We didn’t think that was good enough. So we rebuilt how coaches and athletes talk to each other inside Xert, and we built it around a simple idea: the conversation should live next to the data it’s about, and it should reach you wherever you actually are — including WhatsApp.

Where the Conversation Now Lives

Direct messages with your coach or your athletes, and every comment thread you’re part of, now live in one place — a Messages hub with two tabs, one inbox. No more hunting across activities trying to remember where a conversation happened.

That’s the easy part. The part we actually cared about is this: a comment doesn’t have to live in a generic chat window anymore. You can comment directly on a specific activity, or on a specific day on the calendar. A question about Tuesday’s intervals lives on Tuesday’s activity, not buried somewhere in a scrolling thread with everything else you’ve discussed this month. When your coach opens that ride six weeks from now, the conversation about it is still right there.

A Real Messaging Toolkit

Once we decided messages needed to live next to training data, it followed that they needed to behave like messages people actually use. React, reply, forward, pin, edit, delete — the things you already expect from any modern messaging app are now available on every coach-athlete conversation and every comment thread. Attach a file if you need to, but you can also attach an actual activity or workout, and it renders as a live card right in the conversation: route map, duration, distance, difficulty, strain breakdown. Your coach doesn’t need a link and a second tab open to know what you’re talking about. And read receipts mean you know your athlete actually saw the note before race day, instead of wondering.

WhatsApp, Two-Way

This is the piece that mattered most to us. Connect WhatsApp once, and every Xert message or comment gets relayed to your phone — reply right from WhatsApp, and it syncs straight back into Xert. Your coach doesn’t need to open an app to answer you. You don’t need to open an app to ask.

We didn’t want the other app to be the price of staying reachable. If your coach already lives in WhatsApp — and most people already do — Xert should meet them there instead of asking them to add one more inbox to their day.

How This Compares

We looked at what the two platforms most likely to come up in this conversation — TrainingPeaks and intervals.icu — actually ship today.

The pattern with the other two is the same: the conversation is another tab to check, in another app, and on TrainingPeaks specifically, it’s a Premium add-on with an age gate before either side can even use it. Coaches on both platforms still end up falling back to text messages, email, or WhatsApp on the side, which is exactly the fragmentation an all-in-one coaching platform is supposed to remove. Xert doesn’t ask you to stop using WhatsApp. It plugs into it.

Where You Come In

If you coach on Xert, or you’re one of their coached athletes, you’ll find a Messages link in the top nav. Open it, connect WhatsApp, and the relay starts working today.

Is your coach still messaging you through TrainingPeaks or intervals.icu? Send them this post. Switching to Xert Messaging means one less app for both of you to check, comments that stay attached to the actual ride instead of getting lost in a chat log, and a WhatsApp bridge neither of those platforms offers.

And messaging isn’t the only reason to make the move. Xert 2.0 is a full universal metabolic model — phosphocreatine, muscle glycogen, blood glucose, and fueling — built directly from the ride data your coach already has, no lab test required. Between that and a messaging system built for how the two of you actually work, there’s never been a better time to ask your coach to switch.

Have feedback on the new messaging experience? Comment threads reach us the same way they reach your coach — we’re watching.

With Xert 2.0, the bar moves higher. Xert now uses an integrated metabolic model to estimate how energy from phosphocreatine, muscle glycogen, blood glucose, and fat contributes to your performance. These estimates are built directly from the power data you’re already recording. No routine lab test or blood draw is required. Just ride.

Laboratory testing can directly measure aspects of physiology that power data alone cannot. Xert 2.0 takes a different approach: it uses your ride data and a unified model to provide practical, individualized estimates that can be examined on every activity.

Introduction to Xert 2.0

Xert 2.0 is the evolution of the current Xert system. It deserves the “2.0” label because it represents a major shift in what the platform can model. The current version uses power-data analysis to explain who you are as an athlete and how training affects your ability to perform.

Xert 2.0 extends this analysis by estimating how several physiological energy systems contribute to the power you produce. Here’s what’s been added:

• Analyzes very short efforts using a new model of the phosphocreatine system, also known as PCr.
• Analyzes very long rides using a new model of muscle glycogen availability and durability.
• Helps you understand how carbohydrate intake and modeled muscular uptake may affect your performance.
• Estimates how different energy sources contribute at different intensities. It doesn’t just identify your zones; it connects them to modeled thresholds, capacities, and energy use.
• Brings everything together to estimate the power you have available throughout your ride — from a few seconds to many hours.

What Actually Changed — In Depth

Why FTP Alone Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story

FTP and how to measure it have been the subject of debate after debate.  Is it the power you can hold for an hour?  Is it supposed to match your Maximal Lactate Steady State?  Is 95% of your 20 minute power always your FTP?  Should it be higher or lower for different types of workouts?

For those of you that are familiar with CP/W’, how do FTP and CP relate?  Are they the same? Should they be?  CP can be highly dependent on the method used to estimate it.  It’s been said that CP can be held for a very long time. How long is that? No one is quite sure.

So much confusion and thus so many debates.

Xert 2.0 provides a new way to explore how these concepts relate to one another within a single model. It doesn’t just calculate FTP; it shows how threshold power relates to the other parameters that shape performance. For example, an athlete can increase FTP while reducing modeled performance on very long rides. Xert 2.0 shows how changes in durability and energy availability can produce that result.

