stronger on the bike will the following work: I keep IR positive and fix available hours for every single day (so weekly hours stay fixed, too): do I then get recommended workouts with higher XSS since the pacer thinks I’m in a deficit? And since the pacer looks back 7 days instead of fixed weeks, will this mean I get progessively higher XSS goals?
If not: is there any other method besides increasing time to train to still let Xert handle progressive overload. I theoretically can do it myself, but the reason subscribing to a service for me is to outsource exactly that.
Thanks in advance and cheers from germany
Daniel
Newbie Questionnaire
Are you running the 30 day trial or are you a subscriber? trial
What equipment do you have for training indoors and outdoors? Include meter type, trainer type, bike type, bike computer (if you have one), and phone (Android or iOS). Kickr Core, crank powermeter, gravel bike, Garmin Edge1040/Fenix7, iOS, but wanna ride on zwift indoors (zwift cog…)
Are you young (20-30s), older (60+), or in the middle? (no need for exact age) 37
How experienced are you with training by power? (newbie or X years using another platform) indoor since january 2025, outdoor 1 ride a week ago (fixed Trainerroad workout - was a mess → reason trying xert)
Are you a recreational rider or competitive racer? recreational
What are your goals? (example, special event in 3 months or best fitness for riding this summer) mostly fitter in summer, but maybe wanna do little local races for the fun of it in the future
How many weeks or months of recent power data have you loaded into Xert? 3 months since trial
What is your current star status? (example, 2 stars) ~2,4
What Athlete type did you select? (determines focus duration target) climber/sprint time trialist
Which Improvement Rate (IR) did you select? (hours/week training load & ramp rate) unsure, mod-2
What TED (target event date) did you enter? (determines what phase are you in)
) on XATA continuous (by may I want to be as fit as I can possibly be for a 7d cycling vacations in the mountains )
Several ways to address leveling out when your hit your max hours.
One is to simply pick harder workouts on your HIT days. More XSS. Same hours.
That is easy to do by selecting a higher Difficulty workout based on the diamond count rating or use Filter to select a different Focus and Difficulty. For example, your target Focus was GC Specialist (8-minute power) but you select a shorter Focus such as Puncheur (4-minute power).
If you want to do this programmatically, change your Focus to Puncheur for several weeks then change again when ready for a new stimulus point on your power curve.
There is also a General Setting called Polarization Level to modify the frequency of HIT. Less frequent, harder HIT or more frequent, “softer” HIT, but you have the choice to raise the difficulty level on HIT days (if you’re feeling up for it).
With XATA Continuous you’re in charge of any training blocks you want to execute by modifying Improvement Rate and Focus over time.
If you prefer a periodized phased progression running in background to guide you along consider selecting XATA Base-Build-Peak (BBP). That program runs for 120 days and changes to Continuous when completed.
For example, if your 7d cycling vacation started on July 18th the BBP Base phase would start 120 days prior on March 20.
The Improvement Rate you set at that time could configured to hit your max weekly hours by July. You’ll get a taper warning the week prior to your TED (target event date). I.e. ease up a bit and spend more time packing than riding. The idea is to arrive v.fresh/green for your event/vacation.
The Training Pacer needle indicates a deficit/surplus value in respect to the Noon (neutral position). You don’t actually have to worry about closing a deficit as it doesn’t carry over from one day to the next. The needle reflects a weighted moving average XSS over a rolling 7-day window. If you float between 11am-1pm position week to week, you’re on target to maintain the Improvement Rate you set. If consistently behind or ahead you can lower or raise the rate to match your changing schedule.
Ah okay, I understand that the pacer is just a visualization, but does not influence recommended workouts or such, like I thought. Thanks for that clarification.
My personal reasoning to subscribe to a training platform was actually outsourcing doing the progressive overload. So choosing by hand is something I did not want to do.
I played a little bit around with the programs though and while XATA it is a little bit hard to imagine, FAI populates the planner with regards to overload and maximum weekly hours - at least until the TED. Though I fear/imagine when I change the focus afterwards XERT will tell me without keeping (the then maximized) weekly hours I stagnate in the first focus and to get better I‘d need more hours, since coming from x hours already
I think for the remainder of the trial I just keep FAI with a populated planner and see where it takes me.
(Another reason to let it be for the moment would be that after yesterdays workout/breakthrough my TP is estimated a little bit high and today’s suggested workout was kinda unachievable But I hope just going on the system figures itself out, too.)
(no need for exact age) 37
But I hope just going on the system figures itself out, too.)