Science Finds These 2 Key Workouts Improve Your Cycling FTP

Triathletes and cyclists looking for guidance on how to increase FTP will enjoy seeing this info on what cycling workouts will improve functional threshold power the best.

[skiprogers]

One of the best explanations I have listened to on the need to structure your training program for increased aerobic capacity....well done!

[tednruth]

The point of any test protocol is to establish a working platform for training and to measure improvement ( hopefully) over time.

[terrywalker]

Awesome improvement. I am 67 and starting back cycling little over a year ago. Did the SYSTM Half Monty ramp test yesterday and hit 206 FTP. So when I hear of you talking about hitting 300 watts I think man that is super human.
Excellent output.

[XMan-migs]

Thanks for the good video Taren. I am 37 years old. Doing Triathlons for 4 years now. I am training with Zwift and a trainingspartner since a couple of months. We are doing the FTP building training scheme. We have a FTP around 185 now. Have to start somewhere 😁. My trainingspartner also watches your video’s and we discuss the inspiration you give us. It motivates us to take our progress to the next level. We love your set up. I have the same TT bike ☺️. So thank you again and we look forward to your future video’s!

[thelmaviaduct]

This is one of your best videos, well done 👍🏿

[cyclingboss]

Good stuff T. Thanks for sharing this info. I always do the ramp test. Don't care if it is accurate so much as I am looking for progress over time and most importantly that it gives an FTP estimate where the training plan is difficult but doable.

I think the best measure of testing ftp accuracy is threshold intervals. There is no way you can do 15 minutes straight of VO2 so if the ramp overestimated you will know. Sweet spot won't give away an overestimated ftp as you can do 15-20 minutes at threshold even if you think it is sweet spot. Similarly Z2 endurance work is still doable with an overestimated FTP.

The studies you found match what I have heard before, push up from below and pull up from above. Do both.

[sethrossinow]

New to your channel. very good explanation. I always just did the Gorby on zwift, Recently did the Moviestar short intervals which was a totally different workout. my plan is to do both each week with some easy spins and weather permitting longer group rides on the weekends.. I ride about 8-10 hrs per week. Like many I really need to increase my power output relative to my heart rate. thanks again for the information.

[stug]

Air is more dense when it's colder and contains more oxygen in a measured volume. It's why the turbocharger on your car gives the car more air (compressed = more dense, more oxygen) so with more fuel alongside they produce more power.

[TriStruggleBus]

So Taren, long time follower here, we need to talk: let me prefix this by saying I’m not a sports scientist, neither are you. I feel like you have just come full circle. When I started following you were doing TrainerRoad workouts, running and swimming with Coach Pat. Back in those days the work was about intensity well out from races and specificity when getting closer to your events. Then you pivoted to Z2, LSD, Maffetone Method training and fat adaptation. Which is fine, the triathlon scene sort of went through that, with intermittent fasting, OMAD diet, hacking your insulin levels etc. becoming an every place thing. Now we’re back at intensity, multiple times a week, 15s (that’ll be all out sprints, neuromuscular) to 5 minutes (long VO2, the 🤢 kind) above FTP to raise our threshold. I fee like you’re caught in the same circle as many others, including myself.
So, again with the “I’m not a professional”-caveat, what does this leave us with? My suggestion is this: the best thing to do is to mix things up! You want to hit those long steady low intensity efforts on the regular, because we all know and understand that this is an important effort level, an important adaptation! It teaches our bodies to be comfortable on the bike for hours and hours without the implicit back/bottom support we get from pushing down on the pedals. But we also want those many high intensity efforts to push (sweet spot) or pull (VO2) up our FTP, such that our low intensity long distance efforts at 70% of FTP yield a greater absolut power output. And finally we want that muscular endurance, those longer block just below FTP. Or in other words: we want to become a well rounded athlete and not a one trick pony.
Granted the purist triathlete may be fine with being a one trick pony, but these days, with races being a gamble who wants to be a horse right?
Anyway, keep doing what you’re doing! I’m enjoying the journey, am seeing a lot of parallels to myself and some similar goals! Keep it up!

[peelandy]

Interested to know how many of each type of FTP workout need to be done to elicit an improvement or over what period. And how to perm all that with what you’re doing in swimming and running sessions over the same period.