How the Xert 2.0 Model Aligns with Physiology

Everything above comes down to this picture: your body has several different sources of energy, and each one behaves differently. Xert 2.0’s real change is that it now estimates the state of these systems second by second throughout your entire ride — instead of collapsing them into one or two numbers. Here’s what that looks like in practice:

PCr: Your Nitro Boost

Short, hard efforts tap a separate buffer — phosphocreatine — that empties and refills in seconds. It’s why you can go hard, ease off for 20 seconds, and go hard again almost as hard. A model that treats anaerobic capacity as one battery has difficulty explaining that behaviour. Xert 2.0 uses a separate PCr component to account for it.

In the example below, a rider did a ramp test to failure, then sprinted twice, all-out. Xert 1.0 has no way to explain those sprints except by raising the rider’s TP — in this case by 12W (245W → 257W), overstating their sustainable, long-term power. Xert 2.0 accounts for the same sprints using its new PCr and Max Instantaneous Power model instead. In this analysis, TP remains at 245W.

MPA With and Without Modeled Durability

Once PCr is spent, you’re pulling from muscle glycogen (local, finite, slow to refill) and blood glucose (continuous, topped up by food and by your own liver). How much carbohydrate you eat isn’t the same as how much your muscles can use. Xert 2.0 estimates that uptake and uses it to model both the energy available for hard efforts and the replenishment of glycogen when you ease off.

Below is an illustrative model analysis using power data from the 2025 UCI World Gravel Championships. In Xert 1.0, MPA stays elevated right to the finish — it looks like the rider still has plenty left. In Xert 2.0, the story is very different: as modeled glycogen availability declined, estimated TP dropped from 311W to 263W over the race, and by the finish the model indicated little power remained for a sprint. That gap between “what the model says” and “what the rider’s legs actually had” is exactly what Xert 2.0 is built to close.

MPA Below TP — Before and After

Durability isn’t limited to hard efforts. In Xert 1.0, MPA holds steady during a steady-state ride at or just below TP — implying you’ve still got a sprint in you no matter how long you’ve been riding at FTP.

Xert 2.0 models depletion at every intensity, so the same steady effort can show you gradually approaching a breakthrough, even while riding at or slightly below FTP — a more better representation of your fatigue.  read of where you actually stand.

Here’s the same power file with the same Fitness Signature. In Xert 1.0, the athlete’s MPA barely moves, suggesting the athlete could still generate a maximum power sprint at the effort’s conclusion. However, in Xert 2.0, the MPA gradually declines and nearly reaches a breakthrough by the end of the same steady effort, despite most of the ride being near (or below) the athlete’s starting FTP.

Lower vs. Higher Modeled Durability

Durability isn’t just about the ride — it’s about fueling too. The same rider, the same effort, can finish with very different durability depending on how much carbohydrate is estimated to reach the working muscles. Change the modeled fueling and glycogen state of the athlete, and Xert 2.0 shows how ride durability and MPA may change with it.

Above is a simulated comparison using the same 2025 UCI Gravel race. On a rough descent, the rider lost a bottle with 200g of carbohydrate in it, dropping their carb uptake to roughly 45 g/hr for the rest of the race. When the same ride is rerun with modeled fueling held at 90 g/hr, the model estimates meaningfully more power available in the final hour. The recorded power is unchanged; only the fueling assumption in the simulation is different.

Common Questions

Do I need new data for this to work?
No. The model uses the ride data you’ve already uploaded. Some parameters and assumptions can be adjusted to better represent the individual athlete.

What’s actually in this beta?
Just the Activity Page — analyzing rides you’ve already done through the 2.0 model. Workouts, training plans, head unit data fields, and mobile apps are later phases, not part of this release.

If I click “Save”  on the new page, will this change my current Fitness Signature I use in Xert?
No. The Xert 2.0 Beta Activity Page runs alongside your existing signature and is kept separate. Save only saves your Xert 2.0 signature which is then used when you reopen the page.

Do I need to understand every new model parameter to use it?
No. The Activity Page shows you the results without requiring you to understand every parameter. Terms such as Carbohydrate Absorption Parameter (CAP) and Blood Glucose Production (BGP) are available if you want to go deeper. Use the tooltips throughout the page to learn more.

What’s in the Works

The Activity Page is just the first piece. Xert 2.0 is a new foundation for the whole platform, and here’s what it unlocks next:

• A multi-dimensional XSS: Xert Strain Score’s dimensions will reflect the new model parameters.
• A new Workout Designer: workouts built directly from your 2.0 thresholds and maximal power values, instead of generic zones.
• Updates to the Android and iOS apps and Garmin data fields: bringing these new metrics to your phone and head unit, not just the browser.
• A sharper Adaptive Training Advisor and Forecast AI: recommendations and race predictions driven by the full 2.0 model instead of the 3-parameter signature.
• Broader usability and capability improvements across the app as 2.0 rolls out.

None of this changes what you get today — the Activity Page works now, on the rides you’ve already recorded. This is just where it’s headed.

Where You Come In

Using Xert already?

The Activity Page is the first piece of 2.0 to ship, and it’s landing in phases, not one cutover. After you Join the Xert 2.0 Beta Program, you’ll find it behind a Beta 2.0 button on your existing Activity Details page — it opens right there, embedded, without leaving the site you know.

It’s a closed beta for now. We’re starting with experienced Xert users because they’re the most likely to identify where the model and interface need refinement.

Want the science behind it?

Request the Xert 2.0 White Paper

Work in sports science?

Especially if someone forwarded you this post — a lot of you work in related sports science and may not know Xert well yet. We’d love for you to get involved. If you can compare this model’s output against lactate, indirect calorimetry, or biopsy data, we want to hear from you — as a collaborator, not a customer.

