Why does the button warn about having the Fitness Signature properly set ? Isn’t the fitness signature meant to be recalculated ?
Normally your signature is recalculated after every activity or lack of activity over time as you visit XO (xertonline). There is no need for manual intervention.
That manual option is used on occasion if warranted to recalculate (correct) a signature that was derived from bad data. For example, you might remove “bad” activities imported into Xert then recalculate your signature using the revised set of data.
It uses the values you input at the top of the page as the starting point for your first activity and calculates BTs and changes in signature from there. I think it also always sets decay to optimal and uses that. You can input a starting TL as well.
It’s a bit of an egg and hen problem if you don’t know your signature and are asked to provide one for a while ago.
Exactly. It’s best to slightly underestimate your signature at the start of the progression (if you ever need to do this - most people dont), as it makes it easier for Xert to find the first BT effort.
I noticed that if I recalculate progression without changing manually anything my status and fitness signatures change. Training advice is also changed. You cando it several times in a row and the results never repeat…why?
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I’m having a similar issue as the last poster. When I first try recalculating my progression, it lowered my TP by 7-9 points to around 221 (from 229) and my other stats changed slightly. I recalculated it again without changing anything and got my old higher FTP 229). I can repeat this process as many times as I like and it seems to ping pong back and forth between these two FTPs, although it gave me 236 at one point. What’s happening here? Which values should I use moving forward.
Also I’ve noticed over the post two weeks that my FTP is degrading slowly (a few points) even though I’m following the training advisor and logging extra riding outdoors on most days. Is this normal behaviour or might these issues be related?
Are you doing this because you have a) loaded additional historical data, or b) made corrections to historical data, or c) changed signature values on a specific activity and wish to recalculate moving forward? Those are the normal reasons to recalculate progression besides the option to reset under Account Settings.
I would choose the lower value since your TP will be validated (and updated) when you have your next breakthrough (BT) event. You can trigger that by selecting a BT workout and riding it in slope mode, or riding outdoors with BT efforts in mind.
XATA will warn you when your signature is getting stale, but it’s up to you to manually make BT’s happen. It won’t show up on the recommended list.
BT workouts can be located in the library by searching for “breakthrough”.
For tips on generating BT’s outdoors see article link below.
Xert recalcs your signature after very activity whether a breakthrough occurs or not. Numbers decay when there is lack of activities that generate breakthrough events.
Numbers can go up and down depending on what type of breakthrough event occurs.
Consider your fitness signature as a fluid set of gauges.
Decay rate is based on Account Settings, Profile, Signature Decay Method.
Optimal is the normal setting unless you expect a prolonged period where you won’t be generating breakthrough events to validate your signature in which case No Decay can be used.
Reference:
When to use the ‘Recalculate Progression’ feature on your Fitness Signature – Xert (baronbiosys.com)
Signature Decay Method – Xert (baronbiosys.com)
Breaking Through the Xert Way! – Xert (baronbiosys.com)
If you are new to Xert there are lots of newbie tips posted in this thread –
Beginner questions - Support - Xert Community Forum (xertonline.com)
probable reason is each time you do a recalc it is starting from a different place. It is unfortunate that there is no easy way to revert to previous but as far as I am aware that is not a possibility so each time you recalc you will get a new result
Also:“Also I’ve noticed over the post two weeks that my FTP is degrading slowly (a few points) even though I’m following the training advisor and logging extra riding outdoors on most days. Is this normal behaviour or might these issues be related?”
if you do not do a effort that causes a breakthrough then you are not stressing your systems enough to generate a new signature. In that case then the TP etc will gradually degrade. The setting you chose(no decay, optimal etc) will define the rate of decline. Also doing efforts that are sub break through will probably influence the rate of decline but there will be a decline until your next break through effort.
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The process uses feedback into itself. XSS/Training Load helps identify Fitness Signatures and Fitness Signatures are used to calculate XSS/Training Load. The data can make things diverge and converge over time and how things end up depends on how they start and what patterns get discovered along the way.
i would suggest that if a recalculation is needed to reset the account and re-import everything from strava, this should provide consistent results
I accidentally imported a workout from Strava which was already imported from Xert iOS app. It showed as duplicate in notifications but I decided to delete it anyways. Deleting it did change my TP (lowered it). In this case would it be necessary to Recalculate Progression or I can just leave it (preferred by me). Thank you!
You’re good. Leave it.
Recalculate Progression is an advanced function that should probably be greyed out. 
It is an account reset that starts over from the beginning. You don’t want that.
You’ll notice anytime you import or delete/import activities your current signature is recalculated automatically based on that change only.
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Thank you. I will leave it then.
so if i have some bad data way back in 2020… and it artificially inflated my peak power and HIE to something unrealistic… i don’t need to worry about it right? my more recent breakthroughs ignore that stuff?
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Data looks fine given your Peak Power - I’d just leave it
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I hit recalculate by mistake. I too am getting different results each time I try it and always about 10 points below what it was before I did it.
Also seems to have added a half a star for me.
I manually keyed in the TP that I remember from before, will that work until the next breakthrough?
The moving result comes from it using the current values of your signature and starting training load at the beginning of your time on Xert to calculate from there. So you get the best result if you input some values that are realistic for the time of your first activity in Xert. Maybe a bit lower to make it easier for the algorithm to find and interpret your first breakthrough and then go on from there.