TL;DR: In coaching communities such as Reddit we regularly see coaches ask for “a combination of TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic.” That request tells you what many coaches look for: endurance training delivery and strength programming in one place. TrainHeroic calls itself strength and conditioning software for coaches (TrainHeroic for coaches), with percentage-based lifting, teams, chat and a marketplace for selling programs. Coachbox is an endurance coaching platform with lactate testing built in, and strength and core workouts in the same calendar. Neither does everything. This comparison shows what you get from each, where each one fits better, and how to choose for your practice.
Update, 22 July 2026: Garmin announced that it acquired TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic from Peaksware Holdings (Peaksware announcement). The announcement says nothing about changes to TrainHeroic’s pricing or features, so everything below describes TrainHeroic as its own website and help center show it on 29 September 2026. For what the deal does and does not change, read Garmin acquires TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic.
Two Different Starting Points
Coachbox and TrainHeroic come at coaching from different sides.
TrainHeroic presents itself as online strength and conditioning software for coaches (TrainHeroic for coaches). Its programming centers on reps and weight, with loads prescribed as a percentage of an athlete’s working max (percentages). Around that it offers teams and 1:1 coaching, chat, leaderboards and a marketplace where coaches sell teams and programs (TrainHeroic for coaches, marketplace).
Coachbox starts from endurance coaching. It is built for coaches who work with cyclists, runners, triathletes and other endurance athletes. Lactate testing, dated training zones, structured workouts that go out to the athlete’s watch, and annual planning sit at the core. Strength and core workouts live in the same multi-sport calendar (Strength & Core).
These starting points shape how each platform works. In our view, the features that feel most natural in each are the ones closest to the problem it set out to solve.
Feature Comparison
Training Delivery
| Feature | Coachbox | TrainHeroic |
|---|---|---|
| Training calendar | Multi-sport calendar with an integrated annual plan | Team and athlete calendars, reusable Programs and Parent Calendars that feed several teams at once (Parent Calendars) |
| Workout builder | Structured endurance workouts with zone targets, plus strength and core sessions | Sessions built from exercises, circuits and supersets with reps and weight (RPE, tempo and rest) |
| Structured interval workouts | Built in Coachbox and sent to Garmin, COROS or Wahoo (integrations) | In-app timers for intervals, EMOM, Tabata and AMRAP (in-app timers); we did not find a way to send structured workouts to a watch (integrations) |
| Percentage-based strength programming | Strength and core workouts with demo videos or images (Strength & Core) | Weight as a percentage of the working max, calculated per athlete, plus Linear Weight Progression (percentages) |
| RPE, tempo and rest | Instructions in the workout | RPE, tempo and rest as exercise notes, per set if you like (RPE, tempo and rest) |
| Strength max testing | Not part of this comparison | Testing sessions reset an athlete’s working max (testing maxes) |
| Device sync | Completed activities in from Garmin, Polar, Suunto, COROS, Wahoo, Fitbit and Apple Watch; planned workouts out to Garmin, COROS and Wahoo (integrations) | Apple Health for nutrition data (Athlete Pro) and Zapier (integrations); we did not find a watch or bike computer integration |
| Annual periodization | Integrated annual plan that includes strength and core | Calendars and Programs (Parent Calendars); we did not find a separate annual planning view in their help center |
| Program marketplace | Coming later | Sell teams as monthly or yearly subscriptions, or programs for a one-time fee (marketplace, teams vs programs) |
Where TrainHeroic fits better: Strength programming. Percentages that pull from each athlete’s working max, Linear Weight Progression and max testing sessions give strength coaches a workflow built around the barbell (percentages, testing maxes). The marketplace lets you sell programming today; ours is still coming.
Where Coachbox fits better: Endurance delivery. Structured intervals go out to the athlete’s Garmin, COROS or Wahoo, and the integrated annual plan maps out periodization with phase targets up to race day. TrainHeroic offers interval timers in its app, but we did not find a watch sync in their documentation (integrations).
Physiological Testing
| Feature | Coachbox | TrainHeroic |
|---|---|---|
| Lactate testing | AI analysis, included in every coach plan | Not found in their help center (help center) |
| LT1/LT2 detection | Automatic, in under a minute | Not found in their help center |
| Zone calculation from tests | Automatic, zones dated so past workouts keep their old zones | Not found in their help center |
| Spirometry | Add spirometry data to a lactate test | Not found in their help center |
| Test reports | Branded PDF | Analytics you print or save as PDF from the browser (print or export) |
| Strength testing | Not part of this comparison | Working max tests for lifts (testing maxes) |
Where Coachbox fits better: Physiological testing. The testing we found in TrainHeroic’s help center is strength max testing. We did not find lactate testing, threshold detection or spirometry in their help center (help center). If lab or field lactate tests are part of your coaching, that decides it.
