FTP, what?  FTP, who?

FTP has been the buzz word in cycling for the past few years now and can mystify, irritate, and exhilarate athletes (and their coaches) all at the same time.

FTP stands for Functional Threshold Power and can be defined as the maximum power output an athlete can maintain in a quasi-steady state without fatiguing for 1 hour.  A good example is to think of the red line on your car’s tachometer…

The red line represents your FTP.  You can push up to the ride line and hold this output for an hour (if your fitness and freshness are good and you are extremely motivated mentally), but push just a little bit over the red line and you run the risk of fatiguing early.  So, now that we have a basic understanding of what FTP is, how do we test it?

The gold standard of FTP testing would be to ride for 1 hour ALL OUT and whatever your average power is for the hour would equal your FTP.  Simple, right?  Ha!  This would obviously be awful both mentally and physically for any athlete and you would need to be super motivated to be able to sustain the abuse of a full gas effort for 1 hour.  This also would take a substantial amount of recovery afterwards and may even decrease your fitness in the process because you would not be able to resume normal training for a couple of days.  So, the 1 hour test is very accurate, but not the best for repeated tests and may not be appropriate for all athletes.  The good news is people way smarter than me (yeah right!) have developed other ways of testing athletes’ FTP in a better way.

My personal favorite is the 20 minutes ALL OUT test.  This test was developed by Dr. Andy Coggan who has evaluated literally thousands of athletes ranging from cyclists, to rowers, to XC skiers and has also produced many journal articles on the topic.  The test goes like this:

• Warm up for 10-15 minutes
• Perform a 3-5 minute ALL OUT “blow out effort”.
• Spin easy for 5-10 minutes
• Ride ALL OUT for 20 minutes
• Record what your average power was for the 20 minutes
• Multiply that number by .95
• Voila!  You have your FTP
• You can also use this above test to determine your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR), just record your average heart rate for the 20 minute test instead.

I like this test best because it is easier (read less painful) than the 1 hour test, it has greater repeat-ability, and will not require a long recovery afterwards so the athlete can resume normal training immediately.

Why do we as coaches and athletes use FTP?  Simple!  Because it makes our training more precise and enhances the functionality of the power meter we invested in.  Be aware though, your FTP in June will not be the same as in January and your FTP outdoors will differ from the trainer.  This is why testing should be done throughout the year and ideally before each phase of periodized training.  This ensures you are getting the most out of your training and the best return on investment of your time.

Further Reading:

What are the training zones?

For more information on GC Coaching and how we can help you increase your fitness using power, please visit www.gaffneycyclingcoaching.com