Take climbing a hill at 20Watts sub threshold, if our threshold increases, we can either climb the hill still at 20W sub threshold and go faster, or we can ride at the same power output and speed, but we are then our sub threshold effort becomes ‘even more sub’, which results in the effort being easier. Training at the top end of your tempo range will improve aerobic capabilities by increasing muscle glycogen stores. Using the Wattbike Atom, you can measure, adjust and tweak your pedal technique live to improve your pedalling efficiency, potentially increasing your FTP as a result. I took 6 weeks off the bike, my FTP dropped to around 164W, so I started this current routine of daily 45mins 'easy' rides (with 1 rest day per week) to regain fitness. It’s good to take a break from time to time, but he noticed “the lack of structure made me slower.” Brad examined what was holding him back and realized that “the times when I was getting faster were the times that I was consistent in my structure. Briefly, if you want to be good at riding up steep climbs, or covering a few km quickly, or simply ‘packing a punch’ so you can tackle climbs in sportives easier – yes, developing your FTP will help, but arguably even more important is your ability to ride anaerobically for a short period of time. Let us take two bike riders – Rider A is 60kg and Rider B is 90kg, and both have an FTP of 300W. FTP can fluctuate on a daily basis, and can be affected by hydration and glycogen levels. The higher a riders Lactate Threshold, the more Watts can be produced ‘at threshold’, which is represented by a higher FTP. Now let’s say that through smart training the athlete made a 10 watt gain at the FTP range. Share: Previous How to Watch Zwift Races Live on Your Computer. You will see diminishing returns from FTP increases. C:: 2.5 w/kg to 3.2 w/kg FTP. The workout in your plan that looks impossible today will be possible one day. How to Increase FTP? Work on both – in separate sessions, or combining the two in a session known as ‘Under – Overs’, where we work under our threshold for say 4 minutes, then we tip above for a few minutes before returning to an aerobic state. A custom training plan, automatically built for your goals. Eric … How to measure your FTP. Essentially, to raise your FTP, you need to grow your aerobic base fitness, then build upon it with more specific training. the person who has not spent too much time working anaerobically (above LT) just to get to the finish. FTP is just a number and an indicator of fitness level. Briefly, if you want to be good at riding up steep climbs, or covering a few km quickly, or simply ‘packing a punch’ so you can tackle climbs in sportives easier – yes, developing your FTP will help, but arguably even more important is your ability to ride anaerobically for a short period of time. After a few weeks acclimatization this effect becomes less. “You are using 100 per cent of your FTP if you’re using wattage. How Can I Increase My FTP? It’s all about taking your plan one workout at a time and trusting the process. A short session to get you started on your FTP journey. Next … To reserve our glycogen stores and our ‘matches’, we want to be riding aerobically, sub-threshold as much as possible. Where we get lost is when we become obsessed with our 20 minute power. Dennis P says: October 26, 2016 at 10:46 am. It will probably even be possible at a higher FTP! What was really fascinating is that even if someone trains at elevation, their FTP will increase by a lot when they move down to sea level. But the best training plans won’t work unless they are built around you, your goals, and your life. High-intensity workouts demand increased levels of carbohydrate, but perhaps more important is what we take onboard post-workout. Whatever your reasons, increasing your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is an excellent motivation for focusing your efforts, and is a true barometer of how sharp your body is. With 4 x 5min moderate intensity intervals, you will be introducing yourself to the duration of the final test session in 4 weeks time. That is the way it is so important to increase as high as possible. If you improve your FTP at elevation, it will also increase your FTP at sea level. Here’s how; Push our FTP up, by riding sub-threshold, around Sweet Spot, building our Aerobic Base, and our aerobic engine size; Drag our FTP up, by working anaerobically, well above threshold to ‘increase our anaerobic engine size; or. Is My FTP Good? Without providing our body with the amino acids, vitamins, and minerals required to recover, rebuild, and optimise hormonal regulation for good health, we can potentially run ourselves into the ground with heavy training. B: 3.2 w/kg to 4.0 w/kg FTP. That would increase strength to weight ratio to 3.77 w/kg, a .44 w/kg difference and equivalent to approximately a 35 watt gain in power in the FTP range! Although technology and workarounds exist to increase the security of FTP, they add complexity, latency, and end-user frustration. You might even be tempted to skip