Get in touch.

This is a beta because a model this ambitious needs to be tested across many athletes, activities, and independent physiological measurements. We expect the feedback to show us where it needs refinement. The rest of Xert 2.0 will ship the same way, piece by piece.

With new advanced training systems, athletes have greater flexibility in deciding how they wish to train.  Gone are the days of sitting on your trainer during the off-season doing workout after workout.  Athletes are now able to incorporate different types of training – from indoor rides and races to outdoor coffee rides to more sophisticated indoor workouts to using the latest in training tools like Xert Magic Buckets.  All these types of training activities can now be included as part of your day-to-day training.

Xert Breakthrough Training was the first system to allow athletes to train using a variety of methods, quantifying their training strain scores in multiple dimensions giving athletes the confidence to pick and choose how they prefer to train on any given day.

Athletes are often using more than one system, using one system for a while and switching to another for variety or to save costs. From using Zwift, Rouvy and MyWhoosh, to using the Garmin, Hammerhead or Wahoo device, to TrainerRoad, icTrainer, TrainingPeaks Virtual or just watching a movie or race footage as they work out.  They record on all these systems, sometimes recording on multiple devices to take advantage of features available on one system that are not available on another.  Magic Buckets is a great example where athletes may be riding on Rouvy, say, but also using their Garmin with Magic Buckets to guide their training.  Sometimes users record on multiple devices in order to separate their power data from one source vs. another. For example, they may use a trainer power for Zwift but prefer to use their power meter for their training data.

Many systems today also record multiple rides one after the other to ensure race files are not combined with warmups and cooldowns.  For Xert users, this separation of activities can pose issues as fatigue isn’t carried over from one activity to the next.  Single, contiguous activities are better for Xert’s analysis as well as better for long term record keeping purposes. These will be provide a better view of your responsiveness to training and provide greater information on how you fatigue.

Our Solution – Xert’s New Training Manager – The Xert Today Page

Watch 2 minute intro video on YouTube

Xert’s Today page is our response to requests by our users to help them better manage all their training activity using an intuitive and easy-to-understand page with all their essential information and features they need to manage their training.  Our goals in the development of your Today page were:

1. The UI/UX needs to be simple to understand and use.
2. Users can see what their training is for today and decide how they will do their training.
3. Users can easily adjust their daily training to suit their availability, motivation or readiness to train.
4. Users can dual/multi-record their activities and decide which ones to use for their training data and which to just keep for their own records.
5. Users can merge one or more consecutive activities to better track fatigue and overall training strain scores.
6. Users can decide which activities to share on Strava.
7. The page needs to be fully-featured on mobile devices.
8. The page performance has to use the latest website technology to make it reactive and highly-responsive to user actions.

With all these in mind, we developed a new page that sets a new bar for how athletes will manage their day-to-day training in terms of planning and managing their information after recording activities.

A New User Experience

Xert’s new Today page has a number of key elements on the page, all laid out in an easy-to-understand and use format.  At the top is your training for today and if you planned anything specific for today, that will show at the top of the screen.  This is your daily training front and center.

Below this is any activities you have recorded.  These are shown in chronological order with duplicates indicated if you recorded the activity on multiple devices.

If your recordings come in separate, consecutive activity recordings, you can merge them quickly and easily. Note: Activities that came from Strava cannot be merged with other activities at this time.

You can decide to send your activity to Strava manually and take advantage of the new features to decide which activities to send to Strava, which to use for training and which to keep hidden and not counted.  Be sure to disable the Sync New Xert Activities to Strava on the Strava Sync page for greater control and management.

You can see which targets are going to be sent to Magic Buckets when it fetches your current targets.  No more wondering where the XSS values came from when Magic Buckets runs on Xert EBC or your Garmin.

You can decide which system is going to receive a given workout.  Perhaps you prefer to do one workout outdoors but would opt to do another indoors.  You can manage each individually now.

Filtering workouts could not be easier with the sidebar that allows you to filter instantly.

Not behind your desktop or laptop?  No problem, just use your mobile browser and get the same functions and features.

Summary

With Xert’s new Today page functionality, you can consult it before your daily training rides to manage your day’s training, decide on what training you will do and send workouts to platforms you utilize.  In addition, you can review your daily activities, manage them as part of your training,  retain them for future reference and apply them towards your training.

For Xert users, we are now your go-to system for all your training data.

Always remember: If it ain’t on Xert, it doesn’t count.

1. Why am I doing this particular workout?
2. Why do I need to do these intensities and these durations?
3. Am I hitting the workout interval targets sufficiently well and if not do I stop or keep going?
4. What is about these specific interval targets anyway and how precise do I need to be?
5. Could I do something a bit different that I would prefer and get the same benefit?
6. Can I get the same benefit by just riding or racing?  Workouts can be a drag.

You’re not the only one.  Pretty much every athlete will ask themselves these questions at various points in their training.  Wouldn’t it be great to have all these questions answered?

Answer These Questions with Xert Strain Scores, Forecast AI and XSS Buckets

After many new innovations in training, including capabilities like Smart Workouts with dynamic intervals (first and only platform ever to do this), and diving deep into understanding the process of training and improvement, we developed Xert Strain Score and more recently Forecast AI and XSS Buckets.  XSS Buckets allows you to train for improvement, without the need of doing structured workouts. With Forecast AI, athletes not only could understand what the workouts did but also why the were doing the workouts as part of their training plan.

