XSS Per Hour Preference – Knowledgebase

XSS per Hour Preference sets the expected XSS/hr for high-intensity sessions, controlling how hard and time-efficient they feel. It mainly affects High/Peak training (not endurance) and is separate from Difficulty Score, which describes the difficulty of an individual workout or ride.

Summary Generated by AI

Definition

XSS per Hour Preference controls how “dense” your high-intensity training is—how much XSS Xert expects you to accumulate per hour during harder sessions.

In simple terms:

Higher setting → more XSS in less time (harder, more time-efficient)
Lower setting → less XSS per hour (easier, more time to complete the work)

This setting is separate from Difficulty Score, which reflects the difficulty of an individual workout or ride.

What It Means

This setting mainly affects High-Intensity sessions (i.e., workouts/activities that include meaningful High and Peak strain). It has little impact on pure endurance rides, where intensity is already low.

The default value (100 XSS/hr) is designed to be achievable for most athletes.

How to Use It

Increase it if you have limited time and want harder, more time-efficient high-intensity sessions (more XSS per hour).
Decrease it if you want high-intensity training to be more manageable (e.g., returning from illness/injury or preferring less demanding sessions).

Important for Forecast AI

If you set XSS per Hour Preference too low—especially when you’re time-crunched—Forecast AI may have difficulty meeting the required training demands before your goal/event. In those cases, increasing the setting can help “fit” more effective training (XSS) into the time you have available.

“Based on Training Load" Toggle

If enabled, Xert will automatically scale your XSS per hour preference as your Training Load changes:

Lower Training Load → lower XSS/hr targets (easier high-intensity sessions)
Higher Training Load → higher XSS/hr targets (more demanding, time-efficient sessions)

This feature is off by default and not required, but can be helpful if you want high-intensity workout density to progress naturally as your fitness improves.

Where You’ll See It

Program Settings > General Tab > Program Settings (Slider and optional auto-adjust toggle)
Reflected indirectly in the recommended XSS targets for your available training time

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