Hi - are there any scales that are easier to sync with TrainerRoad than others? I’d like the Garmin scales for the Garmin Connect integration but understand it’s not so good at integration with other sites.
Thx
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This thread contains lots of scale discussion.
Nothing currently connects directly to TR at the moment.
Thanks.
This is a good idea though. Even if you don’t have a Garmin scale, you can get weight to sync to Garmin Connect through MyFitnessPal, which supports quite a few devices, I use the FitBit Aria for example.
Thanks. Am going for the Nokia/Withings and will try MyFitnessPal to sync to Garmin!
Nate has the same scale I do and I am really surprised he has not synced it to TR yet to have a daily accurate watt/kg and a log within TR that could show weight swings in conjunction with performance metrics.
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I bet he’s thought of it and written some lines of code …
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I’m guessing they want to do this right. By adding weight to each individual workout, you are adding another point in time that you have to analyze against for performance metrics; if you take this too far, TR could get very slow depending on how metrics are calculated (I haven’t opened up the hood to see if the analysis is happening client versus server side). If you have ever used WKO4, you’ll know what I mean, because the computation time for some of the metrics is ungodly slow even with a pretty powerful machine.
Making a good watt/kg graph that provides actionable insights isn’t trivial!
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I think from an integration standpoint it would be easiest to integrate with Apple health since most scales sync with apple health. This allows the TR team to maximize their time and not write one off integrations for each scale. I know wahoo has done exactly this. I currently have a Nokia scale and each more when I step on it syncs to Nokia’s cloud and back to Apple health app. Because wahoo is allowed from a provision standpoint, pull from Apple health the weight in the wahoo app is up to date daily. I believe this is a feature TR will be building sometime in the future.
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I messaged Nate on Strava about this a while ago, and he said it was a cool idea and would suggest it.
I currently have the Withings scales, and have then syncing to MyFitnessPal which then syncs to Garmin Connect. I also have them connected to Strava via IFTTT which works great.
I think it just fires a webhook, so it should be relatively easy to get it working with TR that way, rather than creating a full blown API.
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Thanks for all the suggestions!!!
Not everyone uses Apple products, would be interesting to how many TR users have accounts with Apple health to see if this would be the easiest way to develop things. I’m also sure Apple, like many other businesses, don’t give things away for free.
I’m sure most already dump their data somewhere, Garmin Connect , MFP, Strava? etc. As integration engines (and agreements/costs) already exist with many platforms I’m sure the easiest way would be some addition amendments to the data they pull/push into TR.
Scales that use ANT+ to communicate directly with TR would be perfect. No reliance on anyone else. Weigh before and after a workout… even more data points !!
So to connect to Apple Health is free. Apple does not make developers pay to connect to Apple Health, that would make zero sense from a business perspective if they are trying to get users on the platform. I hear what you’re saying here.
Most scales don’t integrate from their own “proprietary cloud” to Strava or Garmin. Most of them go to their own “proprietary cloud” aka mobile app which then a user gives Apple Health access to either pull from or the app pushes to Apple Health.
The reason I say do this for Apple Health first is because it seems TR has spent a lot of time and resources in developing the iOS applications for both iPad and iPhone and from a developer standpoint developing for Apple is much easier. It seems that with Android that each hardware company has their own software and health application on the device.
I’m not sure of any scales that use ANT+, but if you could list a few that would be great. I agree more data points the better. With so much emphasis put on W/KG keeping a close eye on this over the course of training and a year would be very helpful. Power can increase, but if weight goes up then it doesn’t really matter.
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Good to hear Apple health is free and also for developers to connect. If that’s a path TR goes down then I would follow.
Not sure of any other scales that have ANT+ over than Garmin Smart Scales. ANT+ is only used in the initial setup to configure the wifi, but the fact there is an ANT+ protocol/channel available would make myself believe there could be a way to send out the weight on ANT+ direct to ANT+ connected TR and Zwift. Currently weight is passed via Wifi/Internet and then distributed by Garmin connect to Garmin products that use weight, e.g. Head units (Edge 520).
So far two of my five get weight automatically, Garmin connect and edge 520, but I want it passing to Trainer road, Strava and Zwift too!
Can’t see Garmin doing this anytime soon, like you say, they all seem happy to garden wall their data, stop it sharing between platforms, I’m not sure really why.
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I have a withings scale which I love, and for a while I was syncing my weight to Garmin Connect through MFP. Things stopped working for some reason, and then I sort of had a sour taste in my mouth ever since MFP got hacked, so I decided to build my own secure app for syncing with garmin connect. It also syncs the fancy metrics (body water %, bone mass, fat %, muscle mass) in addition to your weight.
Do people want auto uploading of weight into trainer road? I understand trainer road doesn’t have an API for this yet but I could build a tool that automates the process regardless.
What’s the main reason for updating weight frequently in trainer road - more accurate power/kg metrics?
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I just set this up, and it looked to be possible to have GC send to MFP; sign up for FitBit and have it link from MFP; then link Zwift to pull from FitBit. Finally this to update Strava. TrainerRoad is the only standout at this point with no apparent way to sync weight in from anywhere.
I’ll know if all this daisy-chaining works in the morning when I take my next weight but it should be easy enough to troubleshoot from there. Withings also looks to be a viable intermediary for some services but I saw recent complaints of issues syncing with MFP so went with Fitbit to play middleman in some cases.
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@renschler Auto updating TR from Smart Scale Sync would be amazing! I’m loving your app and this would make it even better…
@ssphillips ok awesome. I got a power meter this summer but I haven’t invested in TrainerRoad yet (I’ve been copying my friends’ TR workouts that they post to Strava). When I get an account I’ll look into it.
@renschler I have 1 month free TrainerRoad certificates, so let me know if you’d like one. I’m also in the camp of would love to be able to sync my Garmin Connect metrics (weight, % body fat, etc.) to TrainerRoad.
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@AlphaDogCycling that would be sweet. what type of scale do you have? I don’t think I’d be able to go from a Garmin Scale directly to TR, but from Fitbit/Withings it would be doable.
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