But one question lingered:

How do I fill these buckets without following a workout?

Answering this question is key since without an answer, athletes are left to use trial-and-error to do their training and may often consume valuable training time unnecessarily.  Some structure and guidance would be very useful.

Introducing Magic Buckets

Magic Buckets brings a new dimension to training and workouts that has never existed previously – interval targets and durations are calculated on-the-fly for each athlete at each moment.

Re-read that last statement a few times and let it sink in.  Magic Buckets essentially recommends and builds a workout as you ride, adjusting the workout to you.  Now with Magic Buckets, all you have to do is follow the guidance it provides.

Magic Buckets operates in two separate modes depending on whether your daily training goal is a high-intensity training session or a low-intensity / endurance training session.  We’ll describe these two different modes as:

• Magic Intervals
• Magic Endurance

Watch this video where Scott will walk you through how to use Xert Magic Buckets for your training. This demo will show you how to seamlessly integrate Magic Buckets into your routine without rigid workout plans. It’s a great way to adapt your training and optimize your results with the flexible guidance that Magic Buckets provides.

Magic Intervals

Magic interval workouts are a unique experience like you’ve never experienced before.  Your target interval power is calculated for you based on what you’ve done so far and what you need to do to complete the training.  Your recovery / rest-in-between power targets are also calculated as well as their durations.  Calculating the power and the duration for your recovery is important since this helps ensure you achieve your training goal for the workout and ensures you’re recovered enough to do the intervals.  That’s part of the magic the method uses.

What do I need to do?

Simple.  You warm up and start filling your low bucket.  When you’re ready, hold the high-intensity interval power for as long as you wish to fill your high and peak buckets.  Once you back off from that, the recovery/rest interval is computed – both target power and duration and you continue to fill your low bucket.  Follow that and repeat.  Once your high and peak buckets are full, you can ride easy and fill the remaining low bucket while you cooldown.  Done.

Challenge Levels

To make Magic Buckets more engaging and to motivate athletes to go a bit deeper and get more out of their available training time, we’ve introduced the concept of Challenge Levels.  Challenge Level is a value between 0 and 10 that represents how much fatigue *at the interval power* you’ve reached.  The deeper you go, the higher the Challenge Level you reach.

Reaching higher Challenge Levels is great motivation but the other added benefit is that you get to complete the workout sooner.  This means that athletes with time crunched schedules can do more training in less time by focusing on doing their training at higher Challenge Levels.  Here’s an example of how long a given workout would take at different Challenge Levels. We use a typical 5×5 VO2 interval workout as a benchmark:

Now Available on Garmin Watches!

Magic Buckets is now supported on over 100 Garmin watches! Enjoy real-time, colour-coded training guidance on your wrist whether you’re riding indoors or out!

Read more here →

Magic Intervals User Interface for Garmin ConnectIQ

Key things to know when doing Magic Intervals:

1. It takes 5 seconds for the gauge to switch from one interval type to another.  When you start your high intensity interval, hold it for 5 seconds for the  INTERVAL state to show.  Similarly, after completing your interval, hold the recovery power for 5 seconds to see the gauge switch to the RECOVERY interval.
2. Once your recovery is complete, you can continue to recover and collect more low intensity XSS or can start a new interval to stay at the same Challenge Level.
3. Recovery intervals are calculated to give you the precise recovery and low intensity strain and maintain your current Challenge Level (Challenge Level on the left of the bar).  If you sustain the RECOVERY power for the RECOVERY duration, you’ll start the next INTERVAL at the start of the Challenge Level.
4. Let Challenge Level be a workout objective.  The higher the level, the more efficient each second of the workout becomes.
5. Reaching higher challenge levels requires you to sustain the target interval power longer.
6. Stop or start high intensity or recovery intervals at any time.  You don’t need to be precise to complete your training since this will continuously adjust for you.  However, the less training that remains, the more precise you’ll need to become to finish the targets without spending unnecessary training time.
7. Start your intervals at any time. Because things continuously adjust, you can do the intervals at anytime during a ride.   For example, you could start your magic intervals after a competitive group ride to finish off your training.  You’ll likely notice that the target interval power will change over the course of the riding you do beforehand.  This is because Magic Buckets is continuously recalculating what you’ll need to do to complete the remainder of your training based on what you’ve done so far.
8. It’s ok to be a bit off target or stop/start at random times if you need to / would like to.  It will recalculate what you need to do to complete the remainder of the training.
9. Use the integrated cadence optimizer.  Your cadence is shown as a triangle on the gauge.  Aim the triangle along the thin bar to have your cadence within a range that is suitable to your usual cadence pattern.

Magic Endurance

For those days when you need to ride easy and avoid high intensity so that you can recover sufficiently, Magic Buckets will run in Endurance mode, where your buckets fill if you can maintain discipline in avoiding high intensity.

Magic Endurance has different buckets as compared to Magic Intervals:

1. Low Intensity XSS – This is the main bucket that needs to be filled to complete the required training.  You can fill this bucket simply by riding.
2. Zone XSS – This bucket shows you how much XSS you’ve accumulated in the ideal zone.  You should aim to keep this number the same as the Low Intensity XSS number.
3. Fat XSS – This bucket shows you how much of the XSS you’ve accumulated as *fat* XSS.  This is an additional piece of information for those that are looking to focus on improving their fat contribution to their training.  This number is always less than your Low Intensity XSS since there are always fat and carbs being utilized during exercise.

