I just signed up and have a setup of a tracx flux , wahoo armband, using my old giant defy adv 2 (2010). does weight in zwift make a huge difference ? I may need to twink my weight quite abit so I can ride…
The reason being, 7 yrs ago I had a car accident and have 23 screws 3 plates and a hip replacement. no more road riding for me. my weight shot up to 150kg and I’m back to 140kg at the moment. I setup my system and even have a step to help get on the bike.
I miss my riding !! … first thing I noticed is how bloody hard it was, heart rate and my weight on zwift really had me moving nowhere and heart rate shot up fast. (never went over 155 when I was riding 3 hr rides pre accident. even pushing it). it was 165 in no time and I was hardly moving.
I’m hoping twinking it is going to help me lose weight , not kill myself and enjoy the ride. eventually getting the weight down, right weight level in zwift, muscle up , and enjoy what I use to love doing riding. :).
Yes weight play a role if you are climbing not on the flats. I would not change my weight if I were you. This will be motivation to train harder and as you loose weight you will go faster. Pick the flat routes, and look for group rides that are listed as 1.2-1.5 w/kg.
Do a FTP test and join some group workouts, the group workout has a rubber band effect that keep all riders together.
thanks good to know. flats are the go for me for quite some time I think… baby steps… it doesn’t take much to upset the hardware in my hip unfortunately and I use to be fit and want to go hard…
I recently had surgery to drill out some fused discs in my spine. Before that, I would go out for leisure road rides - just steady 15 to 20k rides, nothing too hard. My weight has generally been in the 118kg range.
Discovered zwift as soon as the surgeon said I could get back on a stationary bike about four weeks ago.
It’s helped my recovery no end, and as Gerrie says, stick with the weight you are on Zwift and reduce the resistance to begin with. It will motivate you. I have lost a few kg in four weeks since surgery, purely by building up the cycling. I will add I am an “oldie”.
Done my first 70 km two days ago, and today have just done what I thought was a relatively steady 50km. For info, I’m now around 113 kg.
Stick with it, little by little, and the improvements will come. My first week I admit I struggled, but it’s getting better.
If it’s of interest, what has helped me is Emily’s short mix, which is a 30 minute workout based on your FTP. I’ve done this a few times as a warm up, and then gone for a longer ride. I’ve experienced solid improvements in my heart rate recovery, and the power I can generate.
Darren, glad you found your riding again! as others have said turn the trainer difficulty down, way down. you will still feel the elevation changes, but you wont be thrashing yourself. shave a few kg’s off too if it helps. Its no fun crawling up hills and the hills are some of the best bits! plenty of time later for realism when fit. i think your last paragraph makes sense.
I don’t think you should cheat, if at some point in the future you want to see how far you have come, you won’t be able to. I was hit by a car and was injured, it was motivating to monitor my progress
Unless you are racing, how is it cheating to change your weight?
What you want is an enjoyable experience, while getting a good workout.
Last year there was a group ride I wanted to do, for 3 weeks in a row I didn’t get past the first 5 minutes, then rode on my own with no motivation to push anymore, the 4th week I took 10kg off my weight and kept up till the afterparty and had an awesome workout, as weeks went past I would put a couple of kilos on till I got back to correct weight, now I can keep up properly, I would never of got to this stage and would given up on Swift if I had never done this, there is nothing worse than being the slowest person there, just because you have had a car accident. I also do it the other way if the only group ride available when I can ride is a slow one I have put my weight up 40kg, so I still get a great workout.
Welcome to Zwift.
As long as you aren’t racing, who cares what weight you use? If you have to drop some kilos in order to enjoy your ride then go ahead. The only thing that matters is that you are participating in the Zwift community and are enjoying your rides.
Glad you are getting back on the bike and I hope to see you on the course.
