How I gained 30 Watts in Just 6 Weeks! Zwift's FTP Builder Program Tested
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
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I'm a relatively new cyclist, having only been riding seriously for about a year, let's see how much power I can gain in just 6 weeks by using Zwift's ftp builder training plan.
0:00 Plan Details
1:09 The Work Begins
3:25 The Final Test
5:13 Results & Summary
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Great job sticking with the ftp plan and some great gains
Good results 👋 well worth all the hard work , your enthusiasm for self improvement is infectious !! never give up 👍
Nice job! On 200 and just started the FTP builder, would be well happy to get to 230
You are looking really good bro. Well done for sticking with it. Your FTP is really nice. Only good things should follow.
Cheers pal! I'm looking forward to losing some weight too!
I look forwand to the 20 minute test. Im afraid reality check incoming
Interesting video and nice progress. Did my first 20min FTP test today and got 247w which is pretty close to your 3,02w/kg. Which is very in line with my normal rides, i did Alp du Zwift in 65 minutes with an AVG of like 245w going pretty much all out. I'll try the ramp test next and see what i can get.
Heartfelt congratulations , I agree that these seem somewhat artificial and there is often some life in the legs afterwards so increasing FTP if your can still walk comfortably is a great way to increase the effectiveness of the later workouts and increase the gains. Not neglecting diet throughout. Maybe other videos there.
Really well done 🚴♀🚴♂🚴🛌
Impressive, that's a massive gain in threshold power!
Well done! I want to try this plan in the winter when I stop riding outside
I made a video comparing the 20 min and ramp FTP tests and yes, like most people I measure higher in the ramp. The important thing is you did both tests on Ramp, so you have gained 33w all the same, even if you couldn't sustain 296w (I couldn't sustain my ramp FTP either)
well done!
Impressive and well done. 30 watts is huge, but I think it's mainly down to your experience of 1 year. I have been riding for 8, and never seen a leap of that proportion in my later years. It's really about building on a solid, strong base to really go hard and long at high watts
Loved how the frame rate showed you pedalling backwards, you may be onto something here! 🤣
Currently in week 3 of Build Me Up. Done it for the past two winters. It never gets easier.
Nice! Well done! My first FTP 260W and currently doing the FTP Booster program...
good luck pal, keep it up !
@@JMower thanx mate! Checking in, now after thow months, FTP Booster program, couple of races, The Gorby and SST workouts a couple of times I'm at 300W witch puts me at 3,2W/kg. I think I'll be there for a wile now but a great improvement IMHO
Good job. Make sure to keep it up. Btw, protect your bike from your sweat with a towel ;)
Great video. I definitely share your reservations about the ramp test results. I did the 4 Week FTP Booster program and stuck 30 watts on my FTP, but I can't sustain that for an hour, not even close.
Even the 20 minute result which I got a marginally lower result from seems insurmountable for the hour.
Personally I think both tests are a little optimistic (particularly the ramp) and definitely favour those of us who are more comfortable dishing the power out in shorter bursts.
They're great for establishing a baseline though and monitoring progress.
Did you do extra rides or gym workouts during the 4 week period? Or only the plan
Ramp can definitely be skewed for newer riders without as much base and temp in them. The more time you spend on the bike the more accurate they become.
Nice to see a real person doing a zwift course and not a paid reviewer (GCN ) comes to mind 😁
I enjoy watching your progress. Great job. Your results are similar to mine on this plan. My ramp test FTP went from 242 to 274. After that I did a 20-minute test on Zwift (Tempus Fugit) just to see how the two measurements compared and got 278. The 20 minute test required a lot of focus.
I'm interested to see what you think of the other training plans.
With your improved FTP and your strong sprint, you've got the potential to win a lot of races.
I'll definitely be trying the 20 minute test at some point, not looking forward to it though!
@@JMower It takes a lot of concentration. Use the FTP from your ramp test to help set your target effort. Start a few Watts below that power for the first 5 minutes. If you're feeling good, increase the power a few watts after 5 minutes. If you're still feeling good, do the same thing at 10 and 15 minutes.
great vid! The ramp test can however exaggerate FTP, particularly in non-pros and even more so in people who have spent all their time doing strength training- Doing something for 60mins straight is a nightmare in comparison. As you noticed during the intervals at 100% of estimated FTP...Pros can sustain a ridiculously high percentage of VO2 max for long periods, for us mere mortals it's different. The 20min test is indeed a good alternative to the 60min nightmare test! 😃
Awesome result :) i started the ftp trainer yesterday. 256ftp at the beginning. Im so a bit confused cause the two harder workouts follow each other followed by two easier ones. I'll switch to hard easy hard easy.
