Functional Threshold Power: FTP Bike Test
What Is FTP In Cycling?
Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is a big buzz word in the cycling community. In this article weâre going to break it all down so that you know and answer the big questions:
What is FTP in cycling?
How do you calculate FTP?
What is an average FTP for most cyclists?
How can I test FTP in cycling for calculating FTP?
There is no doubt that your cycling FTP, or Functional Threshold Power, is the most talked about metric in cycling, and for many reasons. The main one is that FTP in cycling is a measure of fitness that you can get a good estimate of without going into a lab. The number is accessible to everyone via the many FTP tests available to us.
Remember though: itâs just ONE measure of fitness.
Secondly, everyone compares watts per kg and fiends for a cycling FTP of 5.0 w/kg. Weâll show you how to calculate your FTP below.
From a cycling coachâs standpoint, FTP isnât the first thing I go after with most athletes. Sure, I could send them through an FTP building program, boost their number up 20-30 points, and make them feel good.
However, this often does not lead to an improvement in the real world. Most cyclists need to slow down and ride more endurance miles, then learn how to improve the repeatability of the watts they currently have, AND THEN stack the FTP cycling intervals on top of that.
There are a million ways to train, but in this article focused on FTP Tests, Functional Threshold Power and cycling training, weâll look at the ways in which you can determine your FTP calculation, how to calculate your FTP, and most importantly: get faster.
FTP Meaning For Cycling
So many words get thrown around in this discussion: lactate threshold, maximal lactate steady state, threshold, FTP. In many articles, the terms used are specifically defined because there are so many terms when weâre talking about how hard can you go before you realize youâre going too hard.
From Training and Racing With A Power Meter, âYour FTP calculation is the highest power that a rider can maintain in a quasi-steady state without fatiguing.â
Is FTP 20 or 60 minutes? There seems to be some confusion on exactly how long FTP power actually is. Some athletes have come to us thinking that FTP is your best 20-minute power. To clarify, the classic 20-minute effort is a test to estimate FTP (which is approximately what you could do for 60 minutes).
Over the past few years, it seems like thereâs been much more utilization of short tests and ramp tests and many will never try to pin it for an hour. I like the hour test, itâs hard and you get a great workout from it. Itâs also the best way for calculating FTP
Training Peaks and WKO4, and now WKO5 software, allows you to enter a value for FTP that will affect your Intensity Factor and TSS per ride, which therefore affects your Chronic Training Load (CTL) and Acute Training Load (ATL). With all of these metrics related, itâs clear to see why having an accurate FTP number is extremely important; not only to set accurate zones, but so that the metrics collected after each ride are accurate.
It would be foolish to write an article on this topic without linking to Andy Cogganâs article which can be read here. This article does leave out some ways to determine your FTP, so letâs keep moving forward and discuss some proâs and conâs of the different tests.
See Also: Understanding Power Meter Data
Whatâs A Good Cycling FTP?
What is a good FTP for a cyclist? A lot of cyclists crave 4 w/kg, and bike racers chase 5 w/kg, but what is a realistic goal for the amateur cyclist?
Ultimately, itâs all relative! If your new to cycling, you might actually have a killer FTP compared to those whoâve been training for the same amount of time (and itâs only going to get bigger with a proper training program).
When looking at average power for one hour, a Category 3 cyclist should look to hit 3.5 w/kg, with 20 minute power at 3.7 w/kg.
A category 2 cyclist should aim for 4.1 w/kg for 1 hour power and 4.3 w/kg for 20 minute power.
The issue with the numbers for a Cat 2 is that they often have to race Cat 1âs, who aim for 4.7 w/kg for 1 hour and 5 w/kg for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, domestic proâs are hitting 5.5 w/kg for 20 minutes and the World Tour racers are over 6 w/kg!
So, if you can ride at 3.5-4 w/kg for 1 hour and 3.8-4.2 w/kg for 20 minutes, youâre going to be a pretty good cyclist!
