What is FTP in cycling and how do I improve it?

FTP stands for functional threshold power. It's roughly the highest average power, in watts, that you can hold for about an hour. It's the number most cycling training plans use to set your effort levels, and you improve it with a mix of steady threshold intervals and plenty of easy riding.

How it's measured

You need a power meter or a smart trainer. The two common tests:

1. The 20 minute test. Warm up well, ride as hard as you can sustain for 20 minutes, then multiply your average power by 0.95.
2. A ramp test. Power goes up in steps until you can't continue, and the app estimates your FTP from the last step you finished.

The ramp test is shorter and less painful. The 20 minute test is more reliable if you pace it well. Whichever you use, test the same way each time so the numbers are comparable.

What it's used for

Your FTP sets your training zones. As a rough guide:

• Easy endurance: below about 75 percent of FTP
• Tempo: about 76 to 90 percent
• Threshold: about 90 to 105 percent
• Hard intervals: above that

Without a power meter, you can use heart rate zones as a rough stand-in. See heart rate zones explained.

How to raise it

Mostly, FTP goes up when you ride a lot at the right intensities. A simple setup is:

1. One threshold session a week: 2 x 15 to 20 minutes at 90 to 100 percent of FTP, with 5 minutes easy in between.
2. One harder session: 4 to 5 efforts of 3 to 5 minutes, hard, with equal rest.
3. One or two easy rides, 45 to 90 minutes, keeping it truly easy.

Build up the interval time over 8 to 12 weeks, then retest. Beginners often gain 10 percent or more in the first couple of months. After that, progress slows.

Rides synced from Apple Health count in League of Fitness and are scored by heart rate zones, so a hard threshold session and an easy endurance ride both count toward your daily match. That helps with the easy rides people tend to skip or turn into hard ones.

Two things people get wrong

Doing every ride hard is the usual mistake. Most of your riding should feel easy, since that's what lets you recover enough to do the hard sessions properly.

The other is obsessing over the number. FTP is a tool for setting your effort. If your rides are getting easier and your routes are getting faster, you're improving whatever the test says. I'd also stop if you feel chest pain or dizziness during a hard test.