We all have an optimal cadence. it is different for each individual. Study has shown that we are most powerful and efficient at that cadence. What Max was talking about here is not so much lowering your operational cadence, but to train your legs to be able to operate in that cadence longer before muscle fatigue forces you to compensate by spinning. You could train that by staying in a slightly harder gear. You won’t achieve best performance in those sessions but your legs are getting used to the sensation of pushing beyond your comfort zone. The same way they need to push beyond their fatigue limit. Over gear training is important, but not because they are very good at developing leg strength. Do gym work if that is the goal. Rather, they help your body acclimate to riding high torque low cadence so that you don’t just fall apart forced into the situation.
Yes exactly. I find this a lot at the end of a short punch climb when I hit out the saddle in a bigger gear for 10-15 secs and then sit back down. You need the ability to mentally register the tougher gear and work through it for a short period of time. These can be make or break moments that when I first started- would BREAK ME!
The Climb Portal is super helpful if you want to work on low-cadence, overgeared efforts. Find a gear and cadence that is comfortable where the climb is. 4-5% and then try to stay in that gear when the climb kicks up to 10-12%.
Great advice- i have a massive mental block when it comes to doing climbing work on Zwift, just cant get my head into it... however i do need to do Alp du Zwift in under 60 mins so i guess that will count as a good climbing session
You can train with power on a single speed and I do. SS is a great bike for rain too I have a Salsa Stormchaser 38/17 so you can do hills once pretty fit and mostly stay in zone 2 if you don't hammer it and go slow. But on many of these hills say 6-7 percent or less you can drop the cadence to like 20-30 and do a torque workout in Z2. Then downhill its Z1 spinning like crazy at 110-120.
Some very useful advice there Max, I'll definitely change some of my training once I've finished my FTP Builder plan. Especially the triangle effect from load, intensity and rest. My aim ids to do long events, so I'll be adding lots of Z2 to my training, then add in some intensity once rested, those low cadence, high power workouts are perfect for that. I'll leave the racing to you, I keep chasing carrots....
How did you find the FTP power plan? Be interesting to hear how you felt it helped you develop. I dont follow a specific Zwift plan but i am now doing 3-4 workouts a week that im choosing at my own will based on how im feeling and the volume/intensity of the past 48 hrs.
@@thewattlife I'm liking the plan in that it forces me to do certain sessions. The day after I commented on your video it gave me low cadence high power training, which felt good. I'll probably change to high Z2 volume with a mixture of sessions, like you depending on how I feel, but knowing I'm capable of finishing them.
I just knew that if i could build some strength then it would be an easy win to add a few extra watts... Things are getting a little more tricky now though
Proper VO2 workouts work usually even better than zwift races, but it's true many find it easier to push themselves during racing. For the lower cadence you should try longer efforts too, like an all out Alpe Du Zwift and find the cadence that's sustainable. If you're doing back to back hard days a higher cadence also reduces the fatigue on your legs.
VO2 Max training has a limit. As they are HIIT (true HIIT not gym HIIT), they should be considered icing on the cake. They bring any already fit person to peak performance, but done too often or for too long, results in overall performance decline. International level / Olympic coaches only programme them for a maximum of 5 weeks at a time, sometimes less, before major events. Any longer risks a long term (months long) performance trough to follow.
@@drewd9985 this is true but doing a VO2 workout twice a week is unlikely to be problematic and can result in steady gains when coupled with plenty of z2/3.
I’m a begginer cyclist, did my ramp up test and scored 227w ( 2.83kg/w), strived to keep candance at around 90rpm all the time, reached HR of 198, close to max. Yet when I started doing workouts based on that FTP, I couldn’t sustain 200w for 8mins, gave up midway. I have been doing anaerobic/fast twich sports for the last 4 years and it was obvious to me that a ramp test overestimated my FTP. I just did the regular FTP test on Zwift with 20min best effort block and I scored 160W (2w/kg) @ 90rpm. Which is what I could probably sustain for 1 hour. Choose your tests wisely. Also at lower candence it is easier for me to hold higher power with less HR effort, it actually is harder for me to hold 90rpm at the same power. Completely opposite to what you experience ;)
I just did a 20 min FTP Zwift test and dropped the video up online. My result was a lot lower than my Ramp test. Both are fun for different reasons but the 20 min test is brutal
That makes perfect sense if you are over training and your cadence has dropped relative to your previous benchmarks. Much in the same way if your HR is lower relative to past performance but when it comes to cadence i think being able to generate more power across a broader range then you will see improvement.