Magic Endurance User Interface for Garmin ConnectIQ

Installing & Registering Magic Buckets for Garmin – 4 Easy Steps

Step	Description	Instructions/Screenshot
1	Download and install the data field from the Garmin App Store on your Garmin device	Link to Garmin Data Field: https://apps.garmin.com/apps/e8c1828f-0b0d-461d-82ba-033d7ea7c7d3
2	Add it to a full-screen (single data field) page of your preferred Activity Profile on your Garmin device	Instructions: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=gTIEqA7g6h9md50pQsDpl6
3	Start your recording and move to your Magic Buckets page.  Then immediately Save the recording.  If you you have Garmin Health/Connect sync set up on Xert, you’ll see the registration notification.  If you don’t have Garmin Heathl/Connect set up, upload the FIT file to Xert to complete the registration process.	You’ll get an empty recording in Xert that can be removed.  You’ll also receive a notification that your Garmin has been registered.
4	Send or upload the FIT file recorded to Xert. (Be sure the activity is processed before proceeding to the next step.)	There are two ways to get your FIT file from Garmin into Xert: First have Garmin Health/Connect set up on your Xert account, or Upload the FIT file that is saved to Xert Online.
5	Start a new recording.  Xert will automatically send your workout targets to the data field.

Now Available on Android and Hammerhead Karoo!

Garmin was the first platform to support Magic Buckets, but the experience on Android and Karoo takes it a step further! Xert EBC gives you more screen space, responsive swipes, and touch-based navigation — making the training experience feel modern, clean, and intuitive. Your Low, High, and Peak XSS targets are automatically fetched based on your training goals for the day—no need to pick a workout or configure anything manually!

Installation

• Android: To get started, install the Xert EBC app from the Google Play Store and register for the Beta to access the Magic Buckets feature.
• Karoo: On Hammerhead Karoo devices, install Xert EBC from the Extensions menu, which will allow you to install and launch the Xert EBC app directly.
  • Alternatively, once installed, you can add the MPA data field to any Karoo profile. During a ride, tap the MPA field to launch the Xert EBC app and access the Magic Buckets interface. To return to your Karoo’s recording screen, swipe up or press the bottom-left button.
  • This integration allows you to use all Karoo features – like navigation – while also accessing Xert Magic Buckets. Enjoy the full experience with swipe-based app navigation and dynamic, target-driven feedback—just like on Android!

Magic Buckets User Interface for Android & Karoo

• Access the Magic Buckets Power Gauge and Challenge Level gauge by swiping the top half of the app screen.
• See your current interval state, upcoming targets, and interval power guidance at a glance below the Power Gauge. 
• Swipe the bottom half of the screen to view your real-time XSS buckets and estimated workout (and endurance) time remaining.
  • Tap data cells for deeper insights
• Your Power Targets constantly update throughout your ride based on your progress—perfect for outdoor or unstructured rides.

Magic Buckets on Android and Karoo give you intelligent, adaptive guidance that helps you hit your training targets in a fun, unstructured way!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What happens if I need to stop early or if I do too much?

A: No worries! Magic Buckets is just one part of your overall training being managed by Xert, whether you are following a Forecast AI plan or taking advice from the Adaptive Training Advisor.  Anything you miss or overdo will be incorporated into your future training requirements.

Q: Can I use Magic Buckets with non-cycling activities?

A: Currently, Magic Buickets is optimized for cycling only but will adapt in any activity that aligns with Xert’s system of tracking fitness across Low, High, and Peak energy systems.

Q: What devices support Magic Buckets?

A: The Magic Buckets feature is supported on:

• Android smartphones & tablets via the Xert EBC app
• Hammerhead Karoo devices via the Extensions menu
• Compatible Garmin Edge devices & watches via the ConnectIQ store.  See the Garmin App Store page for a list of devices.

Q: When will Magic Buckets come out on my device?

A: Over time, we will plan to bring Magic Buckets to Xert EBC for iOS as well as other devices that have support for open programming interfaces.

Last updated: 10 October 2025

Setting up Xert + Zwift Integration – New Users

Set up your Zwift account by clicking the Connect link:

From here you’ll be prompted to sign into your Zwift account:

Step 2 – Sign in with your Zwift credentials

By default, Xert will automatically set your training program to Continuous and your daily workouts will be sent automatically to Zwift.To connect Zwift to your Xert account, first head to Sync > Zwift and click the ‘Connect to Zwift‘ button:

Step 1 – Head to Sync > Zwift

From there, you’ll be prompted to sign into your Zwift account:

 

Step 2 – Sign in with your Zwift credentials

Follow the prompts to link your accounts and grant the necessary permissions for data syncing. This allows Xert to automatically send scheduled trainings to Zwift and receive completed activities back from Zwift.

 

Step 3 – Chose to enable workout & activity syncing

 

Sending a Workout-of-the-Day to Zwift

You can have Xert automatically choose a workout-of-the-day (WOTD) for you.  Based on the training that your training program recommends, Xert will schedule a workout that meets these requirements everyday.  If you also have “Send Scheduled Workouts” enabled on your Zwift connection page, a workout will always be ready for you when you are in the game.  This is enabled by default for all new users but existing users can enable the “Automatically schedule a recommended workout of the day” option under Calendar Settings.  This can be accessed by clicking the gear icon in the top right corner of the fitness planner:

However, if you wish to do a different workout than you originally scheduled – no problem! You can re-schedule a new workout or use the ‘Send Workout‘ option on the workout you would like to do and select Zwift. Your workout will sync instantly to the For You section of Zwift, no restart needed!