Athlete Management
| Feature | Coachbox | TrainHeroic |
|---|---|---|
| Athlete profiles | Training and test history | Training history and lift history (lift analytics) |
| Team management | Group messages and access rights per athlete for your multidisciplinary team | Teams and 1:1 coaching (TrainHeroic for coaches), Parent Calendars across teams (Parent Calendars) |
| Team leaderboards | Not part of this comparison | Leaderboards per team session (leaderboards) |
| Performance tracking | Training load, PMC, power and pace, test progression | Compliance, training summary, readiness and lift analytics (compliance, print or export) |
| Health and readiness | HRV, sleep and resting heart rate from the athlete’s device; injuries logged as milestones | Pre-training survey on sleep, mood, energy, stress and soreness (readiness surveys); we did not find HRV from wearables (integrations) |
| Finding athletes | Matchmaking: athletes who look for a coach through Coachbox are matched with you, and your own page in the public coach directory | Marketplace where athletes find training programs from coaches (TrainHeroic Marketplace); we did not find a coach matching service on their site |
Where TrainHeroic fits better: Team environments. Leaderboards, compliance analytics per team and Parent Calendars that push one program to several teams suit S&C coaches at schools or performance facilities. Its listed coach plans go up to 1,000 athletes (TrainHeroic pricing).
Where Coachbox fits better: Combined training, testing and recovery data. Every test result sits next to the athlete’s training load, HRV and sleep, so you see how physiology and training relate.
Communication
| Feature | Coachbox | TrainHeroic |
|---|---|---|
| In-app messaging | Messaging with athletes and group messages | TH Chat for direct, team and program messages (TH Chat) |
| Feedback on workouts | Coaches respond to individual workouts | Session Comments per training session (Session Comments vs TH Chat) |
| Video | Demo videos or images in strength workouts | Photo and video upload in chat and comments, videos up to 1 minute and kept for 30 days (TH Chat); a video review tool (TrainHeroic for coaches) |
| Notifications | Yes | Yes (TH Chat) |
Common ground: Both platforms give you in-app messaging next to feedback on individual workouts, so neither pushes you to WhatsApp. TrainHeroic adds short video uploads in chat, which suits form checks (TH Chat).
Exercise Content
| Feature | Coachbox | TrainHeroic |
|---|---|---|
| Exercise library | Your own library of strength workouts, shared within your team | Preloaded exercise library with videos, shared across all TrainHeroic coaches (exercise videos, preloaded libraries) |
| Custom exercises | Yes | Yes, with your own video link (custom exercises) |
| Exercise demos | Demo videos or images in strength workouts | Videos in the shared library and in your own exercises |
Where TrainHeroic fits better: The preloaded library with videos saves you from filming every movement before you start (preloaded libraries). In Coachbox you build your own strength library.
Platform Access
| Feature | Coachbox | TrainHeroic |
|---|---|---|
| Web access | Yes | Yes (TrainHeroic for coaches) |
| Mobile app | iPhone and Android | iOS and Android (mobile app) |
| Offline logging | Not part of this comparison | Offline mode for viewing and logging sessions, everything except videos (offline mode) |
| Languages | EN, NL, FR, DE, IT, ES, PT | English only (languages) |
Pricing
Every row below is what a coach pays. Coachbox amounts are excl. VAT. TrainHeroic amounts are as TrainHeroic lists them (TrainHeroic pricing); see the note under the table for tax.
