What is FTP? - a great way to measure your performance

Those of you using the Intelligent Cycling app in our Cycle sessions through Cycle Society will be familiar with the term, but what does it mean?

Firstly, it's an abbreviation of 'Functional Threshold Power' sounds complicated right? Well it's not, put simply it's the average power you'd hold if you rode solidly for one hour. We like to just think of it as a benchmark at which to plan how hard you work. Think of it like this, if you ran 6 miles in an hour your pace would be 6 miles per hour (mph). If we asked you to run half mile intervals 20% above your pace you'd be running at 7.2 miles per hour. FTP works in exactly the same way, if you can generate an average of 200 watts of power for an hour and we asked you to do 5 minute intervals 20% above your FTP, you'd work at 240 watts for the interval.

SO HOW DOES THIS IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH & FITNESS?

If you can measure it you can improve it. It's a great way of measuring your fitness, in the same way as trying to improve your time over a certain distance is. We believe that improving your fitness is a key way to improve your health, adding years to your life, having a healthier body and lifting your mood. For many losing weight is a key goal, and losing weight is not only a consequence to improving your fitness, but will also in turn improve your fitness further.  

In addition, once you are clear on this benchmark you know exactly what's expected when you're asked to work at certain levels, allowing you to work at higher intensity zones, for short periods, which will have other health and fitness benefits.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE FTP?

FTP is measured in watts, a unit of power. The Intelligent Cycling app will estimate an FTP based on information you give it. A good guide is to look at your average power after a 'tough' 45 minute Cycle session and add 10-20%. Alternatively you can perform an FTP test. The best way is to perform a one hour test, after a 10-15 minute warm up simply ride as hard as you can, in the saddle, at a consistent pace for 60 minutes and then take a gentle cool down. For most, however, a shorter test is sufficient. 3, 5 and 20 minute tests are most common and then a formula is applied to work out what the one hour average will be, based on tests done with large samples.  

WHAT IS A GOOD FTP?

FTP should be used to measure progress over time. A number of factors will impact your FTP such as your weight, muscle mass, and your lung capacity. You should track FTP in terms of ‘watts per kg of body weight’, simply by dividing your FTP by your body weight in kilos. So someone weighing 60kg with an FTP of 120 watts would be measured as watts per kg of 2. In professional cycling watts per kilo of 3-4 is deemed as 'good' with novices expected to be in the range of 1.3-2.5 watts per kg.  Whilst professionals measure themselves using the watts per kg measure, we wouldn't advocate this and would encourage you to look at your own progression over time as a measure.

AND THEN WHAT?

A regular 5 minute FTP test is a great way to continuously check your fitness level. Try and do this under the same conditions, i.e. with the same amount of sleep, same temperature, ideally the same bike and around the same time each month.