Yeah it's a bit confusing at first, but I think as long as you get all the workouts done you'll see some good results.
Good luck!
Really well put together video. Congrats on your progress.
I want to improve my FTP (its the lowest power of any human alive I believe) but I'm doing 4 days a week of Zone 2 rides and 1 day of Vo2 interval work. I don't know how to fit in FTP work on top of that.
Also, when I did my FTP test (i use MyWhoosh) when I got to my breaking point the test didn't stop, so I ended up riding out the rest of the segments as like a cool down so maybe that messed up my test results?
To get an accurate ftp reading you need to absolutely push till the last moment, you should feel like you're about to pass out by the end! Then once you've given up you should stop completely, the program should then give you your result straight away. Did you do a ramp test or a 20 minute ftp test? Might be worth checking and trying the other one and comparing the results.
@J Mower I did the ramp test on MyWhoosh (free alternative to Zwift) but once I could ride no further and stopped the test didn't give me a result. Maybe it was a glitch. I'm planning on redoing the test in a few weeks.
lol, when that heart rate gets above 180, it gets so exponentially harder. Good job my man!
C'MON!!!!!
Great job 👏🏻 do you prefer ramp test?I get higher watt in ramp test compared to 20 min ftp test,for me I think 20 min it’s closer to my real watt.
I’ve never tried the 20 minute test actually, I’ll give it a go and see which one is better! I’ve heard the 20 minute one is much more difficult, so I agree with you it’s probably closer to the real watts
@@JMower Ok nice 👌🏻 I looking forward to se what you get 👍🏻
@@JMower Yeah, i would say its much closer to 'real thing' since you have to sustain constant (which is ftp about imo), instead of 'pushing through. But it's a lot harder in the begining cause you have to plan your effort in a way to empty your bottle exactly at the end of test. Thats why i failed mine twice miserably)) hard not to over/under perform
I know this was posted a while ago, but I would try erg mode on a magnetic trainer (assuming you're not doing so already). Your ramp test looked a bit spiky at the end, which was probably contributing to a higher heart rate. I was pretty impressed with how close you were getting to the target power numbers though, that's usually quite hard to hit them within 10% or even more!
You're probably right! I normally choose to do the ramp test in non erg mode, just because I like to control my cadence. The few times I've done it in erg mode I find my cadence drops too much and I get stuck in a spiral of increasing difficulty. In non erg mode I can just shift down and match the power again! I also find it much more engaging to do it in non erg mode, I make it a game of seeing how close I can get the average power to the target power 😂
@@JMowerfor sure, erg mode spiral is definitely a thing, but if you dig a little at the beginning of each ramp, you should be able to keep the power spot-on and keep the cadence dialed. The point where you can’t is probably nearing the top of your capability-and while Zwift will “notice” this, you’ll probably get to finish your ramp test earlier for the same result 😅
If you look at the training plan in the companion app, it shows you the intended order to do the workouts in.
oh didn't realise this! Thanks!
Hi J Mower! The FTP test is inside the FTP Builder Plan or you did it selecting it separately?
Yes it's in the plan. However you can also do it whenever you want by selecting it from the 'workouts' screen
@@JMower thanks !!
Most training plans, incl Zwift, have too much intensity (alot of it to keep you engaged). It seduces many with quick gains but then u hit a wall often in overtraining. New folks also see gains that not any more than better understanding of holding an effort. That is why ramp test is great for anyone who doesnt know where they are (new and returning riders). Good luck but do start dialing up 2 hard sessions a wk sometimes 3 here and there. The rest easy. I mean E-A-S-Y!! -U10
In the past the training plan was really fixed and the work-outs were opening up on a certain day. The community give the idea of improving the way of training plans will present to the user. That is way you have the freedom to pick a workout and not having a red line. In that case you need your common sense and listen to your body. That is maybe better than just follow a training plan and getting worse instead of getting better overtime.
