I think Zwift would really benefit from having workouts or training plans dedicated to maximize calories burnt to lose weight.
Hello @Emil_Sorensen, welcome to the forums.
Zwift has many training programs and workouts, what leads you to believe they donât maximize burning calories? Searching for Z5 VO2 Max workouts, there are 850 of them. Zwift workouts and training plans | What's on Zwift?
Of course, you canât out train a bad diet. So more focus should be on nutrition rather than high intensity workouts, you shouldnât train at high intensity all the time.
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Hi Mike.
Thank you for you response.
I think you are missing the point.
It is not about âout training a bad dietâ.
It is not about me âbelieving they dont maximize burning caloriesâ
It is about the fact that you can make workouts that focus on specific intervals or specific pulse zones, that make losing weight even more effective.
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Hi Paul.
Thank you for your response.
But if this is the argument, then there should not be any pre determined workouts or training plans.
My point is, that coaches makes very specific workouts for 100âs of things. Why not for weight loss? 
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Why should there be workouts for weight loss? Weight loss is far too complicated for just workouts (or the old calories in and calories out).
If you want weight loss you are going to have to do multiple things and Zwifting can be one of them.
To be truthful any workout will work, but HITT sessions and long Zone 1-2 sessions is what you would need.
Not sure what point you are trying to make with this post.
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Hi Paul.
You could say the exact same thing about any other type of training.
In order to get in shape, training is one of the things you need to do. You need to eat right as well. So with your argument, Zwift should not have any workouts or training plans, because they cannot stand alone.
I dont know if that is the point you want to make, but it is the point that you are making.
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There are NO workouts of any kind that are just for weight loss.
Still not sure what point you are trying to make.
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TrainerRoad doesnât have any âweight lossâ training plans either to my knowledge. I imagine this is becuase it is a difficult subject and has to do much more with how you behave off the bike. If they labeled a plan for weight loss and you didnât lose any pounds on the scale after the 10 weeks or whatever the length would be, then you would be mad that Zwift lied or doesnât know what they are doing, etcâŚ
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I am having difficulty finding you in the Zwift Companion App, do you go by a different in-game name?
Have you used Zwift yet?
If so what level are you?
And there are no workouts that benefit solely your climbing abilities, yet Zwift have loads of climbing-improving workouts. If you are not able to understand the simple point i am making, i am afraid that i cannot make it any more clear. English is not my first or second language, i am afraid.
What my level is? Is this some sort of childish attempt to shame me, if my level is not high enough to validate me having an opinion?
Thank you for your messages Paul, but i dont think we will be going any further with this discussion i am afraid.
Have a good evening.
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No trying to shame you, just trying to find out what your angle is.
You are free to post your thoughts on how a Zwift workout should be constructed to target weight loss.
Are you an active Zwift user?
What workouts would you suggest for weight loss so maybe Zwift or someone else can create them?
@Emil_Sorensen Are you suggesting that Zwift has âclimbing-improving workoutsâ that nevertheless do not also make you stronger on other terrain? Iâd assume not, since you said, ââŚthere are no workouts that benefit solely your climbing abilities.â So then, are you merely commenting that the particular naming of the workouts ought to be more precise?
Why are there no weight loss workouts? All kinds of training, from HIIT intervals, to SST, to endurance rides, to recovery ridesâand even scheduled days off the bikeâbuild overall strength one way or another over the long term. E.g. as you likely know, a recovery ride or day off the bike supports your ability to go at 100% fresh effort during interval work. No one in their right mind would do just one specific kind of workout over and over and over again. In just the same way, all kinds of training tends to help you shed excess weight in the long run, provided you are eating sensibly. I.e. no one should expect to find one specific kind of workout that is âthe right workout for weight lossâ and that ought to be done over and over and over again.
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There is nothing special to loose weight. Any good diet and training plan will help to loose weight.
There are studies that show that long Z2 workouts burn the most calories while saving muscle.