| Coachbox | TrainHeroic | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing published? | Yes | Yes (TrainHeroic pricing) |
| Currency | EUR | USD |
| Billing | Yearly or monthly | Monthly by credit card, no minimum contract (coach FAQ); TrainHeroic states it offers no yearly pricing for accounts under 1,000 athletes (yearly billing FAQ) |
| Coach plans | Base 19 EUR/month billed yearly or 25 EUR billed monthly (5 athletes, then 2.50 EUR per extra active athlete), Build 49 or 65 EUR (25 athletes, then 2 EUR), Peak 79 or 99 EUR (50 athletes, then 1.75 EUR), Prime 149 or 190 EUR (100 athletes, then 1.50 EUR), each first amount per month billed yearly and second billed monthly, all excl. VAT | Tiers by number of athletes, per month, as listed: 9.99 USD for 1 athlete, 17.99 USD up to 5, 34.99 USD up to 15, 44.99 USD up to 25, 74.99 USD up to 50, 99.99 USD up to 100, up to 399.99 USD for 1,000; contact them above 1,000 (TrainHeroic pricing). The plan moves up automatically when you pass the athlete limit (change your plan) |
| Extra coaches | Unlimited coaches in every plan | 9.99 USD per assistant coach per month, as listed (coach FAQ) |
| Cost for the coach’s athletes | Free app | Free app, covered by the coach plan (Coach Plan vs Marketplace) |
| Lactate testing | 5 to 20 free tests at the start of your license, then 3 to 6 EUR excl. VAT per test depending on the plan | Not found in their help center (help center) |
| Free trial | 14 days, no credit card | 14 days, no credit card (TrainHeroic pricing) |
| Marketplace | Coming later | Marketplace athletes don’t count toward the coach plan (Coach Plan vs Marketplace); on sales through your own links, TrainHeroic keeps 1 USD per month per team subscriber, or 1 USD per month of program length for a program, plus 2.9% + 0.30 USD in bank fees; on sales it brings in through Marketplace Match it keeps 30% plus bank fees (seller terms) |
Coachbox lists its prices without VAT. An active athlete is one with workouts planned in the future. TrainHeroic is a US company that lists its prices in USD and collects US sales tax where required, based on the billing zip code (sales tax FAQ). It does not state a VAT basis for customers outside the US, so we show its prices as listed and don’t convert them or add VAT. The two plans count athletes differently and bill in different currencies and periods, so we don’t add them up into one yearly total. What you pay depends on your roster, how many coaches you add and, on TrainHeroic, how many athletes join through the marketplace.
Sources: TrainHeroic pricing, Coachbox pricing. For more detail, see our TrainHeroic Pricing analysis.
The Workflow Difference
Feature tables tell you what’s available. Workflow tells you what it feels like to coach on each platform.
A Week of Coaching on TrainHeroic
Your athletes come in for their strength sessions. You program a lower body day with squats at 80% of their working max, Romanian deadlifts and accessory work. TrainHeroic calculates the weight for each athlete from their working max (percentages). Athletes open the app, see their weights and log their sets. At the end of the week you check compliance per team (compliance).
In our view this experience works well, and the automatic weight calculation saves you the per-athlete maths.
Now one of those athletes asks about their cardio plan for the week. You answer in TH Chat (TH Chat). They mention a lactate test next week. We did not find lactate testing or a watch sync in TrainHeroic’s help center (help center, integrations), so the test results and the zones for their runs live in another tool.
The friction: The endurance and testing side of the athlete sits outside the platform.
A Week of Coaching on Coachbox
Your athlete’s week combines three aerobic sessions and two strength sessions. Tuesday is a threshold session with 4x8 minutes in zone 3. Coachbox sends it to their Garmin, and after the run the activity comes back into Coachbox next to the plan. Wednesday is a strength day with squats and deadlifts, with demo videos in the workout.
On Saturday they do a lactate step test. You type in the values or photograph the paper protocol, Coachbox detects LT1 and LT2 in under a minute, calculates new zones and gives you a branded PDF report to share. Future sessions use the new zones, while past workouts keep the zones that applied on their date.
The friction: Strength programming in Coachbox is not built around percentages of a working max the way TrainHeroic’s is (percentages). For barbell-heavy blocks, you do more of the load planning yourself.
What This Tells You
The workflow difference follows the coaching reality. In our view, if you mostly coach athletes in a strength-focused setting, TrainHeroic’s workflow fits your day better. If you mostly coach endurance or hybrid athletes who need testing and zone management, Coachbox covers more of what you do in one place.
What TrainHeroic Does Better
Where TrainHeroic is strong:
Strength programming. Weight as a percentage of each athlete’s working max, Linear Weight Progression and testing sessions that reset maxes (percentages, testing maxes). In our view, for coaches who think in sets, reps and load, this is the heart of the product.
A preloaded exercise library. Every coach account comes with preloaded libraries for exercises, programs and calendars, with videos (preloaded libraries). You start programming before you film anything.
Teams at scale. Team calendars, Parent Calendars, team leaderboards and compliance analytics per team (Parent Calendars, leaderboards, compliance). Plans go up to 1,000 athletes (TrainHeroic pricing).
A marketplace that is live. You sell teams as monthly or yearly subscriptions, or programs for a one-time fee, and TrainHeroic handles billing, cancellations and refunds (marketplace, teams vs programs). Our marketplace is still coming.
An app made for the gym floor. Offline logging, in-app timers and short video uploads for form checks (offline mode, in-app timers, TH Chat).
What Coachbox Does Better
And where Coachbox is strong:
Lactate testing inside the coaching platform. Test results update the athlete’s zones, and future workouts use them. We did not find lactate testing in TrainHeroic’s help center (help center).
