Smart trainers have revolutionised indoor training, enabling riders to experience immersive training and racing platforms such as Zwift from the comfort of their homes.
Smart trainers are easier to set up than ever, but there are still things you can do to ensure your experience is as seamless and productive as possible.
We've rounded up six essential tips to get the best out of your smart-training sessions.
Calibrate
Just like an on-bike power meter, your smart trainer’s power readings can be affected by movement, changes in temperature or air pressure, and general use.
This means they may need to be occasionally recalibrated.
If you own one of the latest Wahoo smart trainers, you can ignore this step because they automatically calibrate throughout your ride, removing the need for a manual spindown calibration.
Some other brands, and older Wahoo KICKR trainers, require you to run a manual spin-down calibration periodically. Wahoo recommends every two weeks, or after transporting your trainer to a new location.
Luckily, performing a zero-offset is very simple and should only take a few minutes.
Keep pedalling!
When following a workout on your indoor training platform of choice, you can use your smart trainer in ERG mode (short for ergometer mode) to ensure you’re hitting the target wattages.
Your smart trainer does this by increasing the resistance required to turn the pedals.
ERG mode can be useful if you want to target a specific power zones, or want the simplest way to follow a structured workout without having to worry about changing gears.
While useful, if you coast just before a hard interval, the resistance can be comically difficult to overcome when you start pedalling again.
Wahoo trainers now feature ERG Easy Ramp – a feature that eases you back into the effort, rather than jump straight in at full whack. Zwift offers a similar in-game feature.
Make it easier (sort of)
If you’re finding the courses on Zwift a bit too hard (or too easy!), you can adjust the resistance of your smart trainer in-game, on the go.
Under the settings page, you’ll find the Trainer Difficulty slider. Simply move the slider to the left to make climbs a bit easier and vice versa.
The default setting is midway between “Off” and “Max”, which means Zwift simulates 50 per cent of the resistance you’d find by riding the climb in the real world.
So, for example, if Zwift says a climb is 20 per cent in-game, it will feel like riding a 10 per cent road climb on the default setting.
We’re not talking about e-doping here – changing this setting doesn’t change how far or fast you ride in-game. This is still calculated by the power you generate. The setting simply alters how the climbs and descents feel.
Likewise, if you’re doing a workout with your smart trainer in ERG mode, this won’t make your intervals any easier.
Plan your session in advance
No matter how good or fun smart trainers can be, they are still fundamentally a tool designed to improve or maintain your fitness.
We’d always advise you to approach your indoor training with a plan of how you’re going to spend your time in the saddle.
If you’re aiming to get fitter, you could try one of the many workouts that most interactive training apps offer, or even sign up for a training plan.
There are also loads of events taking place on Zwift and other platforms, from group rides and workouts to races and gran fondos.
Focus on your form
Training on a smart trainer is an ideal way of training for different kinds of events, such as sportives, road races or time trials.
It’s not all about the raw numbers, though – don’t forget to focus on your form.
The most obvious example is if you’re training for time trials.
If you ride a time trial bike, use your time on the smart trainer to work on your ability to hold an aero position. Keep your shoulders shrugged and your head low (while still looking ahead, of course), and try to stay relaxed in your upper body. Let your legs do the real work.
Likewise, when you’re on your road bike, keep your head up and don’t let your shoulders bunch up around your ears. Focus on breathing properly, apply the power smoothly and keep your form intact.
Don’t forget to get out of the saddle and stand up on the pedals every now and then too. Not only does this help better simulate how you would ride in the real world, it can also help to prevent any saddle discomfort that might result from sitting in one place for extended periods of time.
These are small details, but the time spent adapting to these positions on your smart trainer can add up to a big difference when you’re out on the roads.
Troubleshoot your connection
Occasionally, other wireless networks can interfere with your trainer signal and cause connectivity issues, leading to frustrating power dropouts in the middle of intervals or races. ANT+ connections are especially prone to interference.
There are a number of things you can do to troubleshoot your setup.
To start, where possible, use a WiFi connection over Bluetooth or ANT+.
The latest Wahoo KICKR smart trainers offer WiFi connectivity. This is the most stable and fastest wireless connection protocol.
However, your WiFi connection is only as good as your home’s setup. If you suffer from poor connectivity on other devices, the same will likely be true of your smart trainer.
If you're a serious racer or want an unbreakable connection, you could consider an Ethernet connection via the Wahoo KICKR Connect Direct.
If you’re an Apple TV user, you might have noticed that it only allows you to connect two Bluetooth devices at a time.
If you need to connect a third, such as a heart rate monitor or cadence sensor, you can use the Wahoo KICKR Bridge to connect your device directly to your trainer.