You then find your scheduled workout waiting for you in the ‘For You’ section of Zwift:

Your scheduled workouts from Xert will appear at the top of the ‘For You’ section.

When you preview the workout, you should also notice that Xert automatically sets the FTP for the workout using your fitness signature in Xert. No need to worry about keeping them aligned manually!

Multiple Workouts

In addition to sending your Workout of the Day (WOTD) to Zwift, Xert will also push 4 additional workouts to your custom Xert workout folder. This gives you more options in case you prefer a different workout than the WOTD for the day. These workouts are updated daily, ensuring that you always have fresh, relevant training choices to match your fitness level and goals!

To find these additional workouts in Zwift, navigate to the Workouts tab and select the Xert folder:

Inside the folder, you will find several additional workouts that have been pushed there. All these workouts are suitable for your current fitness state:

You can choose any of these workouts to execute within Zwift, or stick with the WOTD if it aligns with your needs for the day. This flexibility allows you to tailor your training to how you feel each day, ensuring a more enjoyable and effective training experience.

Syncing Zwift Activities to Xert

After completing a ride in Zwift, your activity will be automatically synced to Xert! If you have enabled Xert > Strava sync, you will also get a neat training summary & Forecast AI training report as seen below, if you are using an XFAI training plan!

 

Click here for help on getting Strava training reports set up!

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FAQs

Common Questions and Troubleshooting:

Q: What if my scheduled workout from Xert isn’t displayed in Zwift?

A: If enabled, your scheduled workouts should be sent automatically to Zwift and waiting in the ‘For You’ section of Zwift. If the workout is not there, you can try using the ‘Send Workout > Zwift‘ option and restarting Zwift.

Q: What should I do if my Zwift activity doesn’t sync to Xert?

A: Check your internet connection and ensure both accounts are properly linked. If you have your Zwift also connected to Strava, you may be able to sync the activity from Strava into Xert. If necessary, you can download .fit files from Zwift & manually upload to Xert.

Q: Are the Xert Smart workouts dynamic?

A: Workouts with intervals and have Xert’s Smart capability – dynamic duration or power – are not dynamic in the Zwift game.  They are all fixed duration and power intervals.  If you wish to take advantage of the Smart workouts, check out the Ultimate Guide to Using Xert with Zwift guide for help.

Q: What happens with Xert’s Mixed Mode workouts?

A: Workouts with intervals to be performed in SLOPE mode will be exported to Zwift as Free Ride intervals, so ERG mode will be disabled & there won’t be an interval target provided. You should use your gearing and cadence to control your efforts! For the best experience, we recommend using the Xert EBC app for Mixed Mode workouts.

Q: Can I customize my workouts in Xert before sending them to Zwift?

A: Of course, you can always choose to make a copy of a workout and edit it to your liking before sending it to Zwift! To do this, open the workout in the designer and Copy the workout to your personal folder. From there, you can customize it as you see fit!

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Conclusion

We’re excited for you to explore these new integration features that Xert and Zwift offer together. This enhancement not only simplifies your training regimen but also allows you to maximize your potential by using Xert’s adaptive training methodologies in an engaging environment.

Log in to your Xert account today, connect with Zwift, and start taking advantage of these new features!

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Additional Resources

For further assistance, visit our Support Page for detailed guides and FAQs.

Share your experiences with the integration in our Xert community forum. We’d love to hear how it’s enhancing your training!

 

So many things go into training program and many athletes aren’t sure what questions they should ask when choosing a plan.  Often they just pick something to do, not knowing whether it’ll be good or bad for them.  Maybe the program title sounds like something they want: “FTP Builder” or “Mid-High Volume with a Little Bit of Sweetspot Program”.  But is this the right program for you?

To help you understand what’s important and why, we’re going to highlight the 10 most important questions to get answered when choosing any endurance training program.  We’ll give you an idea of what answers you will get with a typical training plan, what a coach might provide and what Xert does to address them.

This guide will help you better understand the various settings that go into deciding on what fitness will you have on race day (or on the day you’re looking to reach your achievement).  The settings affect how you’ll need to train and what will be needed to achieve the outcome you are looking for.

Main Three Options

 

Target Information Section

This is the main section that determines what fitness you’ll need to reach in order to achieve the outcome of completing the race/ride:

Training Plan Create/Update You can choose whether to update the existing plan you’re on (and associate your historical training) or you can create a new plan and start over again. Date This is the target date for the race or achievement.  The further away the date is, the more likely it will be for you be able to reach the fitness needed. Max Weekly Hours This value will restrict the number of hours will be asked to train over the course of the training plan.  This will be applied when the training plan is generated. Difficulty Score You can aim to limit the amount of Difficulty you will experience in trying to perform this race.  Generally, Difficulty Scores over 150 are rare and will be challenging to complete.  Races that involve and lot of hard, repeated efforts will increase the Difficulty Score.  Increasing this number will require less fitness for you to reach and improve a race’s fitness achievability but be harder to do on race day. Carbs Per Hour You can aim to reduce the estimated carbs per hour you will burn during the race.  This setting is particularly useful for longer events where self pacing to limit the fuelling demands will be needed for success at the race.  Lowering this value, increases the fitness you will need to reach.  Increasing this value, reduces the fitness you will need but will increase the fuelling demands and intensity you’ll need to race at. Event Readiness The default value of 2 is an ideal setting for a general race preparation.  Lower values improve your durability for the race but also will require more training to be prepared.  Higher values reduce the training you’ll need to do leading into the event.  If you are unable to get to achievability for the race, increasing this value will make the fitness more achievable.  However, this will come with greater chance your performance will fade during the race.   See the help page on Event Readiness for more details. Target Weight You can adjust your targeted race weight.  Reducing your weight on race day will lower the power requirements for the race. The greater the hilliness of the race, the more a reduction in weight will affect the outcome.  Reducing your weight beyond what you can reach can make the race more achievable however achieving the target weight may come at a cost of less power than predicted. Similarly, an increase in weight may mean you plan on going to the gym and will expect to be able to produce more power.  This can end up being higher that what the system predicts on race day and may in fact improve your chances of success.  Note: the fitness signature predictions do not account for the likely reductions/increases in fitness signature from changes to your weight.  It only affects the relative power you will need to produce to replicate the efforts.

