Welcome to Xert Sessions! Most of you have likely used the word “sessions” in your training. At Xert, we’re using this term to help distinguish between:

• Activity – Something you record on your app/bike computer/wearable that has all the data and information of what you did. It’s a record of your exercise.
• Workout – A pattern of intervals that you follow to help you obtain a certain desired outcome or improvement. (Unlike other systems, the term workout is used only to define this pattern in Xert).
• Session – An activity or workout you plan on doing at a certain time, either solo or with a group. Generally a session can have many things associated with it such as a start time, group members, media and/or a workout that’s has been chosen. In the future, we plan to add other elements to a session such as a planned route, turning the session into becoming planned group rides.

Doing group workout sessions in Xert is a unique experience since the ability for Xert to administer training doses that are equal for all members and that feel the same for everyone is at the heart of what makes Xert group sessions so effective. It’s well known that doing workouts as a %FTP is problematic. This has made group workouts a challenge in the past. With Xert, you can feel confident in joining group sessions knowing that everyone is there getting the same benefit as everyone else.

Let’s help you get started on doing your first Xert Session…

Joining a Public or Invited Session

Start by heading to the Xert Sessions page. From here, you’ll see all upcoming Sessions that are public, sessions that you’ve been invited to, or sessions that have been scheduled for you by your coach:

If the session organizer has specified a YouTube video, Spotify Playlist, and/or a Zoom link, you can click/tap their respective icons to view them.

To join a session, you’ll simply need to click the ‘Join Session’ button. After joining, you’ll notice that your profile image will display alongside the other attending riders.

In the previous support article, we showed you how to create your own group sessions for your Xert Communities – Clubs, Teams, & Squads. Sessions are group workouts or rides that you can participate in as a member of an Xert community. There’s even a set of Xert Academy Sessions available for those wanting to learn more about how Xert works while getting their workout done! These sessions are displayed remotely on any browser, which collects the data being captured from supported apps on an iOS or Android device.

Launching & Using the Session Player

When your session is less than 2 hours away, you’ll notice that the sessions page will allow you to select ‘Open Player’. You’ll be presented with a page that looks like this:

The session player has 5 main elements:

1. The MPA & Power Gauge – Indicates power outputs, interval target types, intensities, & durations, etc, as well as your Cadence & HR data
2. Video Overlay – If the Session creator has selected a YouTube video to be displayed, then the video will be displayed in the center of the display. However, users can decide to resize/overlay other windows over this part of the page (such as Netflix, Spotify, etc.)
3. Leaderboard / “Solo-board” – In group sessions, you’ll be presented with a list of ‘Nearby Riders’, or other athletes that are riding the session with you. Tapping the columns icon on the top left allows you to filter by a wide variety of different metrics, such as XSS, Difficulty, Relative Intensity (relative to fitness signature), etc. When riding alone in a session, the leaderboard will be replaced with a panel of detailed, individual metrics, including Max HR, Max Power, Difficulty Score, etc. Preview of solo-board is displayed to the right!
4. Chat – Xert has included integration with Rocket Chat, so athletes can chat with one another during their sessions. Once you’ve authorized your Xert account with RocketChat, you can chat directly from the sessions page (for those with wireless mice/keyboards), or you can download and install the RocketChat app on your mobile device.
5. Workout Chart – Indicates your target/current power, MPA, and HR. You can click to enable/disable any of the metrics being displayed along the bottom of the graph. By default, target/actual MPA are disabled, to make viewing the interval targets a little easier. When the workout begins, you’ll automatically be set to Zoomed mode, which displays a 10 min rolling window. Disabling zoomed mode will show the entire workout in a single frame (suitable for larger monitors/displays).

NOTE: The Xert Session Player is a web page with all the session and workout details. You’ll use this page during the session to view your workout information. Unlike other systems that use desktop software connected to ANT+ or Bluetooth sensors, our system does not use an ANT+ stick for your computer. Rather, the session player gets your data information from the Xert app running on your phone/mobile device. See below to get that set up.

Starting the Session from the Xert Apps

Similar to the Session Video Player, the workout will become available 2 hours before it’s scheduled time on Xert EBC (Android) or the Xert Player (iOS).

• Xert EBC will display the upcoming session in the activities dashboard two hours before the session begins. Tapping on the session details will allow you to see the participants, workout details, etc. When the start time of the workout arrives, the workout will automatically begin playing on EBC, no need to start anything. The workout will always begin in AUTO mode.
• If you’d like to warm up a little extra before the session, you can tap on the session and ‘Start Warmup’ when you are within 30 minutes of the scheduled start time. We recommend warming up with the trainer in Slope/Resistance mode. When the session begins, EBC will switch back into AUTO mode and start the workout – automatically.