@@thewattlifeit would be great if you can go into detail on a future video on the cadence thing. Ive heard you mention a few times that you want to be able to generate x power at lower cadence, but I have always heard cadence is more of a preference thing. Would love to see the thinking/data behind it!
Well if you are building power you would do low cadence work want to work get leg speed up work on spinning drills your cadance during a effort is mainly what you are doing for such effort. If your doing a 20 min effort its about gearing an cadence efficiency overall.
I don’t think you’re right to be honest… Power = Torque x RPM. So if his cadence drops for Power=x his torque/force therefore must have improved. Which means with a lower cadence he’s able to output the same power.
When I’m getting tired and legs lose power, I tend to go to higher cadences. On higher cadences the muscle contraction isn’t as strong. This sometimes is enough to keep cramps at bay.
Hey Max! I love to see your progression! I'm trying to get 4 W/kg aswell! But I have 1 suggestion as for the testing. I would use a 20 min test. Ramp test isn't accurate for measuring FTP. It's usefull to compare with other ramp tests but to know your FTP the 20 min test is much more accurate (I got this information from a world tour trainer, training alot of pro cyclists and developed his own training app. No credits for me 😂) Keep up the good work man!
Thank you, yeah this is what I’m come to find after starting cycling properly this year. I knew nothing so did a ramp test but was finding that I wasn’t able to really produce the watts it suggested my FTP was. So there’s a bunch of videos on here testing various tests out and their different results. From everything it seems, for me anyway, the most accurate is actually my Zwift estimates FTP. Like you said in your other comment, I’m horrible at pacing a 20 mins test but maybe next year I’ll give it another go
@@thewattlife I try to see the test as 4 times 5 minutes. This helps abit. First 5 min I set the pace not too high. 2nd 'block' I try to get the average a little bit up. 3rd block (and hardest block for most people) I try to hold the average. Sometimes it drops abit and this is mentally very heavy but I know I have a good last 5 min. Last 5 minutes I give it all and yes I go full out the last minute. Average over 20 min is everything included :) I try to do this every 4 months. I'm currently at 3.65 w/kg and I think you are abit better so you won't be that far from 4 w/kg :)
@@thewattlife The ramp test is made to estimate your MAP (4/7min efforts), where the last level define the wattage. Many people makes that mistake, especially because it's easier to do the Ramp Test rather than a true 20 mins effort. But even the FTP and its protocole to measure it are not accurate at all. But you did a great job to increase it this much ! Let's think that it's just the begining !
Trainer Road uses ramp test to calibrate their workouts. They do a lot of research and consider it adequate. Personally, I found that team and 20-minute tests give me the same result. Given that ramp is much easier, I’m going with ramp.
I also try to do at least 1 to 2 vo2 max sessions per week which can then transition into zone2 riding since you really can’t do more than 40 - 50 mjn of vo2 specific training in a session (including recovery periods). And don’t forget to eat protein like a monster
Hey Matt. thanks for your advice. its really good. i also do running (and a little swimming, so hopefully a future triathlete). do you also run? if so, what kinds of cycling workouts do you see beneficial for running? when i do too much zone 2 cycling and take away time from running, it makes me significantly slower. yes, i might become a better endurance runner overall due to a better engine, but my legs feel slow. do you reckon climbing workouts or high intensity workouts on the bike would be better to support running?
@thewattlife - Please could you let me know about your recovery from the broken leg back to riding in terms of timescales to being back on the bike and how you re-introduced cycling back into your routine? I have recently broken my tibia and am just starting physio on the long road to recovery. Any advice would greatly appreciated. Regards.
So this is a bit of a funny one- i fractued my leg in two places behind the knee on the tib and femur. Luckily it wasnt too painful when i was cycling due to the impact from the injury coming when the leg was straight while i was running, but cycling you put pressure through the leg when it is bent. I hope this makes sense, so all in all it allowed me to keep cycling straight away and my knee would just ache after bike sessions. I was back into bike sessions straight away but lower wattages- it took 12 months before i could run again at all but cycling was different.
