Athletes all over the world trust TrainingPeaks to help them reach their fitness goals. Some of them jump in with a Basic (free) account, while others rely on the advanced features of a Premium subscription. So which one is best for you? It depends on your goals, training preferences, and desire to use advanced insights to guide your training decisions.
To help you with this decision, we surveyed over 1,500 athletes using TrainingPeaks Premium. Here’s what they had to say about Premium versus Basic accounts.
Why TrainingPeaks Premium Is Worth It
According to the athletes in our survey, these are the main reasons why the Premium experience is worth paying a little more:
1. You’ll Fit Training Into Your Life
“TP Premium allows me to enter all my workouts in the Workout Library, drag and drop them into the calendar, and move them around to fit work and family commitments.” – Robin, runner, cyclist, triathlete
Flexibility is a big theme we heard from users, which doesn’t come as a surprise. We understand what it’s like to train around busy jobs, family commitments, and, well, life! With Premium, you can easily drag and drop your training sessions around so you don’t get derailed when your schedule fills up.
Premium allows you to add future workouts to your calendar, which is handy if you’re coaching yourself. Premium users also get the full details of their workouts in daily emails, which makes it easier to train on the go (and harder to make excuses!).
With a Basic account, you can add a workout to your schedule for today, but you won’t be able to plan future workouts. You can also work with a coach and use a training plan with a Basic account, but you won’t be able to reschedule activities on your calendar like you can with Premium.
2. You’ll Stay Motivated
“I love to see my CTL and TSB increase as I continue to train, so I know I am race-day ready.” – Sam, MTB/gravel
Athletes using TrainingPeaks Premium are 40% more likely to complete their planned workouts than athletes with a Basic account — probably because it’s so easy to see progress. A Premium subscription gives you the full power of TrainingPeaks analysis, including visual representations of fitness, fatigue, and the other metrics you need to train effectively.
You also get a few extra-motivating features:
- Peak Performances highlight your progress on key distances, paces and power durations.
- StackUp lets you see how you compare to other Premium athletes with insights filtered by gender, age, and time.
3. You’ll Get The Most Out of Your Coach
“The numbers keep me honest and act as motivation. My coach puts the workouts on and I just do the work!” – Louise, triathlete
Coaching works best when it’s collaborative. Athletes in our survey reported that the information they get access to in Premium allows them to have more productive conversations with their coaches, leading to an overall better coaching experience. And let’s be honest, there’s nothing that makes you trust your coach’s process more than hitting a new Peak Performance!
4. You’ll Gain Confidence
“I can really target when I’ll peak with the forecasted graph in the dashboard. Knowing that I will be at my peak on race day gives me that extra confidence to have a great performance.” – Jens, triathlete
Confidence is difficult to measure, but with the insights users get in Premium, they report gaining a lot of it. The big picture view of performance data, along with markers along the way (like Peak Performances), helps Premium users fully understand their fitness journey, so there’s no question about their preparation when they toe the line.
Reasons You Might Not Need a Premium Subscription
Some athletes find a Premium subscription isn’t for them. TrainingPeaks Premium might not be for you if:
- You’re not a numbers person, and viewing advanced fitness metrics isn’t particularly important to you.
- You simply want an app to log your workouts, and you don’t need to plan ahead.
- You want to test out TrainingPeaks before fully committing to a Premium subscription.
- You want to follow a training plan, and you don’t need the extra flexibility to move workouts around to fit your schedule. (Lucky you!)
- You trust your coach to analyze the data for you.
With a Basic Plan, you can still set goals and log your workouts. You just won’t be able plan future workouts, reschedule missed training sessions, or track your fitness with advanced metrics. If you still aren’t sure, remember that we offer a 14-day Premium trial when you create an account.
Tips On How to Get the Most Out of TrainingPeaks Premium
If you decide to go with a Premium subscription, we recommend taking full advantage of these resources to make the most out of your experience:
- Bundle your subscription with a world-class training plan designed by an expert coach. We’ll also throw in an extra 20% off Premium when you bundle. (P.S. – our training plan quiz can help you find the perfect plan that matches your sport type, experience, and availability.)
- Work with a coach to get extra guidance and support. We recommend using our Coach Match service to find a coach who can take you to the next level with a customized training experience.