• Xert Player on iOS will display the upcoming group workout from the ‘Train’ Tab along the bottom. Tapping the group workout will display the session details.
• If you’d like to warm up a little extra before the session, you can tap on the session and select the Start button to begin an early warm-up. We recommend warming up with the trainer in Slope/Resistance mode. When the session begins, the Xert Player will switch back into AUTO mode and start the workout – automatically.

Troubleshooting

This is it – the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Group workouts on Xert are finally here! In this how-to article, we’ll walk you through setting up your own indoor group workouts.

Before we get too far, note that you’ll need to be a member of a community to create & participate in group workouts – either a club, team, or a squad. Check out our documentation HERE on the various communities are and how to join or create your own community!

Part 1: Session Details

To get started, head to the sessions homepage and select the option New Session. This will open up the session creation dialogue box, which features 4 main tabs along the top – Session Details, Sharing, Workout, and Media:

1. The top header has tabs to the session Details page, Sharing (only enabled for group sessions), Workout, and Media.
2. On the Session Details tab, you’ll be able to give your session a name, indicate if the session is solo or with a group, as well as setting the session’s starting date & time. If doing a workout in Xert, you can leave the bottom estimates of Duration, XSS, Distance, Climbing, etc. empty – these will auto-fill once a workout has been selected.
3. The session description can be modified by the creator. This would be a good place to indicate any ride details that might be important – bringing adequate hydration/snacks, pre-workout motivation, or notes for your buddies!

Part 2: Sharing

Toggling the Session type from Solo to Group triggers an additional panel to display along the top called ‘Sharing’. Select this tab to indicate which Xert Community you’d like to invite (or schedule, if you’re a coach) to your group workout.

1. Begin by selecting the community that you’d like to invite to your session – this can be a club, team, squad, or coaching group
2. You can select whether you’d like to invite all members of the community, or select invite only if you wish to keep the session a little more private
3. Members of the selected community will be displayed below. If the ‘Invite Only’ option is selected, tap a user once to invite them, and again to un-invite them.

Part 3: Workout

From the workout tab, you’ll finally be able to find and select your group workout!

1. The workouts will load with your XATA recommended workouts for the scheduled date/time. In addition to searching for workouts by name, you can also filter by workout focus duration, workout duration, or difficulty level, just as you can from the XATA page.
2. When a workout is selected from the list, a miniature workout preview can be seen on the righthand side. Hovering over the workout preview allows you to see the same data as in the workout designer, including interval target power/duration, XSSR, and difficulty score. You’ll also notice options to download the workout in ERG, TCX, or ZWO formats directly beneath the selected workout.
3. Finally, the workout steps are displayed below the workout preview. For the best experience, we recommend using fixed duration workouts – try to avoid selecting workouts that use Target MPA as a duration, since the duration of those intervals will vary for different fitness signatures (and will further adjust in real time).

Part 4: Media

Finally, you’ll be offered a variety of different media options for the meetup:

1. You can select a YouTube video that can be viewed by all members of the session by heading to the ‘Share’ button of the video you’d like to follow along with and copying the URL provided (e.g. https://youtu.be/YoutubeVideoID ). You can also offset the start time of the video (i.e. a value of 10 indicates the YouTube video will start at the 10 sec mark).
2. After a YouTube URL has been pasted, the video thumbnail will display on the right-hand side
3. If you’d like to share a certain Spotify playlist with others in the group workout, you can paste the URL to the playlist here. Note that including a playlist does not require members of the group activity to listen to it. Instead, group members can tap the link to open the playlist on their laptop/desktop (or wherever they’re viewing the session). A link to a Zoom meeting can be also placed here if you prefer to set up a group video call during the workout.
4. You can also upload images to sessions, if desired.

When you’re done editing the details, click the ‘Save’ icon in the top right-hand corner to save the session (and invite others, if it’s a group session). Note that the session details, date/time, and workouts can all be edited after the session is created.d

Wrapping up!

Once the session is created, it will display on the Sessions page for yourself and anyone else that has been invited to the session. From there, your friends can join the session and launch the session player (when you’re within 2 hours of the start of the session). Note that you can still edit the session date/time, workout , etc. if you’re the owner of the session, or create your own copy of a session to re-use in the future. You’ll also be able to launch Zoom directly or access the Spotify playlist directly from the sessions page:

If you prefer to communicate with your riding buddies outside of Xert, you can also share the session directly with your Clubmates, Teammates, or Squadmates via a URL by clicking the ‘Share’ Button (shown on the screenshot on the right):

And there you have it – you now have the knowledge to create your own Group Sessions!

To learn how to Join a group session that you’ve been invited to, see the next support article in the series – Starter Guide: Xert Sessions