I don't actually think that cyclists should think about their cadence very much, but for what it's worth, almost every single guy in the world tour is at at LEAST 95 rpm. Many sit around 100-110 when riding at threshold. Ganna, for example, rides at 108-110 when he's pushing his 480 watt threshold. He is not an outlier! So I wonder where you got the idea that 95 is a "high" cadence? It's probably on the low end of average among modern cyclists! Great video, and love the progression! I was at 4.2 w/kg at 77kg three months ago when I got pneumonia, and now I'm at 3.2 w/kg at 79kg, sounds very similar to your situation haha.
Sure i understand this- however, my cadence is over 100 when at threshold, what i was finding was that i didnt have the leg strength to push higher watts- for instance my first FTP test i could cycle 380 watts even at a 100+ rpm. Now however i can cycle 380 at 85-95 RPM (think of this as strength development not just a cadence thing). So relatively now- i have a cadence variability at 380 watts where my range can be 85-105. Ultimately cadence isnt the issue the issue is torque and power, which manifests in a practical sense in cadence ranges.
A lot of solid research for non pros showing that cadence is highly personal. Trying to emulate what they do - like slammed stems, narrow bars, cadence of 110 is the way to take all the fun out of riding.
@@MarquitoRH Yep! As I said, I don't think cyclists should think about their cadence much or at all - whatever feels easiest is usually the right thing to do! I was just wondering about this perception that 95 or 100 rpm is "high" when it is in fact average relative to all the cyclists we see in the media. I'm interested in cadence trends generally. Like, everyone has a preferred cadence, which you would think is dictated by one's physiology. So the distribution of cadences among people should be the same across time and space. But it isn't! In 1999 when Lance was riding at 90 rpm it was seen as spinning crazy fast. Now 90 is on the low end, and 110 is normal. Despite this, in the triathlon community, low cadences (80 rpm) are still very common. As you say, all the research shows that cadence within a reasonable range doesn't matter, but trends like this suggest that we pick our cadences much more based on social pressure than true personal physiology!
Interesting you're saying to lower cadence. Lots of other stuff says that cadence should be between 90 and 100rpm. I took me a couple years to train myself for that, before I would just grind it out at lower cadences, think 75 to 85. Now I'll do 90-100 on most rides and then 100+ on VO2. Maybe I need to rethink that and do a low cadence day once or twice a week.
So i talk about lower cadence from a training perspective- im not exactly new to cycling but new to racing and trying to improve. I dont have years of cycle miles in my legs so i definitely need to build the strength, to do that i either need to be pushing big watts or slowly grinding reasonable watts... the latter being more friendly in terms of fitting ito a training plan
Generally good advice, the other day i just clocked in a 20min power of 370 Watts and its defintely also been a learning process. Generally you just need to progressive overload and SLOWLY increase your wattage. A lot of people on a schedule like doing proper Workouts but i feel like that could be too much intensity to quickly and just be too much for muscles which havent been used a lot. Maybe its just me too but Generally you need to like the training you are doing. For me i found that slowly building up with zone 2 and slowly increasing time in zone 3. Then i did a couple of zone 4 intervalls - really really few but they were good to sort of prime the body. But i mean doing more and more zone 3 is just fine for me, its adds a good amount of training stress and it gets the body ready to do more intensive work
Love the progressive overload. Yeah ive found that up until now i havent really had to follow much of a program, ive been able to get away with smashing races and doing quite a lot of general riding but i think this is going to have to change. Obviously everyone is different but i have a few weeks where im going to focus on building even more strength and then some punchy 1-5 min power sessions
Relying on muscular strength is fine for shorter Zwift races, but no good for doing longer events. So low cadence isn't so good for long endurance, and is much less suitable for improving your aerobic ceiling. Ideally, you'd do a mix of low and high cadence efforts, and also drills like cadence builds to help with the efficiency of transitioning between the two. And from races of yours I've watched, you seem to struggle with lasting endurance.
I think you might be look at this out of context slightly. Whether it was a short race or a long ride i didnt have the leg strength to ride at relatively low wattages without having to keep my cadence close to or over 100 RPM. Developing leg strength has meant that my wattage range while cycling at 75-90 RPM has increased. This is beneficial whether its a short race or a long endurance ride. The thing that i have to work on now is repeatability and lactate clearance. Which again should help my over all performance. Let me know if you think this doesnt make sense
@@thewattlife oh it does, I just meant that as a means for increasing FTP, higher leg speed is better, as the focus of FTP is what you should be able to hold for an hour. As for clearing lactate, this is where leg speed matters too :) Either way, you've made great gains!
i have never done a FTP tests. i did some group rights tho which were quite demanding and zwift estimated some FTP for me out of that. you think thats more or less accurate? my suspicion is that its fairly accurate as it reflects quite well a longer period of time cycling. the short tests might show me a higher FTP than i could do in reality because i can push through them more. doing tough group rides 2-3 hours seem more realistic to me. maybe im wrong.