Good luck with the progress! The weight really does make a massive difference, I started running back in 2020 when I was around 120kg too, could barely make it 100m without stopping
I was thinking that riding at ftp for a few mins doesn’t sound very hard. Then I remembered that when I did the ramp test it said mine was 290 something. Hmmm my best 20 mins is 281, so yes based on that would be forking hard as it def overinflated what I can do
Some bike fit thoughts and observations - the fact that you pull back to the seat from the handlebars this often, does it mean that you're having too much balance on the seat and you should lean the saddle a bit to the front to feel more comfortable?
Honestly I've tried moving the seat around so much but can never find a position that's comfortable, I'm probably going to just pay for a bike fit at some point
@@JMower I found Cam Nicholls' videos on bike fit extremely helpful. First, my saddle height was way-way too high, second, I was sitting too far back. Now I truly enjoy both of my road bikes and after some educated fine-tuning on Zwift I feel perfect balance between the front and the back, so it's worth a try 😉 good luck!
I was wondering whether you did extra rides on top of your 6 week plan? Or gym workouts? Or was it only the 6 week plan?
Very small amounts of gym work, but mainly just stuck to the plan
A few zwift races too
Ahhh legend. Appreciate your response and congrats on your results. Big fan of your content and seeing your progression. Starting the FTP builder on Monday. Hopefully get some good results!!
Ftp is 200. 55 yrs. 12 stone ,,,,been zwifting for 1 Yr consistently,,,any input would be appreciated
The increase came fro ability to dig deeper (the BPM increased 178 => 184) so I doubt it wasn't a true increase. Still nice work mate and you should try 20 min FTP test :)
Good points! I did the alpe du zwift recently and managed to hold about 270 for 66mins, so a bit lower than the ramp test suggested
It’s all about W/kg. 😎
i'm very concerned for your indoor trainer. 120W target, u avg 117. 180/176, 240/245, 380/396.
I’m about 145 lbs (67kg) and my FTP is around 207 last time I did the ramp test. That puts us both around 3 watts per kilo. I wonder how we would compare during a race 🤔
I assume u would be better on flats and me on hills?
Yeah probably right there, depending on the route it would be close!
Actually under 5% ramps he would be faster than you. We always do the math with our weight, but you need to add the bike weight, and that would make him faster. You can put 200w and let's say bikes weight 10kg. then 67+10kg -> 200/77= 2,6w/kg. He would push 300w and 100kg+10kg -> 2,73w/kg. People that wights less, like you and me, needs to push more W because our bikes represent more % of the total weight moving. It is on really step climbs where we have advantage. Hope to have helped here :D
The cough after the test. We’ve all been there. Great work
Sorry but 5x5 at 100% is not a challenging workout. You do 5x5 for Vo2 max at 105% minimum, but should aim for 110% (depends on each individual, some can do these at 115% or more).
I just did the test on my kickr core but was unsure wether I had to shift myself? Isn’t ERG mode on for the FTP ramp test?
You can choose to have it on or off. I prefer leaving ERG off as I like to control the power and cadence myself. I find with ERG on if my cadence drops just a little then the resistance will go really high
@@JMower thanks for your reply :) I checked for toggling it on/off, but I couldn't find the button for it. Are you using Zwift on your phone/tablet?
@@lilcurtiz5333 It's an option before you start the workout, you can't change it once you've already started. I'm running zwift on a Macbook but it should be the same regardless of the device
I can do 240 in ramp test. But I'm about 210 in 20 min test.
I’m about to take zwift’s ftp builder. During the workouts should it be on ERG mode?
Up to you. Erg mode means the trainer will adjust the resistance to keep your power output the same regardless of your cadence. This means you don’t have to pay as much attention and as long as your legs keep turning you’ll be fine. I prefer to have erg mode off, meaning you’ll have to shift the gears yourself to control the resistance.
@@JMower thanks!
Did you do it? The workout dictates what cadence it wants you to use, so using ERG mode is a hell of a lot easier. Otherwise you're trying to juggle getting the cadence it's telling you to do and the power. I found it a total pita when I was using a dumb trainer.
I did the FTP builder and lost 20watts. My cadence improved though. I dropped from 218 to 198 but did get my highest peak 3 second
That's an odd result, did you rest for a few days before doing the ramp test?
