Watt Up Cycling Takes Sufferfest to Another Level

I wrote this piece a few years ago about Sufferfest at Pinoy Fitness Magazine.

Working out indoors just got fun and extra challenging with Watt Up Cycling powered Sufferfest workouts.  Sufferfest brings you to different cycling races and footage from Tour de France, Tour de Suisse and several legs of the UCI World Championships and other cycling events.  Watt Up Cycling upgrades the Sufferfest experience with their cycling turbo trainer – WAHOO KICKR.

Sufferfest Videos

Sufferfesting in Watt Up Cycling Style.

I discovered Sufferfest videos a few years ago and I really enjoyed working out with it.  It’s a bit dragging to bike indoors with the absence of views and it’s hard to find a good rhythm to match your cadence.  While some use music, I prefer to bike indoors using Sufferfest videos.  Why?  The videos are a compilation of cycling videos worldwide and throughout time that puts you into different actual race scenario like Tour de France, Tour de Suisse and several legs of the UCI World Championships.  It divides a workout in manageable segments that matches each race scenario.  You’re actually going on a virtual tour in the cycling world with stops in Switzerland, France and a lot more.

Each video is a different cycling adventure on its own.  There’s a quick Revolver Sufferfest video that gives you an intense 45 minute interval workout.  There’s a Local Hero video that gives you a journey to be a world champion with several race scenario leading to the championship intervals.  There’s an Angels workout that simulates several climbing scenarios.  There’s A Very Dark Place video that brings you to the mentally challenging part of races.  There’s also videos of simulating the chase and the feel of being chased in Hell Hath No Fury and The Hunted.  There’s more videos that gives you different situations and training focus.

Watt Up Cycling

Watt Up Cycling uses the best indoor cycling turbo trainer — the Wahoo KICKR. The Wahoo Kicker can attach to your bike (with 10 to 11 speed) so you can still bond with your bike while doing the workout.  What difference does the turbo trainer make?  For Sufferfest, you manually adjust your gears depending on the requirements of the video.  Wahoo KICKR automatically adjust the resistance based on your efforts.  Bike a little slower, the trainer gets heavier. Bike faster and it gets lighter.  In other words, there’s no place for chill mode except when the gear automatically lightens on the recovery intervals of the video.  With the automatic shift in the gear, your legs do feel the actual resistance of the video.  One feature I like is that you can load an actual bike route and the trainer adopts the actual elevation and resistance required to conquer the said route.

This really helps for those training for a specific race and route.  It gives you a familiarity of the effort needed for the race.  It also can be a bit harder as you don’t have accumulated momentum to propel you on a climb or the help of gravity on a descent.  More than everything else,  Watt Up Cycling is a power meter based workout as training load is based on your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). The FTP is the highest power output you can sustain for a one hour time trial effort. It will serve as the baseline parameter for the intensity of your next workouts.  You can measure your performance or you can even do an actual race on a simulated course using the Sufferfest with Watt Up Cycling.

Amanda Fernandez of Sparta tries of the Sufferfest powered by Watt Up Cycling at Maximus Athletes Shop Cafe

Since it bases on your existing power level, the workouts is more synced to your capabilities.  I also appreciate that Watt Up Cycling helps you assess and improve through all the metrics in your rides.  You get to see your actual performance as you do your workout.  When I tried out the workout, I was so drawn with all the metrics in front of me.  I love that I can see the my actual cadence to the required cadence based on the video.  I have a slow cadence but I was surprised that if I focus on it, I can match the required cadence. I’m still a work in progress but it does help a lot to see your real-time stats while doing the Sufferfest videos.  They also send you a summary of your workout after each ride.  You get instant feedback on how you are progressing by checking on the metrics.

Watt Up is the only Sufferfest-licensed training facility in the Philippines and the first in Asia to use it in conjunction with Wahoo equipment.  I can say it’s a lot tougher than a regular Sufferfest workout as the automatic gear adjustments of Wahoo will make sure you don’t sandbag anytime during the workout.  I don’t cycle competitively but I do find it useful on giving me a good beating on a work out.  It beats you up to be a stronger version of yourself and a much capable one when pitted against the pack.  As every Sufferlandians know by heart, I will beat my ass today to kick yours tomorrow.

Rates

Try Watt Up Cycling

WattUp Cycling Studio Contact Info and Schedules:

• WattUp Cycling Studio
  • Address: 36B, Scout Ybardolaza, Brgy. Sacred Heart, Quezon City
  • Studio Hours:
    • Tuesday – Friday
      • AM – 6:30, 8:30, 10:30
      • PM – 12:00, 4:30, 6:30, 8:30
    • Saturday – Sunday
      • AM – 8:30, 11:00
• Maximus Athletes Shop Cafe
  • Address: Sparta Complex, 126 Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong City
  • Studio Hours:
    • Tuesday and Thursday – 5:00 PM and 7 PM

Contact Details (For Booking and Rate Inquiries)

• Globe: 0927-5250854
• Smart: 0998-3134426

Follow Them:

• Website: Watt Up Cycling
• Facebook Page: Watt Up Cycling:
• Instagram: @WattUPCycling