your Ramp Test and continue training with the same power values. We will have more left in the tank, enabling us to recruit all our fast twitch (Type II) muscle fibers, to produce that maximum neuromuscular power effort. The time you can spend in each zone is progressively limited. This switching from aerobic to anaerobic, producing lactate and recycling it forces positive adaptions to our efficiency and LT. My personal favorite session is the following 1 Hour 10 Minute Session – give it a go and let me know how you get on; 10 Minute Progressive Warm-up inc. 3 x 6 second surges, 2 x (12 Minutes Sweet Spot – 8 Minutes Recovery – Zone 1), 2 x (4 Minutes Zone 5 – 4 Minutes Zone 1), © 2020 Rowe & King - Website by Celf Creative, https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/power-profiling/. I hope you find this article thought provoking and are able to take something away from it – if nothing more than we should all try to increase our FTP! The best way to measure your FTP is with a 20 minute test on the Wattbike. If you are concerned with increasing FTP then I suggest the following workout plan 3 times a week do 4x10 min intervals with 5 mins recovery between intervals. For example, the intervals in a training plan can steadily increase in duration and difficulty from one workout to the next. What's your end goal? After a few weeks acclimatization this effect becomes less. ftp is not very comparable between individuals, if you are large chances are good that your ftp is highr, since you have more leg muscle and more ability to do work. Finally, FTP is used to estimate your maximal steady-state power, and this power seldom falls neatly at 1 hour in duration. For the purposes of power profiling there are four standard durations: 5 second, 1 minute, 5 minute, and FTP. In conjunction with improving endurance, your FTP needs to increase too, so that you can continue to challenge and grow your power zones. What would the best training plan to increase FTP be? The Ramp Test is designed to accurately assess your FTP. The last person “… recently took 8.5 hours off his most recent race”. I attribute my FTP increase on both increased fitness as well as training at FTP and above. We’ve reached out to the athletes featured in this story to get that info and will update the post once we’ve received it. This is why in addition to workouts increasing your stamina and ability to spend time in a zone, they also focus on raising FTP. If you skip a test you might be shortchanging your next block of training. “It’s a good session as you’re approaching the season, and to maintain your fitness over the season,” he explains. Driven by science and data, TrainerRoad provides the training, planning, and analysis tools you need to become a faster cyclist with a focused and straightforward system. measured in Watts. Throughout the Base Phase, you will increase the number of capillaries, increase the strength of your mitochondria, strengthen your heart, improve fat metabolism, and increase muscular endurance. Best not to worry about the FTP as such too much, and look at seasonal increases if you are looking at making training plan adjustments. Do a longer ride 1-2 days a week too. After establishing muscular endurance in the Base phase, the Build phases focuses on increasing your FTP. Having a high FTP … While you can … Since FTP is a measurement of your aerobic fitness, training that improves your aerobic capacity and muscular endurance will likewise increase FTP. The best way to increase your FTP is by strengthening your aerobic energy system. Remember that your FTP is a tool used to keep your training accurate. For example, the AT of people with poor aerobic fitness may be at 60% of their HR max, whereas the AT of trained athletes may be at 85% of their HR max. A month is a really short amount of time, and some months you go forwards, others you go backwards. It is a part of training on power and this type of training is getting more and more popular because it’s very accurate The occasional long ride is an excellent way to improve your aerobic fitness, which ultimately determines your FTP. Everyone’s aerobic threshold is different. If you head over to any bike … For example, athletes can generally stay in their endurance zone for multiple hours but can only stay above anaerobic capacity for a handful of seconds. Your fitness has improved, and you’ll need an updated FTP if you want to continue to grow and challenge those higher power zones. altitude increases above sea level aerobic capacity declines which means that one’s average max power over a one-hour period would also decline. Aerodynamic drag is air resistance attributed to an object. Zwift automatically tests your FTP on every ride, prompting you if an increase is detected. It is a product of an objects drag coefficient (Cd) or “slipperiness” and it’s size, critically it’s frontal area (A). FTP is just a number used to calibrate your training. About The Author. Ask a Cycling Coach — the only podcast dedicated to making you a faster cyclist, Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 007 – TrainerRoad Podcast. A higher FTP will help all cyclists – here are a few examples of the real world benefits we can realise with a higher threshold; Another factor to consider when talking about FTP is a riders weight, since the heavier you are, the greater the mass that you need to move. Once you’ve grown your aerobic base, it’s time to build upon it with more specific training. This point is shown in the graphs above as the vertical blue line. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } The most widely adopted way to profile a bike rider is to complete 4 max efforts across different durations, which are; 6 seconds – to ascertain Neuromuscular Power. It is important to remember is that FTP constantly fluctuates – it changes every week, and even day-to-day. With that said, after a hard block of training it’s normal to feel tentative about training at a new FTP. It’s a good idea to do it for several durations so that you know where you’re strongest and weakest. If you just finished a block of training where you missed some workouts, took a vacation, or had a lot of real-life stress, you might see that number decline. Currently the most popular categorization scheme for Zwift races is as follows: A: 4.0 w/kg FTP or higher. Unlike FTP or PMax, W/kg is not a static number, but rather one that corresponds to different durations on the power duration curve. TrainerRoad uses your FTP to scale every workout to your specific abilities. The goal of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is to get your heart rate up, increase the levels of lactate in your legs, and get a good workout in under 60 minutes. D: Under 2.5 w/kg FTP. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Whenever I get my power meter (favero assioma uno) I want to do a training plan since I’ll finally have accurate power readings. And, regarding TT, like others have said, aerodynamic drag being quadratic to speed, once at a certain speed, it is pretty hard to increase speed by increasing power. Time Trialing. Your FTP value is calculated at the end of your ride as 95% of your highest 20-minute average power. Lots of strategies here, but here’s a good article from Nate Wilson at Training Peaks: Three Ways to Improve Functional Threshold Power. We then increase the wattage 20 … Simon Marshall, author of The Brave Athlete, says a 2.5 percent increase in FTP in a training cycle (around 6 to 8 weeks) is a good power increase. 93% is a “Sweet Spot” zone which is one of the best places to be to improve your FTP. Which is okay! As a bonus workout, to train for longer road events and being able to perform strongly at your FTP at the end of a hard race, rather than doing FTP efforts as a set, do them spaced throughout a long endurance ride. Do you race at all? Unlike FTP or PMax, W/kg is not a static number, but rather one that corresponds to different durations on the power duration curve. Sometimes training gets interrupted. It depends on the length of the time trial, but whatever the distance, you will be riding around your LT. Let us take a long time trial, say 60km – you may be riding say 95% of your LT for the majority. You’ll start with Sweet Spot Base, then complete Sustain Power Build and finish more threshold work with the Time Trial Speciality Phase. FTP is meant to be an indicator of our aerobic ability and we spend countless hours on the bike trying to increase our ability to metabolize fat more efficiently at higher work rates. Plan Builder will take the time you have, experience, and goal event to create the perfect plan—one that works for you. It can go up, if you put in training to increase it. Luckily, it’s easy to keep your training on track and your zones in line when you assess your FTP regularly. You’ll be prompted to take a Ramp Test at the start of each new training block to keep this number up to date. Your FTP may increase by 2.5 % by altitude training. Remember that you can spend just minutes being over your threshold and much longer being below it. Power profiling is much more widely talked about and communicated by coaches now. Meghan Kelley is a writer, XC MTB racer and all around fan of trails, rocks, dirt and the desert. For more information on training with power check out Ask a Cycling Coach Ep 258. If you can spend an extended amount of time in zones like threshold, VO2 max, and anaerobic capacity, this is an indication that it’s time to reassess your FTP. Ready to get faster? By steadily increasing the time you spend in the sweet spot zone your workouts are improving your strength and muscular endurance. If your FTP is 280 Watts then you have a range of 260 – 294 Watts. While lab testing is the most accurate method to determine this, it is not feasible for many. There is a good table in this article: What was really fascinating is that even if someone trains at elevation, their FTP will increase by a lot when they move down to sea level. With that said, you can’t increase your ability to spend time in a power zone forever. 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