Program Difficulty allows athletes and coaches to customize the overall difficulty level of their Xert Forecast AI (XFAI) training program. It’s important to note that this setting does not affect the traditional Xert Adaptive Training Advisor and is distinct from Difficulty Score. The Program Difficulty scale ranges from 50 to 150. By default, XFAI sets the difficulty level to 100, which ensures that workout durations are efficient, and high-intensity activities are challenging yet achievable for a broad range of athletes.
Moving the slider towards the right condenses more high and peak XSS (Xert Strain Score) into the available training time, making high intensity workouts more time-efficient but also more demanding. This adjustment may benefit athletes with limited training time, as it maximizes the effectiveness of each minute.
Conversely, shifting the slider towards the left allocates more time to complete high-intensity activities, resulting in less time-efficient workouts with reduced overall difficulty. This option may be preferred by athletes returning from illness or injury, or older athletes seeking to avoid overly demanding workouts. It’s important to note that decreasing program difficulty will increase the estimated training time, as the relative training efficiency (XSS/hr) decreases.
Additionally, users have the option to ‘Auto-adjust using Training Load,’ which dynamically scales the program difficulty based on the athlete’s training status. As training load increases or decreases, the program difficulty adjusts accordingly.