Hey @Darren_Bates , keep it up mate. When I joined Zwift a year ago I was 105kg (after losing 45kg) and I found Zwift hard, everyone passes me on the climbs and I often feel beaten up because of it but keep going. Don’t change your weight to make it easier, at the end of the day the only person that matters is yourself. You will only be beaten by you. As @Gerrie_Delport said, personal goals and all that.
I am now at 92kg and being short I will never ever beat most people but I do it to challenge myself and my times. Welsome to Zwift and keep going. If you ever want a ride partner look me up mate.
It’s wrong. It distorts the ride for you and for others and even if you aren’t racing it’s just generally against the principle of entering your correct details.
You can still ride at any weight and there are some groups that keep a very low pace - try the Zwift Beginner Rides page for example, they even have a Rehab ride for people recovering from injury - so why would there be any need to cheat?
Good airflow may also help with your heart rate. You may want to consider adding another fan.
I am not in the same boat as you, but I have had my hip replaced. It does get better! I remember starting out in Zwift (and being overweight) I couldn’t even keep up with the PACK rides, but I can now. I also figured out drafting works!
Unless you are racing, how is it cheating to change your weight?
You cheat yourself, don’t you think ?
What you want is an enjoyable experience, while getting a good workout.
You do not have to change your weight to get an enjoyable experience. In my humble opinion the right and better way would be to start with short and easy workouts and if you get fitter, you can increase the amount of training. Neither in real life you cannot change your weight by a button click
thanks for all the responses , as the first post mentioned weight doesnt make it easier on flats so I have no need to reduce my weight in the app to make it easier to start off with… it will be very small baby steps. I will be leaving it at my correct weight.
I think you cheat yourself of a great interactive experience if you don’t change your weight, for me the enjoyment of zwift is riding in groups, drafting, swapping turns on the flats, trying to keep up when we hit the hills. All of which is highly motivational to ride harder and for longer.
If I had my weight set at 140kg, I wouldn’t be able to do any of these things and would be riding round on my own, getting depressed that every other person on Zwift is zipping by me. There are much better apps than Zwift for riding around on your own.
At the end of the day its just a computer game, that can get you really fit while having fun, at 140kg it is not fun!!
Its great you are back on the bike, and working on your health, thats awesome stuff mate!
If you leave your weight at 140kg you are really limiting the enjoyment you could have, there are hundreds of motivating group rides a week, but you will be limiting yourself to one or two, then if you get dropped, the rest of the people might slow down to let you get back on, or your back to riding on your own, crazy
All the people banging on about cheating need to get off their high horses and remember its just a computer game that is going to get you fit and on the road to recovery, if you can have fun along the way, its even better!!
I get your point, but in my opinion that is no solution and in the long run you won’t be more happy. If your weight is 140kg it won’t help you to reduce your in-game weight to e.g. 65kg, neither in Zwift, because of your probably bad fitness you will not be able to keep up with the other cyclists with a real weight of 65kg. The social aspect in Zwift is important, but you won’t have any more fun with such a weight change.
In the end, it’s not much different than when a hobby cyclist reduces his weight to 45kg to ride in an A race with the pros - “just for fun”. Everybody looks for the right excuse/reason to justify his cheating.
Why does everyone always want to be better, faster, more beautiful - why don’t you accept yourself the way you are ?
My personal goal is to become fitter, because cycling is much more enjoyable if you are well trained - and of course it is fun to suffer together with others
i dont understand the need to adjust your weight - if you are just riding, there’s no issue, you just ride at whatever pace you ride at. there will be others riding at your pace.
if you enter a race ( i have NO idea why you would want to according to your predicament ) then its cheating- WHY? just so you can keep up? - this is why cheats cheat.
just stick to normal riding, and if you want to race, race the lowest grade with your correct information - Remember, there ARE other people like you who may find it hard to keep up - even at the lowest grades.
you will improve, and as your weight changes, change it accordingly. but dont go cheating for cheating-sake
Ride for your own physical health and well being. Set your settings so that you enjoy the riding the most and do it more. Your health and well being is more important than what anyone else thinks in a forum.