 

Weekly Availability Section

This section helps you decide on what days you will expect to be training over the course of the plan.   (If you have specific dates that need to be accounted for, use the Planner to make changes to individual days before analyzing and forecasting a race plan).  Note that any changes here are not saved to your profile until the Forecast is saved.  This allows you to try “what-if” scenarios to see what level of commitment will be required to achieve a particular outcome.

 

General Settings Section

 

Periodization Level When generating a plan, Forecast AI will use this setting to wait until you need to do the training before assigning it.  If you like to ride a lot and want to get started early, slide this to the left.  If you’d prefer to just ride easy and do Zone 2 as long as possible, slide this to the right. Polarization Level Polarized Training involves splitting your low and high intensity into a set pattern, typicall 80/20 or 4 low intensity sessions for each 1 high intensity.  Forecast AI can look to lay out a training plan that uses these ratios for you.  The greater the ratio, the greater amount of high/peak intensity XSS you’ll get prescribed which also means more days of endurance/Zone 2 training.  If you respond well to the polarized training method and like minimizing intensity days, keep this at 80/20.  But if you’re often not motivated to go many days without intensity, slide this to the left.  This increases the frequency of high intensity training days you will get prescibed but with lower high/peak XSS training targets.  Note that in order for Forecast AI to fit the training needed into your availabile schedule, the ratio may need to be decreased. For example, if you only have an hour on your high intensity day, you may not be able to accumulate enough high/peak intensity XSS to reach your training needs so you may see greater high intensity training frequency in your schedule. Recovery Demands Xert automatically balances the recovery you need based on the form for each system every day.  This ensures that you have sufficient recovery throughout your plan.  You can fine tune the amount of recovery you will get by using this slider.  Slide it right to add more recovery time or slide it left for more aggressive training.  Sliding it right can reduce the likelihood of getting a forecasted training plan that reaches the outcome you’re looking for.  Review this link for more info. XSSR Preference You can adjust the degree of difficulty for your training by adjusting this slider.  If you’re time limited but are prepared to invest in more challenging workouts to achieve your race targets, slide this to the right.  If you have the time and are the type to go deep on race day but are not motivated to go as deep on training days, slide this left.

 

 

 

Everyone is familiar with training plans.  They generally give you workouts with perhaps the goal of preparing you for a race or maybe just to “get fit”.  How fit you will be at the end of the training plan is a bit of an unknown.  Will you be ready for the demands of the race? Will you be fit enough to podium?  Will you get dropped? Will you be “fit”? Lots of unknowns.

Wouldn’t it be great if we knew what fitness it took to podium?  Finish in the top 100? Not get dropped on the club ride? Is it just about increasing my threshold power?  Maybe I need to be punchier on the climbs because that’s where I get dropped.  Maybe I need to improve my endurance so I don’t fade later in the race.  Maybe the race ends in a bunch sprint and I need more top end power. What aspect of my fitness and performance needs to improve and by how much?

Everyone that’s ever done a workout would love an answer to this, from the beginner wanting to be able to keep up on the weekend club ride to the professional that longs to be as strong as Tadej Pogacar or Mathieu van der Poel.  We all aspire to have the fitness to achieve our goals.  If only we knew what it took and have the ability train towards achieving them.

It’s now here.  It’s called Race AI.

Here at Xert, we’ve endeavoured to answer this question and solve this very complex puzzle. As you’ll appreciate after reading this post, the effort has been a major undertaking … but we’ve finally done it.

The Race AI Solution – Break Down the Problem into Steps

Like many hard problems, it’s often good to break down a hard problem into individual steps you can solve.  Then put all the steps together and you solve the problem.  If we’re trying to take Rider A and train them towards being able to perform like Rider B did during a race or ride, we have the following steps we need to solve:

1. What’s our target? We need to analyze what Rider B did during the race/ride and assess what fitness Rider A would need to reach to do the same.
2. Is the fitness level something Rider A could achieve?
3. If not, what might they need to change in order to get there?
4. Can we ultimately generate a realistic training plan?  Is there a plan that Rider A can fit within the time they have available, accounts for their unique preferences such that they can follow the program?

If we can solve each of these 4 steps, then we’ve got the basis for generating a training plan that is uniquely tailored to you.  It should help you reach these goals by accounting for your current training status, your capacity for improvement and your ability to follow the plan.

What is the Target?

Understanding and defining the target fitness and performance level the training needs to achieve is as important as anything else that we do. Is it to raise FTP, improve durability i.e. power at the end of the race, handle shorter hills better, increase top end sprinting power or all of the above but in some balance?  Getting the target (or targets even) is the most important step since if we don’t have the right targets to aim for, everything else will be wrong, even if we did all the training and never missed a workout.