How To Calculate Your FTP
To calculate FTP, you can do a 20-minute all out effort and take 95% of that number to get FTP. You can also derive FTP from a 40-60 minute maximal effort from a time trial or race. Programs like WKO5 also have algorithms to help calculate FTP.
FTP Lab Test
Go into a lab, have someone record the different lactate levels, understand the different m/mmoL levels, and provide you with your FTP calculation.
Weâre not going to dive into this, because if youâre going to a lab, you should be getting a VO2Max test done instead, and the other ways are much easier to complete and reproduce. Even with VO2Max training, you want to have the same person testing you or there can be variations to this.
How to Calculate ftp from The 20 Minute FTP Test
How do you calculate FTP on a 20-minute test? Most take their 20 minute max average wattage and multiply is by 95%, and set that as their 20 minute FTP test calculation. This is probably the gold standard for knowing how to calculate your FTP for most amateur cyclists, although most do this FTP test incorrectly.
According to Coggan, for an FTP test you need a 5 minute ALL OUT effort before the 20 minute test. This burns off any anaerobic contributions that you are providing towards the number, and truly hones in on what watts you can aerobically produce.
The 20 minute FTP test will seem very long to newer cyclists who should only be doing 30 minutes or less of threshold in a one training session. However, as you progress, youâll learn how to teach yourself to focus for much longer sweet spot efforts, which can then correlate to longer threshold efforts.
Pros: easy to complete in terms of frequency of testing, ability for the athlete to mentally go ham for 20 minutes, and pretty dummy proof. Also, this is just great training for learning how hard you can push for a solid duration of time.
Cons: incorrectly testing by blowing up or leaving too much in the tank, athletesâ tendency to inflate their number because they âfelt like I could have gone harderâ but for some reason didnât or using old data for current training periods.
Sidenote: if you havenât read our review on the Airofit Breathing Trainer, check it out. It has massively helped me on all FTP and VO2Max efforts!
1 Hour Normalized Power for FTP
This one is relatively new, and Iâm not a huge fan of it because it allow for a ton of anaerobic contributions to the number.
All you do is take your 1 hour normalized power from a race or really hard group ride.
I would be leery about this one because most athletes have a higher 1 hour normalized power that is higher than their FTP.
This is a great tool to use as an upper limit for FTP! You know that you arenât any higher than this number, or if you really think that you are, spend a weekend ride going apeshit crazy and trying to normalize your FTP.
8 Minute FTP Test
I just want to start by saying that I strongly dislike the 8 minute FTP test.
How to calculate your FTP with the 8 Minute FTP test? Go as hard as you can for 8 minutes and multiply by 0.90.
It is utilized for newer cyclists that canât handle a 20 minute test due to the duration. I would much rather see you do the exact opposite and just try to ride hard for 20 minute. Youâll grow so much from that experience, and even if it takes you 2-3 tries to get the FTP number truly dialed, itâs just a way better process.
Or, use the 1 hour normalized power from a hard group ride where youâre almost getting dropped. Take 95% of this number. Letâs move away from the 8 minute FTP cycling test.
mFTP
What is FTP cycling? Well, another question, what is mFTP in cycling!?
This is the value that is calculated by WKO4 or WKO5. Even the product managers will warn you though that mFTP is just a tool and not a definitive guide.
If your power duration curve is not completely up to date with maximum efforts, the mFTP number (and other metrics such as FRC, TTE, Stamina) will not be correct.
Use this as a guide, but not a definitive cycling FTP.
1 Hour Time Trial for FTP
Lots of athletes hate this, but I love it. Sure, Iâm biased being a more TT-based all-around cyclist, because I enjoy these long efforts much more than short anaerobic or max aerobic ones.
I also enjoy these because this type of testing is training for my role on my team. Iâm often off the front in an early ALL DAY BREAK.
Any cat 1-3 cyclist should be making these attempts. Itâs going to shed some interesting insights into your capabilities for longer sustained efforts, but also give you a dialed-in idea of what your aerobic capability is.
