Your Favorite Ftp Building Workout

Greetings,

I'm coming back to training after missing the entire first half of the season due to surgery on my left quad (not velo related). I've logged some base miles and actually made it a point not to use my power meter so I 1. wouldn't push too hard to keep watts where they were in my best competitive season 2. get discouraged they were so low.

I tested recently and came in at 218w. I know to be competitive during CX season (Masters 45+) I need to be in the upper 260s. While raising 50w is a tall order I do want to raise it as much as possible by the end of September. So, let's hear it what is your favorite workout for raising your FTP?

Thanks,
Mark

 

It's never about just one workout.

When I'm building up, I look to increase the total time at FTP in a dedicated workout. I'll start at 3 intervals of 10 minutes each at FTP, giving me 30 minutes at FTP. I'll gradually increase them,12 minutes then 15 minutes then 20, 24, 28, and 30 minutes, eventually getting in 90 minutes at FTP.

For rest, I do the lesser of half the work period or 10 minutes at low zone 2.

 

10 minutes at FTP is a nice warm up. Where's the training session?

Sure, it's better than sitting in the cafe bench racing but 10 minute efforts are the timeframe for long L5 efforts, not L4.

90 minutes at FTP? By definition that's not possible. FTP is best effort 1 hour, fully motivated, full gas race effort. If you can hold that for 90 minutes then it's not your FTP.

 

10 minutes at FTP done once is not much of a workout, but done 3 times by someone who hasn't done much FTP training is quite stressful. It's an entry point to higher numbers, just as someone new to cycling starts out with a 1-hour ride and not a grand tour.

Yes, 90 minutes of continuous time at FTP is not possible. 90 minutes total broken into 30 minute chunks with 10 minute recoveries is completely possible. It might not be necessary for all kinds of races, but it's doable.

For L5 VO2max-type workout, 10 minutes is probably beyond what most people can maintain. That usually cuts off around 8 minutes, and even that is a stretch.

I also note that you contributed nothing useful to answer the question. If you have better ideas, I'd love to hear them.

 

I would recommend that you do more than 10 minutes. It's not much compared to what other people are doing. Not to hate on you, but definitely try pushing yourself a little further. Honestly, just break it up into chunks if you're not comfortable with doing it all at once.

 

I agree that a 10 min interval seems quite low, usually my 10 min efforts are over FTP. The one workout which I found really helped me after plateauing on 2x20s was 1-2 hours at 90% FTP, which seemed to give me an extra gear.

 

For building FTP, the best workout is 'lots of volume'.

I'm a fan of the long SST-threshold interval at the end of a long mountainous ride.

On the trainer 4x20 min intervals (5 min at 50% FTP in between) the first 3 at 90%+ FTP the last one as hard as you can go for the 20 minutes.

 

You have to build all those little capillaries and in order to do that you need lots and lots of fairly hard work.

My favorite trainer session was similar to Quenya's but modified because I was always "brain dead" half was through.

3x25 minutes with 5 minute rest in between. The combination of 25 minutes and 5 minutes makes it easy even for an oxygen starved, mouth breathing Brit to figure out that every 30 minutes is when the pain begins. If you do 20 on and 5 off, you start looking at weird points on a clock. Big hard up or big hand down = stomp, with the 25 on and 5 off method.

If that extra 5 minutes is too much then HTFU. They had a bracelet for that...

 

I should HTFU I used to do all 4 intervals at ~FTP.

I used to use a punk rock playlist with something very easy during the rests so I wasn't even looking at a clock. Now I'm on a powerbeam pro do the workout is programmed in, also I use my TT bike so 20 minutes then come up for fluids and calories tuck back down for the work intervals.

 

Odd.

 

I think this is quite impressive. I have not tested myself like this with watts. But I am glad to be reading about it. I am going to be checking into the matter a little more. I have started to fitness train. I am very out of shape, not just my waist. I am rather enjoying the way I feel hours after a work out. I think it is encouraging me to go back for more.

 

very effectice is 2-3 series of 2 min at Vo2 max followed by 8 min at FTP, rest 5 min in between or the one weher you do 10-15 min at sweet sport, foloowed by 5-8 min at FTP and finally 3-5 min at VO2 max, again 2 series. cheers

 

For me, a lot of factors will inform my current FTP, so one "favorite workout" isn't really applicable here.

I think of it like this:

1. Does your FTP correlate to your maximal power output in a shorter time frame? If it does, increase power output for that interval, as has kinda been suggested already;

2. Does your FTP correlate to any weight-room or other non-cycle activity? Some swear that increasing squat numbers helps, but YMMV.....

3. Does your FTP reflect your "conditioning" level? If so, then "get fitter", for want of a better term.

There are a multitude of other ways to look at it, but those 3 questions are a decent starting point.

 

Hi Mark.
Yep I think you can do especially if you have had your FTP up around 260's before?

I tend to subscribe shorter intervals so the guys can really put down the watts, and then over time once they are hitting their targets watts you then build in the overloads
I would start with 4 x 4min @ V02 (current), 2min RI and then build from there. Do a few weeks of the same workout, but with the intentions of increasing the power you can hold. Once you have it up around 260's then start the process of extending the intervals....The key is being able to build the power first, before you start making it challenging to hold the power for extended period of times

FTP workouts are tough, mentally an physically and it can wear to down quickly if you do too much. Keep the total workload under 40min and you be able to handle doing more session more often

Cheers
Paul

 

I can't even go 10 mins of FTP workouts. That's just too much for my body.

 

FTP=File Transfer Protocol

 

Yeah, I know I was being a smart ass. I did look it up but had never heard of it before coming to this discussion forum. How long has this term been out? I don't use a GPS, only a Sigma bike computer. I'm considerably low tech, but I'm an old timer and always interested in learning new and innovative terms so I will lurk some more and see what I can glean.

 

I "like" 5 x 6 minutes with 2 minutes rest intervals doing them as hard as possible.....110-120% FTP. The rest interval is not fixed, I go again once I get back below my AT (LT1) heart rate. Once per week is enough for me.

 

I keep it simple. 20 minute intervals at sweet spot, or about 90% of FTP, with 3-5 minute recoveries. When I was in better shape, I would knock out 4 of them. Now 2 would be plenty.