Your Cycling FTP is not Improving? Here are two Indoor Cycling Plans

FTP or Functional Threshold Power is a gauge used by many cyclists to measure their form and set their training zones accurately. 

FTP helps set general training zones and is therefore a great barometer of your current level of cycling fitness and can also be used to see how your fitness is (hopefully) improving. FTP is, therefore, a valuable metric and one that many cyclists wish to improve. So if you’re feeling at a loss, here are some two plans to get you back on track. 

A pretty succinct name for a plan which does exactly what it says on the tin. However, this six-week programme is for those with little interval training experience or just starting out on their cycling journey. Yes, it’s the perfect indoor training plan for novices and ever so gently introduces you to the world of serious training. You can download Zwift Companion for Free to look at this training plan and many more on Zwift. Zwift app is where you ride. Zwift Companion app is your remote control and ride assistant which can be accessed from the iOS and Andorid Store.

The Cycling FTP Builder Taining Plan: 

Your first week of structured training will see you complete four sessions amounting to some 3hrs 37mins of riding. A blend of endurance and Zone 3 riding has been specced for this week and on day two, you’ll also be introduced to the joys of sprinting. For the most part, however, the opening weeks of Zwift’s FTP Builder are dedicated to the all-important endurance intensity – or Zone 2. This is where you build a foundation of aerobic fitness. Think of cycle training as a pyramid: the base holding up the structure is comprised of a thick layer of steady endurance miles, the middle of the pyramid increases in intensity as it works its way to the top, and the topmost sections are those really high-end sessions that add to the aesthetics. If you were to stop training it would be the higher sections that would crumble away first but that solid aerobic base at the bottom will be harder to break. 

And this is the reason why aerobic training is so important for building your FTP. 

The first week also includes some Zone 3, or Tempo, work. This is where things start becoming a little more uncomfortable – you’ll be breathing fairly hard, your legs will be fighting to shift lactate, but it’s a zone that helps push up your FTP and introduces you to the idea of discommort on the bike. There is indeed no gain without pain, and Zone 3 is a great way to starting increasing the intensity. 

Sprint work comes in the form of 10×10 second efforts with just under two minutes rest between the intervals. These micro bursts are a great way to build leg strength, recruit fast-twitch muscles fibres and open neuromuscular pathways. These sessions will leave you sweating and satisfied.

It’s not until Week 4 that we see some protracted Threshold (or Zone 4) intervals. This is where the going gets tough. Threshold intervals will be specced at a power output on or around your FTP and will help pull up your fitness levels as well as giving you confidence. The more time you spend in this zone the more palatable it becomes. As with everything, practice makes perfect, and endurance activities are no outlier. The pain of riding at an intensity that elicits a constant flow of sweat and an acutely elevated heart rate begins to look less daunting after just a few sessions. 

Your journey into the world of Threshold work will start with a 70-minute workout. The first half comprises mainly of Tempo, while the second nudges the needle up to Zone 4 where you’ll be asked to complete intervals amounting to 14 minutes. 

The following two weeks include a variety of sessions aiming to add to your ever-broadening aerobic base as well as more time spent in Zones 3 and 4 with the occasional Zone 6 strength workout to keep the top-end muscles fibres firing. 

The last session gives you the chance to test yourself – or not – in a free ride. You won’t be obliged to stick to any zones but this is an opportunity to see how far you’ve come over the last six weeks. 

Intermediate/Advanced FTP Cycling Plan

If you’re fairly confident in your fitness but your FTP is remaining stubbornly static then Build Me Up is the plan for you. It’s a 13-week programme and straight out of the starting pen it lets you know what’s what.

An FTP Test in the form of a Ramp Test kicks off proceedings. Why? Well, we need to know where your current levels are in order to tailor the training plan to your requirements. 

After the FTP Test comes three-and-a-bit months of hard graft. During Build Me Up’s 52 sessions you will sweat, you will grimace, you will curse and you will (possibly) cry. These are the lengths we’re taking you to, and we know that you’re up to the task! Dig in!

There are several workouts here that stand out as being particularly, shall we say, eager. Yellow Unicorn, for example, may sound playful but is anything but. The only thing Yellow Unicorn plays with is your quads. The session starts with a warm-up – as do all of Zwift’s workouts – before hurling three sets of incredibly hard work at you. Each set is made up of  6x2mins at Zone 3 – so far, so easy. It’s only when we find that the only thing separating each of these two minute blocks is one minute at Vo2 Max that the true extent of Yellow Unicorn is realised. Separated by just two minutes of easy spinning these three sets are finished off with five minutes at Zone 2 for good measure. This is a tough but ultimately completely satisfying hour and 45 minutes on the bike.

Next on the list is Breakfast Return – a workout so named for reasons I’ll let you deduce.

Breakfast Return is our name for a classic workout – the infamous 30/30s. These are three lots of 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off  – with the on being Zone 5 (vo2 Max) and the off being Zone 2 (endurance). These feel easy initially but moving into the final block of work and you’ll have accumulated an incredible amount of fatigue. And it’s that tear and repair stimulus we’re after here. Make sure you refuel with a protein-heavy snack to help those all-important adaptations along. 

Build Me Up ends in a very similar fashion to the way it started: with an FTP Test. However, on this occasion, you won’t be asked to do the ‘easier’ Ramp Test. No, you’ll be signing off from this training plan with a 20-minute all-out effort. Build Me Up keeps you in the hurt locker until the very last.

Whichever indoor training plan you decide to choose, both will guarantee to add fitness, stamina and mental strength to your armoury.

Enjoy and Ride On! Sign up for a free 14 day trial of Zwift.