Endurance workouts on the watch. A structured interval session you build in Coachbox goes out to Garmin, COROS or Wahoo, and completed activities come back from those plus Polar, Suunto, Fitbit and Apple Watch (integrations). Athletes see their targets on the watch or bike computer during the session.
Annual periodization for endurance. Base, build, peak and race phases in one annual plan, with strength and core workouts inside the same plan.
Recovery data from the device. HRV, sleep and resting heart rate sync from the athlete’s device, next to their training and test history.
Branded lactate test reports. The PDF export of a lactate test carries your own brand, on every plan.
An AI assistant that knows your athletes. Coachbox AI answers questions about an athlete, a workout or a season from their real data, and can write changes into the training plan. You can also connect ChatGPT, Claude and other assistants over MCP. We did not find an AI assistant in TrainHeroic’s help center (help center).
Seven languages. The platform runs in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. TrainHeroic supports English only (languages).
Common ground, so you know it’s not a difference: both platforms publish their prices, offer a 14-day trial without a credit card, let athletes of a coach use the app for free, and give you in-app messaging and feedback on workouts.
Who Should Use TrainHeroic
TrainHeroic is the better fit if you:
- Coach mainly in strength and team sport settings: CrossFit boxes, powerlifting, team sport S&C, performance facilities
- Manage teams: Team calendars, Parent Calendars and leaderboards suit groups that train the same program
- Want to sell programs now: The marketplace is live and handles billing for you
- Program by percentage of max: Sets, reps and load are your main coaching language
- Don’t need endurance device sync or lactate testing: If your athletes don’t train for endurance events and you don’t test, the parts we did not find in TrainHeroic won’t affect you
Ideal TrainHeroic user: An S&C coach at a gym, school program or performance facility who manages teams of athletes, programs by percentage of max, and wants to sell programming through a marketplace.
Who Should Choose Coachbox
Coachbox is the right choice if you:
- Coach endurance athletes: Cyclists, runners, triathletes, swimmers and other athletes training for endurance events
- Use lactate testing: And want test results flowing into zones and training plans
- Program structured intervals: And need those workouts on the athlete’s watch
- Coach hybrid athletes: Athletes who combine lifting and endurance training in one calendar
- Want one platform: For testing, planning, communication and analytics
- Want an AI assistant: That answers from your athletes’ actual data
- Coach in more than one language: The platform runs in seven
Ideal Coachbox user: An endurance coach who uses lactate testing to set zones, prescribes structured interval workouts that land on athlete devices, and wants testing, training and communication in one workflow.
Can You Use Both?
Some coaches do, and for a specific coaching reality it makes sense.
The case for both: If you’re an S&C coach at a performance facility whose athletes include team sport athletes (mainly strength) and endurance athletes (cyclists, runners), you might run TrainHeroic for the strength side and Coachbox for endurance and testing.
The downside of both: Two subscriptions, two platforms, and manual coordination when an athlete’s data needs to live in both places. Athletes may need two apps.
The most practical path: Start with the platform that covers most of your coaching. For strength-dominant practices, that’s TrainHeroic, with Coachbox added when testing or endurance delivery becomes necessary. For endurance-dominant practices, it’s Coachbox, with TrainHeroic added if you want percentage-based strength programming.
The Reddit Reality
In our experience, coaching threads on Reddit keep raising the same pain point: coaches want one tool for the strength work they do in TrainHeroic and the endurance work they plan elsewhere. The comments describe multi-tool setups, manual coordination between systems, and paying for two or three platforms to do one coaching job.
Coachbox doesn’t solve this for everyone. It is not built around percentage-based strength programming, and it’s not trying to be a strength platform. For coaches whose main work is endurance, or whose athletes train across modalities, Coachbox brings training delivery, strength and core workouts and lactate testing into one platform.
In our view, one platform that does everything at maximum depth doesn’t exist. For most endurance and hybrid coaches, one platform with the endurance side built in beats managing three separate systems.
The Bottom Line
TrainHeroic and Coachbox serve different coaching practices. TrainHeroic focuses on strength, team S&C and marketplace program sales (TrainHeroic for coaches). Coachbox focuses on endurance coaching, lactate testing and connecting test results to training.
Our honest answer: if your athletes mainly lift, TrainHeroic fits your work better. If your athletes mainly run, ride or swim, and especially if you want lactate testing in your coaching, Coachbox fits better.
The coaches who struggle most sit in the middle: hybrid coaches, athletes who do both, performance directors managing several sports. For them, the right answer may be accepting some trade-offs in one direction, rather than waiting for a single platform that does everything at equal depth.
Choose based on what most of your coaching work requires. That’s where the right tool shows itself.
