For years, Functional Threshold Power (FTP) has been the go-to measure for cycling performance. But with pro cyclists and top coaches moving away from it, Conor attempted to hold his most recent FTP test result for an hour. Is the result accurate? And if not, is it something cyclists should pay attention to today?
⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
00:00 – Intro: what is FTP?
01:42 – The different ways to estimate it
02:25 – Hour of power: can Conor hold his FTP?
03:46 – James Spragg, Tudor Pro Cycling
06:49 – A check in with Conor
07:46 – Colby Pearce, Team EF coaching
10:55 – Back to the pain cave
13:04 – Oli Beckingsale, 3x Olympian & coach
15:47 – Finishing the effort 🔥
17:41 – What do the numbers say?
19:16 – Conclusion: Conor’s thoughts on FTP
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46 Comments
Have you ever used FTP for training? Or do you use something entirely different? Tell us about it! 👇⚡
Personally I think this is such a valuable Video 👏 I for one have had times where I have placed far too much of my perceived ability as a cyclist on my FTP. I have also allowed myself to feel as if others judge how good I am depending on the average watts shown on a Strava Activity. Thankfully I'm in a way better place with it all now, but your worth and ability as a cyclist is far far greater than the arbitrary numbers we attach to ourselves.
I used to focus on FTP exclusively to measure myself, but I was getting smoked on casual group rides on shorter hill efforts (2 – 10 minutes). I started thinking about the power curve more holistically and trying to improve my 2-minute power, 5-minute power, and how quickly I can recover from those efforts. It's made me much better out in the real world.
I agree with PE. Some days I just can’t do a threshold workout where I’m at threshold for 30 minutes without any recovery in-between. For those workouts on Zwift (in my training program) I’ve had to lower the % difficulty because otherwise my legs are burning so bad I won’t be able to finish the session. PE works great for those of us that are not professional athletes and are time crunched.
That Si knows his sh1t !! 😉
If you divide by a % less than 1 it will multiply the number –
Maths.
No, FTP is correlated to .95 of 20min max effort only after doing 5min of all out vo2max effort. Otherwise it is closer to .90 – .93. and that is among pro riders as i remember. That's why critical power and glycolitic capacity are much better measures.
I use Fairy Tale Power for interval training and adjust that based on workout RPE and HR data. No need to do an actual FTP test.
I totally agree that for amateur athletes looking towards fitness goals or completing events that FTP is very much a good enough metric to build a plan around. Compared to a pro's training, most of our training "discipline" levels are dubious enough to make rough guide posts more than adequate. 🤣
Very interesting!! I try to hold my ftp and a fail. My max power for 20m is 229w( 95% ) so my ftp is 217w. But i hold it for only 39 min. 2 week later i try it again but at 90% of my 229w so i try 206w for 60 min and i did it!! I avg 203watts for 60 min. So for my it's more 90% of my 20min test. I am 48yo at 168cm tall for 69kg. My max HR is 180bpm and my lowest HR is 48pbm.
I still use 95% of my 20 min test to calibrate my training zone on my home trainer that i use on MyWhoosh and it's work very well, I went from 185w FTP in juin 2022 and now i'am at 217 watts by using MyWhoosh FTP builder training Plant since juin 2022.
I feel like if you could get your viewers to read Joel Friel's Cycling Training Bible then like 80% of your training related videos would not be needed at all. You make so many videos re-hashing things that were well-known many decades ago. (and sometimes share it as if it's new/recent info). I know your videos are made for a certain target audience.. and youtube content is just about keeping eyes on the videos for as many minutes as possible so I can understand if that's why you don't just make a series of shorter videos sharing this basic info clearly and concisely, (and then make these 'research-ish' videos using more advanced and more modern methods/understanding)
400 watts be able to do a good 10 mile tt
I was about to come down to talk shit on the FTP 20 min conversion, but realized everyone already did. We're a bunch of nerds lol
Interestingly, I have had very nice results by adding 5-10 watts to the result of a 20minutes FTP test and use that as a training baseline. Usually, I won't be able to sustain the 20minutes ftp result for an hour, but adding 5-10 watts on top, and do a new training season will eventually lead to me being able to soustain the previous ftp results for an hour. In other words, I view the ftp result of a 20min test I do now the power that I will able to achieve at the end of the next training season.
