For a new cyclist, smart trainers can be a good way to keep them engaged in riding where weather prevents them from riding outside by using programs like Zwift to be more interactive. You can do the same thing though with a dumb trainer and speed sensor. New cyclists need volume and they need to keep riding through out the year to keep from falling backwards. To me that's what smart trainers do. You can do trainer road type training from a canned program on any trainer, it doesn't have anything to do with smart or dumb trainer really.
Canned program structured training keeps people engage riding with purpose though too so those are good in that respect I would say. The only issue I have seen with them is the aren't as specific as I would do, they tend to move from system to system - perhaps to keep people interested?
My work right now is steady state intervals 3/week (60 minutes at intensity),a 2 hour endurance ride on the weekend and 2 recovery spin days in between the interval days - probably will be that for the next couple months at least in blocks of 3 weeks. That's the system specific work I see missing from the canned programs you mention.
Last edited by srode1; 02-10-19 at 06:14 AM.