An indoor training app for cyclists, Wahoo SYSTM offers lifelike virtual rides, carefully designed workouts, and plenty of exclusive cycling content for users. Is it the right choice for you? Here's how the SYSTM app works, and how it compares to similar cycling apps.
Getting Set Up With the Wahoo SYSTM App
To get started, you need two pieces of equipment: a bike and an indoor trainer (or a stationary bike). Because so many brands are available, you can check whether your smart trainer is compatible with the Wahoo SYSTM app on Wahoo's support page. If you have a compatible speed sensor, then it's also possible to use the SYSTM app with a classic trainer, according to Wahoo Support. Lastly, you can use the SYSTM app with a stationary bike by following Wahoo's guide, although you may not have access to all the data, like virtual watts.
Optional equipment to consider buying includes the following:
- A heart rate monitor
- A speed sensor and a power meter for your bike if you're working on a classic trainer
- A fan to make riding indoors far more pleasant
You can use the app directly from your smartphone, but running it on a tablet or casting it to a larger screen may help make the experience more immersive.
Download: Wahoo SYSTM for iOS | Android (Subscription required, free trial available)
Navigating the Wahoo SYSTM App for Cycling
Once your equipment is ready to go, download the app and get set up. To start, complete a 4DP fitness profile that tailors workouts to your specific fitness level. You can fill out a quick survey about your current fitness habits, as well as take a fitness test to get more accurate results.
Scheduled rides appear on the Home tab, and you can review scheduled rides with the Calendar. The Progress screen, meanwhile, shows the results of your previous rides, including data on your distance, power, and average cadence.
Training Plans and Rides in the SYSTM App
You can start with the 14-Day Trial Plan selection of workouts, which offers a different ride for nearly every day of the two-week duration. The first one, Getting Away With It, includes a short film. The premise: you want to sneak away from work for a quick ride through the French Pyrenees, meeting up with a pro cyclist who guides you through the winding mountain roads.
During a ride, you're able to view distance, cadence, power level, and heart rate (if you have a monitor connected). For the duration of the ride, you're treated to gorgeous shots of the French countryside. Even when viewed from the small screen of a smartphone, the crisp visuals are a delight.
When connected to a smart trainer, you also get real-time workout feedback. Climbing a steep hill feels like slogging through molasses while soaring downhill offers a merciful bit of rest.
Training tips throughout the workout remind you to stand for steep climbs or change up the cadence for different portions of the ride. This turns your indoor cycling into a challenging workout.
The second ride—the Half Monty (Ramp Test)—challenges you to go hard until you can't pedal any longer. By following the instructions and stopping once it's genuinely too difficult, the app provides results for your 4DP Power Test, including Functional Threshold Power, Maximal Aerobic Power, and Lactate Threshold Heart Rate. It's a lot of information, but the general idea is that the app then uses these scores to dial in your own heart rate and power targets for future videos.
Rides following the Half Monty are much easier to follow and hit the power targets. Adjusting your effort to keep the green line in its proper place will become second nature.
The SYSTM app offers a tremendous variety of workout and entertainment options. For instance, during one ride you watch the engaging Kayabike documentary, following a South African BMX coach preparing his students for a competition. In another ride, you hang out with the Global Cycling Network (GCN) crew for a ramp-up workout that encourages focus on cadence and power throughout.
For the most part, the app's rich variety of content keeps the rides interesting and challenging.
Channels on the Wahoo SYSTM App
Tap on the Library tab to review the app's different types of cycling content. First, browse the Sufferfest channel, a beloved series of cycling training videos with a devoted fanbase that Wahoo acquired in 2019.
More than 60 Sufferlandia videos are available in the SYSTM app. Smart, challenging, and filled with wry humor, Sufferfest workouts feature titles like Do As You're Told and It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time.
Next, the GCN channel features indoor cycling classes that help you focus on endurance, interval training, sprint efforts, and more. Meanwhile, the Inspiration channel showcases over 70 cycling documentaries that offer a peek into the lives of cyclists the world over.
A Week With takes you through a series of videos that show the training plans and workout routines of prominent cyclists, while the ProRides series provides immersive race simulation workouts. Zoom through the Giro d'Italia or the Santos Festival from the comfort of your trainer.
Lastly, the On Location videos take you through scenic locations along the Costa Brava coastline, the Côte Vermeille, and many more gorgeous routes. There's also a NoVid collection of over 130 workouts that don't offer videos or soundtracks, only on-screen cues.
How to Use the Additional Content in SYSTM
In addition to its cycling content, the SYSTM app also offers strength, running, yoga, and mental training options. First, the mental training option helps you learn to think like an elite athlete. Because mental strength is often a key component of an athlete's success, this program helps you with aspects such as goal-setting and focus. Audio sessions help you build these habits over time.
The running and swimming sections offer a selection of many preset workouts you can follow along. These are not recorded in the app, but you can write them down and follow at your leisure. The workouts are similar to what you might receive from a coach.
Next, the Strength and Mobility section offers more than 70 video workouts, from full-body routines to neck mobility exercises. Lastly, the yoga section features more than 60 videos on balance training, breathing, and stability exercises.
Should You Download SYSTM or Another Indoor Cycling App?
After a few weeks of using the SYSTM app regularly, you'll learn a lot from helpful advice about maintaining cadence, managing effort, and generally making the most of trainer rides. Each video offers a particular lesson or focus, and the experienced narrators encourage your progress. The app can help you get a much better workout when compared to simply using the trainer on your own (which gets boring in a hurry).
However, the SYSTM app is a paid subscription, and not everyone likes managing these every month. In addition, the app does not pair with Chromebooks or Amazon Fire devices. SYSTEM does offer a tremendous amount of content for the price, however.
SYSTM isn't the only game in town, and there are many great cycling apps for indoor trainers. ROUVY uses Augmented Routes to create immersive routes with 3D riders, while Zwift gamifies indoor cycling with avatars that explore the fantastic fictional world of Watopia.
If you're looking for a more gamelike feel while riding, then either of these apps is a solid choice. And SYSTM's companion app, Wahoo RGT, includes a virtual cycling world as well. You can access both SYSTM and RGT with a subscription to Wahoo X. In general, the best cycling app is whichever one you'll use the most often, so make use of their free trials to find your match.
Download the Wahoo SYSTM App to Power Up Your Indoor Cycling
Turn your pain cave into a serious training arena with the Wahoo SYSTM app. Enjoy zooming through scenic roadways or dropping the hammer in simulated race experiences, and make improvements in your training with every ride. In addition to helping you become fitter and faster on the bike, the SYSTM app also helps stoke your love for cycling in general with its personable hosts and inspiring documentaries.