Zwift Cycling Training Plans

A Zwift training plan is a virtual programme designed to help cyclists meet performance and fitness goals via structured training. The plans range from one to three months in duration and vary greatly in workouts per week.

Zwift Training Plans are designed for you to reach a target. Be it preparing for a long sportive or Gran Fondo event, getting ready for a time trial or to simply improve your functional threshold power and fitness, there’s something for every kind of cyclist. Zwift also has a plethora of on-demand workouts to choose from if you don’t want to commit a bespoke plan. 

UNDER TWO HOURS PER WEEK CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

PLAN NAME: Back to Fitness

WHO’S IT FOR: Time-crunched riders looking to get fit quick

DURATION: 13 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 1hr 18mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Over two-and-a-bit months you’ll complete two short and spicy sessions per week. The focus here is on high-end punchy sessions that will demand full concentration to complete. This is an indoor training plan that would suit time-crunched riders who want a fitness boost, or simply for cyclists after consistent twice-weekly workouts that will make them sweat and add to their general health and fitness. Vo2 Max (the maximum rate at which your lungs, heart and muscles can utilise oxygen) is now considered a prime indicator of longevity, so you’ll be pleased to hear there’s plenty of such intervals in this plan. 

Week Two is a case in point and features Over Unders as one of the two sessions. Over Unders alternate between just over Threshold (ie Vo2 Max) and just under Threshold, meaning you’re kept on a roiling boil throughout the workout. 

PLAN NAME: Fast Track to Fitness

WHO’S IT FOR: Time-crunched riders who want short and snappy sessions

DURATION: 4 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 49mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Fast Track Fitness consists of just eight workouts spread over four weeks. They are short and sharp and perfect for the time poor or riders who want a good endorphin hit. Each session in this indoor training plan is no more than 30 minutes, but they have been designed to keep you working hard throughout – there’s very little let up here and your legs will know all about it come the end of each workout. 

Instant Inferno features during the first week and we’ve managed to keep the intensity high throughout its 18-minute duration. The workout is a 30-seconds on, 30-seconds off affair, with the ‘on’ sections increasing in power as you progress through the session. Quick efforts like this not only improve your physical fitness but provide an endorphin rush that will lift your mood and sharpen you mentally for the rest of the day. 

UNDER 3 HOURS PER WEEK CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

PLAN NAME: Fondo

WHO’S IT FOR: Riders looking to increase the distance they ride

DURATION: 4 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 2hrs 51mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING: 

Four tough weeks await those who opt to take on the Fondo indoor training plan. You’ll be either thrashing out a Threshold interval session or battling through a long ride. Indeed The Long Ride is one of the highlights of this month of training. As well as being long it incorporates a series of high-end intervals throughout its one hour and 25-minute duration. This is an endurance builder deluxe and will work in unison with your regular interval sessions to make you ready for a cycling tour or a sportive. 

PLAN NAME:  Zwift Cycling 101

WHO’S IT FOR: Riders who are new to Zwift and riding in zones 

DURATION: 4 Workouts

HOURS PER WEEK: – 2hrs 50mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Learn the basics of interval training, become familiar with zones, experiment with heart rate and power – Zwift Cycling 101 is an indoor cycling plan that will not only help you navigate Zwift’s indoor riding platform, but it will make you rather fit in the process. 

UNDER FOUR HOURS PER WEEK CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

PLAN NAME: Zwift Racing

WHO’S IT FOR: Riders who want to improve their Zwift racing performance or develop high-end aerobic fitness

DURATION: 7 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 3hrs 33mins 

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

To the uninitiated, Zwift Racing is hard. Dozens of events are held each day and most people turn up with the intention of emptying the tank. This plan takes you through the anatomy of a Zwift race, dissecting it into the parts that we feel you’ll benefit most from. Our online races have become (in)famous for their fast starts, so we prepare you to go hard straight out of the gate with a session called Wild Starts. A surge in power is followed by a protracted Threshold effort in order to keep you in the wheels at the front of the bunch. Once the race has settled down your power will ebb and flow with the parcours, so we have taken a handful of the most popular courses and devised bespoke plans to match wattage outputs. 

UNDER FIVE HOURS PER WEEK CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

PLAN NAME: Build Me Up

WHO’S IT FOR: Experienced riders looking to build their FTP

DURATION: 13 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 4hrs 34mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

A tough indoor training plan for cyclists who want to add substantially to their fitness. This may not boast the long miles of Active Off-Season but it makes up for it with four challenging workouts per week. Over a course of just over two months, you can expect to see some solid fitness gains here… and a lot of sweat. 

The sessions specced in Build Me Up heavily lean towards incorporating different intensities in each workout. Many will see Tempo and Vo2 Max intervals grouped together and there’s also a pretty liberal helping of Threshold present, just to keep the hurt high and the water bottle busy. 

PLAN NAME: Crit Crusher

WHO’S IT FOR: Riders looking to add a kick to their fitness or cyclists who want to race hard and fast

DURATION: 8 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 4hrs 4mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Crits are fast and furious circuit races where explosive power can often provide the decisive blow. Whether you’re planning on riding in one of these events or you just want to add some punch to your pedalling, Crit Crusher is the indoor training plan for you. Over its eight-week duration you’ll not only be spending a lot of time sprinting, but there’s a good amount of on-bike strength work too. This is where you’ll be asked to complete low intensity intervals at a low cadence, with focus on building the muscle fibres in your thighs. Strength is the perfect complement to sprinting – you will emerge from this plan a more powerful and faster rider. 