[yiannis_christodoulou]

Thanks it was one of the best video I have watched from you. FTP tests ares really helpful, thanks a again

[AlexGriggAnimation]

It sounds like both the interval types you talk about at the end are above threshold so use the "pull" method. Did you see any evidence for threshold or sub threshold efforts improving ftp and VO2 max? I know they're important for improved repeatability and time to exhaustion

[TheUltimateULTRA]

Do a ramp test then start a 20min ftp test with 90% of that power, slowly ramp it up to as hard as you can over the 20mins

[remirvt]

If you works above FTP, FTP will become a bad indicator I guess. It's better to use MAP (Maximal Aerobic Power) which is the maximum power you can hold for 5-7min. And the RAMP test will give you this number (the last ramp). After that, you can just take some % of MAP and make your workouts. It's more precise than planning all your workouts from a threshold number which isn't really representative of your maximum capacity (ceiling). I think, we should adopt the same strategy as running with VO2max and Maximal Aerobic Speed.

[JT-lkyg]

Love the videos Taren. So the way I've understood this whole FTP series so far is to include one FTP workout for example 30-90s intervals with 30-180s rest (dependant on interval length), intervals being @105% of current FTP and one VO2 Max workout for example 3-5 minutes intervals with 3-10 minutes rest (dependant on interval length), intervals being @115% current FTP, once each per week with total work time being at least 20 minutes, plus one long weekend ride. Have I understood correctly? Just a little confused by your comment about both pushing and pulling as it seems we're looking to mostly pull.

[albebusa]

Thanks for the video - excellent explanation - Super!

[trepidatin]

The only issue with the Zwift Ramp test is that it really isn't calibrated to the individual. The ramp test often over estimates by a lot (in my case almost 15%). I would often recommend people, the next day, try riding at your FTP in erg mode. If you can't do at least 30 minutes at the "tested FTP" then your FTP was over estimated and should be dialed back. Using an over estimated FTP can make intervals "too hard" and thus the recovery time is more than you think it is. This can result in over training which is worse than under training.

[katiaricci]

Hi Taren, I've been following you since last year and everything in your videos is spectacular. The sessions are great, there are several funny moments, the quality is amazing... this channel is absolutely brilliant and you helped me a lot with the majority of my curiosities about the world of swimming and sport, thank you so much. Anyway, I would like to make a suggestion (if it's not a problem): I'm convinced that to add a really funny video on your channel, you could make a compilation of all of the moments where you or your friends get "caught" on video while peeing in the water (my uncle relieved himself in a diving session and that was hilarious), it's something like a "ops moments" compilation, what do you think? I'd be so so happy to watch it, let me know, bye!

[MrPeperoni]

You should to both tests at Zwift. The ramp test determines your Max Aerobic Power and just estimates your FTP based on the assumption that "most of the people's" FTP is @73-77% of your Max Aerobic Power. By doing both tests, you know at which percentage of your Max Aerobic Power your FTP is. From then on, you can do the Ramp Test more frequently and estimate the FTP with your individual determination of FTP - you still do a FTP test every 3 months (as it is indeed mentally taxing) to "update" at how much % of your MAP your FTP is and otherwise just do a Ramp Test once a week. With regard to the study saying that your FTP is more predictive than your VO2Max for a "mass-start-race" - totally inconclusive. VO2Max can be more decisive than FTP; depends on the power profile of the race. If nobody is working and then a guy makes a breakaway, VO2Max and maybe anaerobic capacity decides. If there is a high pace throughout the whole race, FTP is decisive. You also do not need to increase your VO2Max to increase your FTP. Of course, increasing your VO2Max will likely also increase your FTP - but you can increase your FTP without increasing your VO2Max. If you do a lot of Zone 3/4 stuff this will likely happen. Still, that is very good material you collected and exciting to read for a numbers nerd like me ;). The studies are however contradicting, most studies say that the 30/15s have the most impact on VO2Max and do not relate it to FTP that much.

[skppercat]

I get lab testing done 3 times per year we’re I do a bunch of efforts wearing a Vo2 max with blood lactate testing to determine my true blood lactate curves.