So we asked ourselves: What would be the best way to define what the target needs to be?

Best answer: Use a power file from that athlete you wish to perform like.  Many athletes make their data publicly available or if not you can request them to share a ride or race you wish to be able to do and use that.  If the power file was a race winning ride for the event you’re targeting, then being able to produce similar power would be an important step towards reaching a similar outcome.  A properly chosen power file will contain all the elements of what you need to target for your fitness in order to perform at the same level.

There’s a snag though.

If the rider was bigger or smaller than you, then their power data is not likely to be well-suited.  If it was a climber’s course and they raced at 20kg less than you, performing at the same power they did won’t help you in the race.  Similarly, if the course was flat they raced at 20kg heavier than you, performing at the same watts/kg won’t work either.  Watts and watts/kg are both not exactly ideal in this scenario. To do this correctly, the data needs to be transformed from the power they performed at, at the grade they performed it at, to the power you will need to perform to get the same result.

We solved this step problem by introducing the concept of Relative Power.  Relative Power answers the question: If Rider A at 65kg is doing 400W on a 2% climb, what would Rider B at 85kg need to do?  Using Xert’s new Relative Power algorithm, we now have the ability to transform one athlete’s race winning ride, or the athlete that was first to reach the coffee stop on the group ride, or the athlete the broke the record on the hill climb challenge, or the athlete that stole your KOM on the Strava segment, or, or …  We can transform this data into what you’d need to do at your weight (or better .. the weight you aim to be on race day .. hold that thought!).  This is the Race AI solution to Step 1.

Is it achievable?

Achievability means a lot of things since many dimensions of fitness and performance may have gone into the race/ride achievement that’s now encapsulated into the transformed data we can analyze.  What are these dimensions?

1. What FTP / Threshold Power will I need to be at?
2. How much punchiness is required, i.e. High Intensity Energy?
3. Are there no, a few or many sprint efforts involved, i.e. is Peak Power a factor?
4. Are there many repeated hard efforts over the course of a long ride, i.e. increased durability is needed?
5. Are the efforts going to put a strain on glycogen levels and require more fuelling than I’m used to?
6. Will I do better by losing a few pounds for the climbing efforts in the race or will maintaining big power on flatter parts of the course be more important?

Seems like a crazy idea to try and do all this, huh?  It was until we decided to use a secret weapon: MPA analysis.  To answer all of the above.  Step 2 of Race AI repeatedly performs MPA analysis thousands of times, and finds fitness signatures that meet all these constraints.  It then determines which of these fitness signatures are within reach based on the target date and finds the one that is the most attainable.

What if it’s not achievable?

Firstly and realistically, not every race result will be achievable.  As you will soon learn as you start interacting with the system, races performed by professionals at the top of their game, are not going to be reachable by most everyone except for the small few professionals that may have the capacity to perform at the same level.  Indeed, this could be the affirmation they need to invest into their training and seek a professional career in cycling.

Secondly, it might be possible to nudge things a bit and perhaps achieve the target as a stretch target.  For example, perhaps a reduction in your target weight might make things achievable.

Race AI allows you to make a number of adjustments to see if you can reach achievability.  Check out the Race AI Guide for more details:

When we’ve completed making all the necessary adjustments and selections, we can finally move to the last step…

Is there a training plan that I can follow?

The final step is where all the analysis and adjustments get put together and where Xert’s Forecast AI takes over and looks to map out a step-by-step, day-by-day training plan that fits within all the constraints you have – availability, weekly hours, etc.  When Forecast AI finds a training plan, you will have the so-called map that you can follow that will get you from point A to point B, where point A is where you are today and point B is having the fitness to be able to perform at the level that you had set out to achieve.

XFAI is a complex optimization process and accounts for various settings and constraints you can control and adjust:

Adjustment Explanation Availability Forecast AI will look at your riding history to determine which days of the week you like to ride, starting at what time and for how long.  If you plan on doing more (or less) training in trying to reach your target fitness, you can adjust these settings before running Forecast AI. Periodization Periodization level is an advanced setting that will instruct the system as to how much training can be postponed.  For those that are looking to do the least amount of training, move this setting to the right.  For those that like to train, and don’t wish to postpone any training, move this setting to the left. Polarization Polarized Training involves doing a high-intensity session on one day and then doing endurance work / Zone 1/2 work the following days.  This follows an 80/20 pattern or 4:1 of low intensity : high intensity training sessions.  Many athletes lack the motivation to do long endurance rides.  This is a common issue and athletes simply don’t follow programs that are polarized.  They would prefer more combined low/high intensity and with greater high-intensity repetition rates: 3:1, 2:1 or even 1:1.  Adjusting the slider to the left is intended for those athletes that do better with less polarization. Recovery Some athletes due to one reason or another, may need additional rest between sessions. They can still reach higher fitness goals but may take a bit longer to do so.  Other athletes feel that they want to do a lot more when tired.  Use the Recovery Demands slider to adjust to the level you believe is best for you.  Note that it may affect your target fitness achievability. XSSR Preference How much can you suffer during a training session?  This slider helps those athletes that want to get everything done quickly and efficiently (slide it right) whereas others need to build up their pain thresholds with training and prefer longer, easier workouts (slide it more left).

Conclusion

Race AI is a remarkable accomplishment.  It has brought together many new and innovative solutions into an integrated offering.  It solves the longest-standing challenge that has faced the endurance sport community since training was created.