PLAN NAME: Dirt Destroyer

WHO’S IT FOR: Riders who want to mix up indoor and outdoor riding while improving strength and skill

DURATION: 7 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 4hrs

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

As the name of this indoor training plan suggests, Dirt Destroyer focuses on building strength and skill for mountain bike rides and races. This is a plan suited to cyclists who want to mix up indoor and outdoor riding, fine-tuning their fitness inside and putting it into practice out on the trails. Mountain biking by its nature is very on/off. On cross-country courses the parcours often undulates acutely and sessions like Roller Coaster have been specced to give you the kind of fitness required to really destroy the terrain. The session alternates between Zone 2 and Zone 4 in rapid succession, helping you acquire that all-important explosive power. 

PLAN NAME: FTP Builder

WHO’S IT FOR:  Cyclists who want to add to general fitness and become faster riders

DURATION: 6 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 4hrs 48mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

A plan that targets all aspects of your riding but with a slight bias towards building that endurance base, the FTP Builder does exactly what it says on the tin, namely, increases your functional threshold power. FTP is the barometer that cyclists invariably use to measure their levels of fitness. The higher your FTP (which is the highest wattage you can sustain for a long period of time) the fitter you generally are. So FTP Builder is essentially an indoor training plan that makes you a more powerful and all-round stronger rider. As well as endurance rides, the plan looks to push your threshold power up by introducing regular Threshold Development sessions. These help also help with your durability as a rider with the harder intervals coming in the latter stages of the workout. 

PLAN NAME: Gran Fondo

WHO’S IT FOR: Riders who want to go long or a targeting a big event

DURATION: 8 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 4hrs 35mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

This is where those who want to go long and fast come to play. The workouts in this indoor training plan are all interval based and long – with some much longer than others. The aim of this plan is to prepare your mind and body for the rigours of a Gran Fondo. Gran Fondos are rides that feature throughout the year on the hobbyist’s calendar. Events all over Europe – often with great prestige like the Maratona in the Dolomites, or the Marmotte in the French mountains  – sell out fast and thousands of eager riders take to the start line. The Gran Fondo plan will help get you in the best possible shape for an epic day in the saddle. Over its eight-week duration you’ll go long on numerous occasions with the biggest ride coming in the penultimate week when you’ll tick off 3hrs 15mins of interval based Zwifting. 

UNDER SIX HOURS PER WEEK CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

PLAN NAME: Gravel Grinder

WHO’S IT FOR: Those looking to go long on a gravelly course

DURATION: 13 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 5 hours

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Gravel is a relatively new cycling discipline and, while it’s less technical than mountain biking, still comprises a skill element. This and the typically long nature of gravel events is addressed here. Due to their length, we’ve specified a good amount of cadence drills into this plan. Learning to spin your pedals at a high cadence towards the beginning of an event is crucial for preserving energy. If you grind out the mileage with slow and heavy movements too early, you risk the chance of introducing fatigue to your legs before the action starts – fast spinning mitigates the potential for this to happen. Likewise, there’s also seated high torque efforts which have been added to the program to bolster leg muscles for tackling those inevitable undulations.

UNDER SEVEN HOURS PER WEEK CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

PLAN NAME: Singletrack Slayer

WHO’S IT FOR: Those who want bespoke fitness and technique for cross-country mountain biking

DURATION: 11 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 6hrs 12mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Another mountain biking plan that prepares you for the twists, turns, lumps and bumps of off-road riding. Singletrack Slayer recognises the need for sudden changes in tempo and specs myriad different sessions to prime your legs ready to take on anything the trail throws your way.  At just shy of two months with over six hours of riding per week, this indoor riding plan is a commitment, but if ridden to the letter it’ll make you a singletrack munching monster.

PLAN NAME: TT Tune Up

WHO’S IT FOR: Experience time triallists who want to polish their performance 

DURATION: 9 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 6hrs

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Another plan that needs motivation and commitment to complete. The TT Tune Up will put you on the start line for your next ‘Race of Truth’ with thighs bristling with muscle fibre. This indoor training plan’s raison d’etre is to get you so well acquainted with Threshold work that it’ll become less of a sworn enemy and more of a best friend. The weekly specced Cruise Intervals will be your bread and butter here. This is where you’ll spend up to 45 minutes in Threshold over a 60-minute workout. Don’t worry though, you’ll thank us when you’ve smashed out a PB on your local course. 

SEVEN HOURS OR MORE PER WEEK CYCLING TRAINING PLANS

PLAN NAME: Active off-season

WHO’S IT FOR: Cyclists or triathletes who want to maintain a steady level of fitness or add to their base fitness throughout the off-season.

DURATION: 12 Weeks

HOURS PER WEEK: 8hrs 19mins

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Off-season generally refers to a period when cyclists have no races or events to attend, which is usually during the winter months. The adage that winter miles equate to summer smiles spring to mind here – you will indeed by tapping out some pretty significant mileage during this plan, all in the name of building a super solid aerobic base. This is the platform on which your cycling fitness will grow, and the bigger the foundation, the more room for improvement. This is why Active Off-season comprises largely of steady endurance miles. We throw in some higher-end sessions in the latter half of the plan but the first weeks are very much about steady riding. 

Week three, for example, features a three-hour endurance ride. Pedalling at this gentle intensity for such a long period of time will reap a fine aerobic dividend. You will be adding mitochondrial density to your muscles making them able to use oxygen more efficiently, you will have conditioned your mind and body for long days in the saddle, and you will have added considerably to your annual mileage tally. 

This is a tough but incredibly effective indoor training plan.