@@JMower hi I had 2 rest days when I only cycled to the Shops about a mile with the kids. As I have the tour de Gwent coming up just doing light rides for endurance for a few weeks 40 mile average 100 to 150watts 2x a week and on off days short 3/4 hour spins on zwift to keep the saddle time up.
why the power during training is not stable? it swings a lot.
For example: if you need to maintain 220 watts, swing between 205w and 235w
I leave erg mode off, if you leave it on then the power will be more exact
Have you had a bike fit before? Seeing you with your foot down on the floor at the end of the workout makes me think your saddle might be too low to be efficient! Am not a coach or bike fitter but most cyclists have to unclip to put their foot on the floor without falling... Just a thought to help you eek out more watts. Ride on!
No bike fit yet, I've been meaning to get one for a while but just not got around to it!
@@JMower Go get one before you increase your mileage and Cat B is yours!
Just completed this training programme and did my ramp test this morning. Went from 196 watts to 227. Watched a few videos on this and we all seem to have gained around 30 watts (apart from one guy who reckoned he got 50), so maybe that's the standard gain?
In theory you're supposed to be able to hold your FTP for an hour, but based on what I've read most people can only actually hold it for around 20 minutes........
Cause the ramp test does not even come closed to give you your FTP. You get much better result if you follow the Coggan protocol. And even then, it's only your indoor FTP.
@@oli4572 Except not everybody does the ramp test do they...........
@@Bungle2010 as said, ramp test does not give you your accurate ftp. do the coggan test instead to get better values.
@@oli4572 So you’re just going to ignore that fact?
@@Bungle2010 No clue what you are talking about. You mentioned, that the ramp test did not give good ftp result, people fail over the hour and I explained why. Do the right test and find out by yourself.
But you do not training 3+hours zone 2.
I think the "FTP is what you can hold for an hour" quote is often misinterpreted. It means that if your life depended on it, you could pull it off but you would absolutely be immobile afterward. Nobody does that ever and it would be bad for your training if you did.
c'mon, brutal are climbs outside :) try 3-4min climb at 150% FTP ... :)
Well done!! But remember FTP is not all (FTP depends on your weight...). For races train your endurance and the high cadence ability. A big deal is GRAN FONDO for endurance and/or the BUILD ME UP for endurance and high cadence. Both are hard - BMU is the harder one :).... Start the next plan and have fun!!
Why the high cadence it is being proved that it is not really good thing to do you should have a natural cadence mine is about 81/82 RPM I can sprint at well over 140 but if I try and hold a 90 cadence I tire very quickly and don't go much or at all faster. 🤔
@@darrengarvie8832 "I can sprint at well over 140..." (for this reason) BMU trains high cadence spikes
@@derhexer13 I've always been able to do high cadence sprints so much so that my cadence meter can't measure it 🤣😂🤣
3:10 this just makes no sense at all. if you feel you're at the end of your limit, raising your upper body can't be good for your HR. instead go into aerobars. your upperbody is flat and thus less pressure required for blood circulation, less muscles used to keep your body up, overall less wear on your system, resulting in lower HR.
you do the exact counterpart. lol
considering your 180 max HR, a 170HR effort is "cute" and nothing to fear
Very interesting response. I've noticed what you're describing. After I'm don't the "work" part of a session and entering my cool down if I sit straight up my heartrate begins to rise fairly substantially (10-20bpm) and when I get back on the bars in begins to drop
@@luciouspontorro3741 10-20 bpm is crazy. but yes. it's a thing.
if people max out HR 180, there's a reason why at swimming they max then 150/155 or similar. body all vertical.
there's a reason why sitting in a chair is a higher HR than lying flat in bed ;-)
no disrespect but that plan is weak. look into TT Tune UP, especially after week 5. that's absolute clutch. this ftp builder seems just base and a bit of yellow. all good.
ftp is w/kg not a number ftp on Zwiftis way way way optimistic you look fat I think you are no more than 2.5 w/kg for 1 hour
FTP is measured in watts ("a number"), not watts per kg. Watts per kg takes your FTP and divides it by your body weight.
why do you even try to act like an expert and critical of someone's body when you dont even know what ftp is?