Take note of your Time Trial heart rate response...if HR never levels off, youâre above aerobic capacity and using anaerobic power. If it stays relatively steady, youâve got things dialed and looking good.
Pros: literally the test you are trying to estimate for.
Cons: hard to push this long aerobically, hard to focus, hard to find long stretches of the open road for many.
Histogram of Watts
When you look at a chart of the histogram of watts in 10W increments from a road race or really hard training session, there is usually a clear fall off, or cliff, which indicates where your FTP is.
This method can be spot on unless they arenât good at pushing their limits, or a highly anaerobic rider might skew the results, so just like the 1 hour normalized power, you need to be careful about only using this method for FTP testing.
Trainer Road Ramp Test for FTP
The popular online training program, Trainer Road, has athletes complete a ramp test where you follow a specific wattage that is provided on your computer, and then it takes 75% of your max 1-minute effort. My thoughts on this are similar to the 8-minute test: while it may be accurate to set your zones, why not teach yourself to start riding harder, for longer, by doing a 20-minute test, and then graduating to the 1-hour test.
Short FTP Tests
Thereâs a trend here: shortening the FTP test from the original one hour.
Letâs consider this: what is the point of this shorter test?
To suffer less!
This whole sport is about suffering, so why not use this opportunity to learn if youâre bad at suffering, because maybe itâs your mental game that needs work, not your legs.
Weâre can be so caught up in the metrics that we forget that for many, the cycling training is for on the road or on the gravel improvement. That said, if weâre taking all these shortcuts for metricâs sake and simply finding our FTP to set your training zones, I think weâre really missing the point.
Learning to deal with the anxiety and stress of a big cycling test coming up is paramount to doing well at events. If some of our training sessions arenât making us anxious at breakfast, then they arenât hard enough!
If we train through some stressful workouts and get small wins, itâs amazing how we can surprise ourselves at what we can accomplish. We gain confidence and Race Day or Real Life Events become less stressful!
Said differently: why not get the FTP information that youâre testing for AND get more experience at stressful cycling scenarios (like FTP Tests!) so that you get better at handling them!
Lastly, if you have a test coming up, youâll take strides to ensure proper sleep, fueling, and mindset. These are great things to work on!
See Also: Cycling Power Zones Explained
What FTP Test Do We Use?
In order to have an athlete's FTP dialed in, I first make sure there are no erroneous power spikes or errors in their WKO5 data. If you have a 3,000W spike, then the mFTP that it provides will be incorrect.
Then I look at what type of power theyâve done for around 20-30 minutes. Itâs best to look at a race file, time trial, or full gas effort from training. Taking 95% of this number will get you in the ballpark for your FTP.
I will look at that same 20-30 minute effort and refer to the histogram of watts. If they have a high FRC, this will be a less reliable measure than if their FRC is lower, but it is still useful to take a look at.
If they havenât done a 1 hour max effort before, looking at their 1 hour best average clearly isnât going to indicate much about FTP. This brings about another question though: what is the longest effort theyâve ever done continuously?
You want to see at least a 25-30 minute effort in there somewhere, even if itâs an interval session with a short 4 minute rest. If they havenât done that, their lack of experience in going hard for a long time might not be the best indicator of their aerobic fitness; but also, this will be low lying fruit for training.
Once you can push consistent power on the pedals for longer, you will see aerobic gains and get better at FTP efforts.
Once we have the FTP dialed in for an athlete, we can use this to help them improve by having them ride at the correct cycling training zones. However, itâs even more important in using the zones to understand how easy to ride.
We all know what riding around FTP feels like, but a lot of coaching involves having athletes ride easy enough; Having them reduce the amount of smashing in order to really build the aerobic engine.
Once we have all the zones set properly, we can dose the training stimulus so that we improve the athleteâs ability to clear lactate, which essentially improves cycling FTP. Once an athlete stops making gains here, or after 1-2 blocks of training, we might then focus more on some VO2Max development in order to improve their aerobic capacity. And now we are off and rolling!
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