I think for years I've been training out of zone because the FTP test isn't accurate. Critical power testing gave me a number that feels realistic.
I like FTP as an estimate of my power. I have found that a 20mn FTP and a ramp test give me an idea to set my training for and that's it. I can't maintain what FTP is given to me by either for an hour. Now, on a ramp test and with my age being 56, my max HR should be 164 "supposedly", and that is way off. I like the ramp test much more than the full hour ride. I can hit 185 pretty easy but I am way in the pain cave then. I can ride for hours at 164, my legs don't start to fade till the 180 marker. So this makes it hard to me to calculate FTP, how high do I let the HR go? I went and saw a cardiologist and he said "there is no way you could get your HR that high" without even testing me. So he instantly lost any kind of credibility with me. Being I am 6'4" and 235lbs, I don't expect to have a 400W FTP and I am fine with mine as I drop weight. Just so many variables in FTP that it is a good starting metric and then you go from there IMHO.
hats off great effort! however must admit Im disappointed that you stopped. the point is max hour power, right? ok, next video….actual hour power! FWIW I have no idea my FTP but after a hard hour on Zwift (attacks, rests etc) I tend to have just about 250w. curious what your steady hour power might be based on a training FTP number.
100% individual. Only speaking for myself and my results of numerous different FTP tests as well as true 1 hour tests, these calculated FTP tests have had ZERO correlation to what I can actually hold for an hour. They're all too high by 10-15 watts. And as low as my actual FTP is, that's a decent percentage. I do use FTP for training zones but I only use my true 1 hour tests results because I know the calculated tests aren't even close for me.
I think my main comment is 400+ watts for ~30 minutes takes some doing!!!!
My FTP calculated from ramp test or 20min max avg, or 2x8min, equals to my max NP for 1h on the race. But I can't hold the FTP nimber as avg for 1h.
my garmin estimate is quite accurate for my tested FTP. no way would I be able to do my FTP for an hour. Best way to set your zones is a lactate test. FTP test does give a repeatable test to gauge a specific fitness level. For me I look at my whole power level from 1s to 5 hours.
Si's estimate was pretty much spot-on . Was that merely a guess on his part? Or did he do some analysis? He could have saved you 26 minutes of pain.
You overheated.
Serious effort Connor to aid in a great video on FTP. The one thing I would add from personal experience anytime the challenge is really tough is that the mental discipline ad mental toughness it takes to push to your absolute limits is as big a part or maybe even more important than the physical effort.
If you're that serious about it, then what you really should do is measure your lactate thresholds one and two. At the beginning FTP was just a way to guestimate the effort that causes lactate accumulation. But it turns out lactate increases in two phases. That is what your guest means when he talks about two thresholds. For the average guy FTP probably has some relationship to their overall fitness , but the whole story is much more complicated than can ever be encapsuled in a single number. Among other things it's going to depend on ratio of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers.
A couple of questions for the community:
1. I find it a lot harder to hold any power on a trainer (Wahoo Core) vs. being outside. Is that perceived or real and if real, then doesn't that also play a part? And with that, same would be true on the flat vs an 8% climb or the like in the real world.
2. Many of the comments below speak to using multiple tests (as do the pro coaches in the video when speaking to high level athletes). Would it not be fair to say that an amateur with no coach can use FTP knowing that it'll be close (to within 3-5%)?
I test my FTP using the 20 min test on the same climb once every 6 weeks. I can't imagine having to do a barrage of tests every 6 weeks to find out if I should be adjusting my zones…
I welcome thoughts and comments as I'm trying to learn. Thanks all!
