Sampling Sufferlandria: What to do during your 14-day free trial.
Welcome to Sufferlandria: a place where we use cutting-edge sports science to make you faster, stronger, and tougher.
You just started your 14-day free trial. Where do you start? We've put together this handy guide to help you get the most out of your first week. Think of it as a greatest hits album, a sampler platter, a whirlwind tour. Get comfortable, we have a feeling you're going to be with us for a while.
Day 1: Have a look around and get everything connected
Like the first day of school, it's probably both exciting and a little bit overwhelming. Don't worry, we've got your back. First things first. You'll want to make sure you know your way around, have all of your vital information entered in your Settings, and have your devices like heart rate monitors, power meters, smart trainers, or cadence/speed sensors connected. These articles from our Help Centre will walk you through step by step:
- Enter your details in the app settings
- Learn your way around the app
- Get your smart trainer, power meter or other devices connected.
- No smart trainer or power meter? Set-up Virtual Watts.
- Join all the other Sufferlandrians in our Facebook Group. They're a great group of people that are as supportive and helpful as they are fast.
Day 2: Ride one of our favourite Sufferfest workouts
Choosing which videos are our favourite is kind of like choosing a favorite child. We LOVE (to hate) all The Sufferfest workouts. But if we had to choose three that give a good taste of what we're all about, these make the podium.
Getting Away With It
Joyride
Who Dares
Day 3: Try A Yoga for Cyclists Session
Yesterday you Suffered. Now it's time to maximise those gains with some active recovery. We partnered with Abi Carver of Yoga15.com to design a series of 36, 15-minute yoga sessions to address the common issues that plague cyclists, including poor flexibility, core strength, balance, and stiff hips. The Hip Openers session is just what you need to ensure you're putting all of your power to the pedals.
To access the Yoga for Cyclists videos on desktop, open the app, go to the Workouts tab, and click on the Yoga icon. On iOS, click on the Videos tab and tap the bike icon in the upper left to display the other content categories. Click on the yoga icon to view the yoga videos.
Day 4: Listen to 'Getting Positive' in the Mental Toughness Programme
Focus, power, strength, confidence: all of these are a state of mind. It doesn't matter how finely-tuned your body is, if your mind isn't in the right place you'll never be able to realise your potential. Our 10-week mental toughness programme will build the habits of the mentally tough. The Getting Positive module will teach you how to overcome any obstacle in your path. To get a sense of what the mental toughness programme is all about, check out this intro:
Day 5: Try One of The NoVid Workouts
Our extensive library of structured workouts comes in two flavours:
1. Sufferfest videos, which include exclusively-licensed footage of the world's biggest races, killer soundtracks, and storylines that put you in the middle of the action. We call it "enterPAINment", and it's what put us on the map.
2. NoVid workouts, which have on-screen prompts to guide you through the session but don't have an associated video or soundtrack. On macOS and Windows you can minimize the workout player so you can watch your own video (Netflix and hill repeats?) while still having the workout graph and performance metrics at the bottom of your screen. There are NoVid sessions to target every aspect of your fitness, ranging in length from 30 minutes to 4 hours. If you want a challenging 75-minute workout that builds your Maximal Aerobic Power and Anaerobic Capacity, we recommend Batman Intervals. It's no joke(r).
Day 6: Listen to 'Relaxing to Recover' in the Mental Toughness Programme
Now that you have a few workouts under your belt it's time to dial it back and consolidate some of those gains. We recommend listening to the Relaxing to Recover module in the mental toughness programme. It includes practical techniques to help you get the most benefit from all of the hard work you put in on the bike. Remember: recovery is when you get stronger.
Day 7: Start the 7-day Full Frontal Prep Plan and Get Ready for the 4DP Fitness Test
With the release of 4-Dimensional Power, The Sufferfest has completely revolutionized the way athletes train indoors. Instead of cookie-cutter workouts based just on percentages of FTP, 4DP™ allows The Sufferfest to tailor every effort in every workout to your unique power profile and physiology, making them far more effective than FTP-based sessions.
To start training with 4-Dimensional Power™ we need to know what your personal power profile looks like. That means you need to complete the Full Frontal fitness test in the app.
This hour-long test is the same one that world-renowned coach, Neal Henderson, uses to assess the fitness of the pro cyclists and Olympic athletes he trains. It measures your performance across 4 separate maximal efforts to create a comprehensive 4-Dimensional Power Profile, assign you a Rider Type, and personalize the power targets in your workouts. To make sure your results are as accurate as possible, you need to approach Full Frontal the right way.
