Functional Threshold Power
Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is the highest power a cyclist can average for one hour. Our FTP is important for at least a few reasons. The first is that we use it to set our power zones for training. The second is that it is arguably the best predictor of performance for almost any type of race in any cycling discipline. Maybe that isn’t true for the shortest of races (some track, BMX) but is true for most. The third reason is our endurance and time to exhaustion would improve significantly by improving our FTP. Time crunched and training for a long event? FTP training is the way to go. These are good reasons why everyone’s program should have at least some FTP training. How much depends on what it is today and how important a higher one is to your goals in the future.
A Mention of Specificity
Specificity means to train in a way that mimics as closely as possible the activity you’re training for. Strength training can absolutely make you a better bike racer but I would never put money on even the best weight lifter in the world to win a pro bike race. In order to be a good bike racer we need to ride our bike. Not only that, we need to ride our bike in a way that mimics the event we are training for. Training on Zwift will improve our power output which is hugely important but it will not help us figure out how to take eighty turns during a criterium at 30 mph. You could be the fittest cyclist in the world but still not know how to carry speed in and out of corners. Less fit, but more efficient, cyclists would easily leave you behind. If we are a time trialest we need to train in our TT bars. We don’t use different muscles in a time trial position but we use them through a different range of motion. It’s important to train in our race day position so our muscles learn how to efficiently fire and move our joints through that specific range of motion. If we are a cyclocross rider nothing can train our balance for the sand pit like riding through sand. Can three minute training intervals improve our FTP? Yes. Will they be the best to train us to mentally carry on in the last ten minutes of a 40 km time trial? Probably not, too short. It sounds simple but it’s a fact that is sometimes lost as the season goes on. We must not forget that not only do we want our power numbers to improve in all the Trainingpeaks graphs, we also want them to improve in the in real life conditions that we will be in during our race. Specificity.
Functional Threshold Power Training
Our FTP is how much power we can average for an hour. We know from our previous reading that our aerobic system will provide almost 90% of our energy for this duration so when we want to increase our FTP much of our training should focus on this system. Aerobic training rides will obviously improve it and will automatically be a part of any program, structured or not. We know aerobic metabolism requires oxygen that is utilized in the mitochondria of our cells. Slow twitch muscle fibers have more and bigger mitochondria compared to fast twitch muscle fibers. So it would benefit our FTP if we could deliver more oxygen to our muscles, increase the efficiency of our mitochondria, and increase the size of our slow twitch muscles. We can use this chart from Training and Racing With A Power Meter to find the training intensities that will best lead to these physiological changes.
Forgive my scanner’s blurriness.
The lactate threshold intensity is given the top 4+ rating to improve FTP. Specificity!
In terms of oxygen delivery we see that VO2 max training will improve our stroke volume. Stroke volume is the amount of blood that our heart pumps out per beat. More blood pumped out means more oxygen can be sent to the muscles. VO2 max intervals also have the biggest effect on muscle capillarization. This means that there are more blood vessels going through the muscles. Just like adding more lanes to a highway to fit more cars, you can increase the amount of blood cells passing through the muscle at any moment. These are two ways VO2 max training will increase the amount of oxygen available to the mitochondria.
There is research that shows that endurance training can increase the amount and size of the mitochondria in our cells. Lactate threshold intensity will do the best job of increasing mitochondrial enzymes.
Type 1 muscle fiber size will increase the most from VO2 max training.
According to the research training at our lactate threshold, VO2 max, and endurance zone will give us the physiological benefits we are looking for to improve our aerobic system and increase our FTP. This is a training program designed to raise your FTP. Please feel free to reach out for a discount on this and any other Trainingpeaks Store program.
