The TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic acquisition gives Garmin a coaching layer for Connect+, but it also raises questions about third-party device access and metric licensing.
Garmin has acquired TrainingPeaks, the endurance sports coaching platform, and TrainHeroic, its strength-training counterpart, from Peaksware Holdings, expanding its presence beyond wearables and into coaching services. Financial terms were not disclosed. The 120 combined staff from the two platforms’ Louisville, Colorado base will join Garmin.
The acquisition also brings in TrainingPeaks Virtual, the indoor cycling platform TrainingPeaks itself picked up in 2024 under the name Indievelo. Peaksware’s unrelated music-software business stays independent. TrainingPeaks has long been one of the dominant coaching and workout-management platforms in triathlon, cycling and endurance sports, serving both individual athletes and professional coaches.
Why Garmin is buying coaching, not just data
The acquisition comes one day after Garmin launched its screenless Cirqa smart band, underscoring the company’s broader push to deepen its health and fitness offering. DC Rainmaker’s Ray Maker has argued that Garmin Connect+ needs structured coaching content to justify its subscription fee, noting earlier this year that he had cancelled his own subscription because he saw limited value in the service. TrainHeroic alone brings roughly 500,000 users and 10,000 coaches on the strength side of the business.
For Garmin, the deal adds coaching and structured programming to a hardware business increasingly competing with AI-driven training apps – a dynamic already reshaping the connected fitness and wearables category more broadly.
The openness question
The acquisition also raises questions about TrainingPeaks’ future independence. Cycling media and analysts note that the platform currently integrates with rival device makers, including Wahoo, Hammerhead, and Coros.
Analysts have also questioned whether Garmin will continue licensing TrainingPeaks metrics to other device makers, echoing concerns raised when Garmin acquired Firstbeat in 2020 about whether it would keep licensing those metrics to competitors.
In a note sent to coaches after the announcement, TrainingPeaks managing director Lee Gerakos said the platform would continue to operate across devices and services “that best suit their needs,” without detailing what, if anything, would change operationally.