In the week leading up to the big day, use the following training schedule, which is available as a 7-day Full Frontal Peak Training Plan in the app or through TrainingPeaks or Final Surge.
Ease into your Full Frontal prep with the 30-minute NoVid Recovery Spin. NoVids are workouts without an associated video, soundtrack, or storyline. Listen to your favorite tunes, fire up a podcast, or minimise the workout player and stream your own video.
Why 4DP? We'll let SUF Science coaches Neal Henderson and Mac Cassin answer that:
Day 8: Channel Your Inner Hamster with Cadence Builds
Cadence Builds are one of the best ways to activate your neuromuscular system and teach your muscles how to fire in the correct sequence. Learning how to keep your pedal stroke smooth at high cadences will make you more efficient at lower cadences.
Day 9: Fire Up the NoVids Taper Efforts
When it comes to "peaking", or performing at your absolute best on a given day (we're looking at you, Full Frontal), the key is nailing your Taper.
The NoVid taper session is the same used by countless professionals leading into the biggest races of their lives, including two-time individual time trial World Champion, Rohan Dennis.
With 3 sets of micro-intervals you'll be hitting your system with just enough intensity to keep your legs sharp and responsive, without adding any real fatigue.
Day 10: Active Recovery with Open: 30
Sometimes you just need a steady tempo ride to clear the legs and get ready to hit it again. The app includes a series of 'Open' workouts ranging in length from 15 minutes to two hours. The intensity is set for a steady 65% FTP, but you can adjust it in the workout player to match your goals. There are no instructions or storyline with this video and no music. You can use another media player (Spotify, iTunes, etc.) to listen to your own tunes or watch another video while you spin. Featuring breathtaking footage from The Col Collective, Open: 30 is the perfect way to get in some all-important active recovery.
Day 11: Boost Your Recovery with a Yoga Session
The Yoga for Cyclists series in the app includes 8 videos designed specifically to enhance your recovery and recharge your batteries so you can hit your next workout at full power. The Recovery Booster session is ideal for relaxing your body and calming your mind before you do battle with Full Frontal in a couple days.
Day 12: Get Primed!
This is it. The calm before the storm. To get your mind and body ready to deliver a performance worthy of a true Sufferlandrian, you need to do the Primers video. This is a moderate-intensity session designed to stimulate your system and get you ready without fatiguing you. Primers doesn’t include music so get some motivating tunes spun up and get ready to rumble.
Day 13: Crush the 4DP Full Frontal Fitness Test
You've had a taste of what The Sufferfest is like, you've started down the path of full-body strength and flexibility with a yoga session, and you've learned how to turn obstacles into opportunities with a little mental toughness training. Now it's time to bring it all together and find out who you really are as a cyclist.
Once you complete Full Frontal you'll have your complete Four-Dimensional Power™ profile, your Rider Type (Sprinter, Attacker, Pursuiter, Time Triallist, Rouleur or Climber), and recommend specific workouts to help you become a more complete cyclist. More importantly, The Sufferfest will customise the power targets in your workouts to your unique physiology, making them more effective than ever before.
The key to a successful test is preparation (which you've nailed) and proper pacing. For tips on how to get the best results out of Full Frontal, check out this video:
Day 14: Choose a Training Plan
The only thing better than getting stronger on the bike is not having to think about how you're going to get there. That's why we have the best minds in the business creating structured training plans that take the guesswork out of realising your potential. Created by coaches Mac Cassin and Neal Henderson at the SUF Science Division, our training plans incorporate a mix of structured indoor Sufferfest workouts and outdoor rides, as well as targeted drills that improve your form and efficiency. Available for a riders of every skill level and covering a range of disciplines—including road, cyclocross, xc mountain bike and triathlon—these plans are tailored to your 4DP profile to deliver maximum results with minimum time commitment. Check out the full range of over 100 plans on the Training Plans page.
We hope you enjoy your first two weeks in Sufferlandria. We're more than just the most comprehensive training platform out there, we're also a global community of friendly, supportive athletes. Be sure you check out the Sufferlandria page on Facebook. Learn first about new releases, meet new people, and experience the unique sense of culture and camaraderie that makes Sufferlandria so special. You're never going to want to leave.