This is a long (3hour Z2) workout.
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Hi Xavier.
I was answering a point that another user made:
His point was that weight loss workouts could not be made, because you cannot make a workout that only benefits weight loss. So my counter argument was, that the same could be said about climbing workouts. I am not asking for more precise naming. I have faith that the coaches making these workouts know what they are doing, and that they do indeed help you progress you climbing abilities. Climbing workouts focus on things that primarily strengthens your climbing abilities. At the same time you will get stronger in many other directions.
The same can be done with weightloss. It is possible to make workouts that are more efficient than other at shedding weight.
You can enhance your climbing abilities in almost any workout. But climbing specific workouts yield the best results. The same can be said about weightloss. You can lose weigth doing any workout. But some workouts are more effective than others. That is my point in a nutshell.
I am 100% unable to explain it any better. If you are still unable to understand what i mean, i cannot change that.
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Can you please post what you think would be in a weight loss workout. Some examples are need for this thread to continue.
Someone earlier posted something along the lines of âyou canât out-exercise your forkâ. This is exactly correct. If weight loss is the primary goal, then your primary focus should be on nutrition. Maybe something along the lines of the ketogenic diet. If youâre looking for a workout that will help with weight loss, then you just need to do a workout that burns more calories than you are consuming. This, I think, is why the other posters are taking issue with the OPs premise of having a âweight lossâ workout. Since weight loss really has no direct correlation to fitness (which is what a climbing, or power, or FTP, or other workout is focusing on), it would be impossible to have a âweight lossâ specific workout without also telling the user what they need to do OUTSIDE of Zwift in order to make it effective.
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Hi again Paul.
I thought i made it clear, that our discussion had come to an end.
However this thread is created in the âfeedbackâ section of the forums.
This is feedback to Zwift about what i think could be very good addition to their product.
I am not qualified to make the correct workout for this, since i am not an educated coach or personal trainer.
That is why my point is, that i believe it would benefit Zwift to include certain workouts in their program, to draw even more people to use it.
Fact is, at least where i am from, loads of people buy gymmemberships with the sole purpose of riding trainer bikes. Why wouldnt a company want to expand their product to service them, as well, when it can be done so easily.
Although a simple google search can tell anyone that longer workouts in zone 1-2 will burn many calories, as well as intervals with high intensity. Also it is best to not do high intensity training 2 days in a row. So if you train for a short time at high intensity at day 1, day 2 should be lower intensity for a longer time. This does without doubt mean that you can create a training plan that over weeks tell you which days to do what in order to get the most out of your training. I believe that there are coaches and trainers able to make a workout that best suits the needs of a weight loss.
I am unable to understand why people keep arguing about âyou canât out-exercise your forkâ. Training to improve climbing abilities are the EXACT same thing. If you fail to fuel correctly, it will not give you the results you are searching for.
To be honost i do not care if you close this thread. I was trying to give feedback to Zwift, on what in my oppinion is a market left untouched, which is bad business.
I will leave the thread now, since i have in every way humanly possible explained in details what i mean. If you do not understand, i believe it is because you chose not to understand.
Have a good evening.
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Just to be clear, exercising to lose weight and exercising to improve climbing ability (your example) are NOT the same thing. A person can train to increase a muscular or power function (the climbing piece of your example) by doing specific EXERCISES. A person cannot lose weight, however, specifically in this manner. A person might lose weight by exercising more than they are presently (if they donât change their caloric intake). ANY exercise, at ANY level of effort. So, in essence, every single workout presently in Zwift is already a âweight lossâ workout, as long as it goes in tandem with some sort of nutritional change, which isnât within Zwiftâs real parameters. Exercise, in general, is NOT the path to weight loss. Better fitness and muscle tone, certainly. But weight loss? Not so much. To really lose weight the person needs to change the profile of what they are consuming, either from a total calorie POV, a quality of calorie POV, a mactronutrient POV, a time of eating POV, or some combination of all of these (and probably other options).
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