What Colby Pearce says is actually very interesting. This triangle of power output, heart rate stats and perceived exertion with perceived exertion being the most important, after the other two feed information to it. Does it mean that for instance when an athlete puts out a high power number but has ''bad'' heart rate stats but also has low perceived exertion it indicates he/she is capable of much more if good sleep, less stress -> better heart rate are sought for this athlete?
If I got a new ftp number after my ftp test, I never ever can maintain this for 1 hour😅 Anyone with the same issue?
I watched this from beginning to end. Informative and thought provoking.
Your first FTP test in the other video was considerably less than the last one; maybe that was more accurate. For "fun" you could see if you can hold that one for an hour 😉
175 HR being the brink is insane to me, I hit that during a Z3 ride 😹
Check your power curve 🙂 the 20mins probably is not the same as the 1 hour result.
It's about selling stuff…
First came cardio watches and bands, so everyone had to buy them to follow zones training.
Then power meters became mainstream, and it was all about FTP.
Now they sell lactate meters, so FTP is suddenly obsolete!
File Transfer Protocol…
I've always felt that the definition of FTP=1 hour power to conplete exhaustion is so wrong.
According to Rouvy my FTP is 210, and in real life, my 60 min record is 169, lets say that i did jot give my 100% but i was close, so then my 1hour power≈180W, a difference of almost -15%
Depends on the demands of the event. People vary in their anaerobic through to areobic capacities, in comparison to FTP. It's fine to use an estimate of it to start a training block of whatever intervals at an intesity that is easy to complete, then add power each week until you fail.
Side note: FTP is NOT 1 hour power.
Critical power is certainly the better measurement. That said, currently it is very cumbersome to actually measure. Also, not many apps sets/customises workout according to your Critical power and W.
If you can’t effectively work with them, Critical Power and W being the superior measurement means nothing.
You multiply your 20-minute power by 95% to get an FTP estimate (not divide).
FTP is one of the fun-things and goals. Its something I am stretching myself to gain. Therefore its good for me. Watson & Tharpe wrote a book were they claimed that people who is logging their thing usually does this thing more successully. But I think its incorrect to set an hour FTP mathematically guesstimeated from a 20 minute ride. I think its better to set a FTP for each duration. Call it 20 minute FTP if its based on 20 minute ride, Hour FTP if you biked an hour. Mr Bu said that if you make FTP test the best way is do do it the same way all time so you get numbers that can be compared. He liked the 5 minute warmup and 20 minute test.
I think Si psyched you out 😅
People always forget that you're supposed to do a 5 minute max effort before a 20 minute FTP test so that your anaerobic contribution to the 20 minute test won't inflate the result.
I am with Oli. As an amateur, FTP is the perfect benchmark for structured training. Personally, I see FTP as the ideal threshold between going all out in VO2 max sessions or just lingering in the grey zone. In my polarized training approach, it's mostly either zone 2 based on heart rate or high-intensity sessions based on power, and FTP serves as the perfect referee. For professionals, of course, things are much more refined as they need to chase those marginal gains. But for amateurs, simply being consistent and structured already makes a huge difference.
Not going to even attempt to compare my power to Connor's, but it is interesting how similar his heart rate is to mine for what I perceive as a "this sucks, but I can hold it for an hour" effort, and then turns out it was really only something I could hold for half an hour.
1hr power during climbing, see where you’re at. 😂
I'd like to see what your actual 1hr power output is? Also, good guess from Simon on 26mins
One has to have some kind of standard to use in order to set training zones, and FTP as a concept is a relatively convenient and easy way to do for most riders. Likely the best way to set training zones is via blood lactate testing, and I think a lot of pros use that. But for amateur cyclists, most are not going to be able to test blood lactate on a regular basis, so, enter an FTP estimate. I find a 20 minute FTP test result a pretty good indicator of where I am at as an estimate, and I set my training zones via that. I also understand it is only an estimate, and I pay attention to both HR and PE as it relates to power on every ride. All three are important, and understanding one's own bodies responses to training impetus and adjusting efforts accordingly is important, as it is to pay attention to outside factors (environmental conditions, especially heat).