Three Workouts to Boost Your FTP

​Most cyclists and triathletes agree, when it comes to measuring fitness improvement, Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is the gold standard. As the cost of technology that measures FTP comes down, more athletes are able to use power as a training tool. There are even power meters that will now measure power specifically on the run (stay tuned for our upcoming program on running with a power meter!).

What is FTP?
At its essence, power refers the amount of force being created on a bicycle by the cyclist. Runners can also use a device like the Stryd running meter (more on running with power in later blogs). This metric is important, because it tells us the work that an athlete is actually doing, in realtime. Other metrics like heart rate can be impacted by things like temperature, hydration levels, stress, etc. and are lagging indicators of effort.

FTP, is generally considered the power output that an athlete can sustain for 40-60 minutes. Check out more on our blog to find out how to take a FTP test! We recommend athletes retest every 3-5 weeks to see what gains they are making.

Boosting your FTP
So, now that you know what FTP is, and know where to go to find out how to take the test, how do you go about improving it?

You’ll need to focus on a combination of easy riding, and riding at or above your threshold (threshold is another way to say, FTP). The easy days (if they’re easy enough), help you build your FTP from the bottom up. The hard days (if they’re hard enough), help pull your FTP higher from the top.
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Here are our favorite FTP boosting workouts. We deliver these workouts, with exact wattage targets, to athletes through our monthly coaching programs. We’re also starting to use the Stryd Running Power Meter to help our runners and triathletes adopt power training off of the bike! Give us a shout for more info on this if you’re interested!

Workout 1
Foundational ride

Workout 2
Threshold and hold

Workout 3
Dirty 30's

Foundational rides are preformed well below your FTP. Think 56% - 75% of FTP. Most athletes think this seems too easy, but it's extremely important, especially for endurance athletes. In fact, you should look to target 85% of your training time here. This workout primarily engages your aerobic energy system and is geared at “pushing” your FTP up from working below it.

The goal of these workouts is to work on holding your threshold for longer periods of time. This will help you mentally prepare for pushing longer intervals. This workout will primarily engage and train a blend of your anaerobic and aerobic energy systems. In this type of workout, we are “pulling” your FTP up by working at, or just above it for the first two blocks.

This is a classic cycling workout. When we talk about energy systems in the body, most athletes are aware of the aerobic and anerobic systems. There is a third system that can help supply energy by. It’s used for very, very short burst and is exhausted within only a few seconds. Although its contribution to overall energy production is fractional, It’s still a critical part of training. Without getting into details, we call this the ATC-PC pathway. In the Dirty 30’s workout, we’ll be engaging the ATC-PC pathway, as well as your anaerobic and aerobic systems.