Do a 20 minute max effort test and get your FTP like this. Fast group rides and estimated ftp are not the way to go. With a 20min test you get a precise FTP that is right, and also an effort you can replicate to measure progress. I've had an estimated ftp by zwift that was way off, 300W instead of 250W. Yes you can push through them more, but that's how it's supposed to be, your max watts over 20mins. You are supposed to be able to hold 95% of it for an hour, but that's theory, it's nearly impossible to do so but it's fine, the number you'll get will be perfect to base all your intervals sessions on, your zones and track progress
You are saying here that lower cadence focuses more on building leg strength. I have plenty of strength but run out of breath far too easily. I can't figure out how to best improve how long I can go without running out of breath. I often hear Zone 2 is optimal for building the heart and cardiovascular system, but definitions vary widely anywhere from 60-80% max heart rate. I also know you can reach Zone 2 with many very different combinations of cadence, resistance, and duration. Since lower cadence more increases muscle, what cadence do you think most increases heart size and cardiovascular adaptations? Should I focus on increasing cadence or duration to most increase heart size and cardiovascular adaptations? What heart rate percent range do you think maximizes heart adaptations?
Interesting I’ve found that the more time I spent of Zwift I was making the most of being out the saddle- now that I’ve joined pace lines IRL I’ve realised just how important seated power is
@@thewattlife zwift obviously incentivises standing, as you get the power benefit without the aero cost. If you do stay seated indoor cycling typically increases cadence - both in the sense that you'll ride a higher cadence indoors and that this will increase your outdoor cadence a little too Paceline's of course make you stay seated more. I find trying to hold a wheel when I'm struggling increases cadence too... but sometimes you need to stand to close a gap. Worth learning to do so without the bike going back as you stand (risking touch of wheels with the guy behind)
Reality check. Your ftp isn't 4w/kg. Your max 20 min power in Zwift is 3.7 which would indicate your ftp is less than 3.5. This matches up with your results in cat B. Don't just focus on ftp. 1, 2, 3-5 min power is also very important to weather surges. A 1 min 8w/kg, 2 min 6w/kg and 5 min 5w/kg will serve you well. Most people in Zwift only care about 15 sec power, ftp and sprinting with 200m to go. Cover your heart rate in a race and go all out and see where you are really at.
Fear not, i dont think i can hold 4 w/kg for 60 mins however i can only go on the result from the ramp test as a bench mark. I think i could hold 4 w/kg on a steady 20 min effort and i have a lot of work to do on my shorter minute numbers. However i only started this year so while the ramp test results are fun im currently building different aspects of my cycling to be able to put in some good race results. Ultimately ill be racing outside a lot more next year too.
Why the focus so much on cadence? 300 Watts is 300 Watts regardless of the cadence. Higher cadence is lighter on the legs, works the CV system more, and allows you to respond quicker to a sudden increase in effort. Low cadence might be more efficient for some people, but tires the muscles sooner Everyone is different, and under stress the rider will tend to self select the right cadence for them. No need to focus that much on cadence and leg strength. And remember FTP is only one measure, not that relevant for say a track sprinter for example.
Yup i hear what you are saying but this is all relevant to progression. 300 watts might be 300 watts but having the variability to decide whether to perform at a high cadence and rely on your aerobic capacity or your neuromuscular strength at lower cadence allows variability, ultimately variability allows longevity. So as an up and coming cyclist identifying weaknesses is important, previously ive only ever been able to cycle relying on my aerobic capacity and lactate threshold, now i have more strength from lower cadence work which allows me to sit more comfortable at certain watt ranges.
@@thewattlife we have to agree to disagree :). There isn’t much variability in cadence when you are on the limit. Striving for a lower cadence might be more efficient for a constant TT effort for some slow twitch fibre dominant riders but most of the time a higher cadence is preferable in most situations.
ah to be clear my focus on cadence is not at the upper end of threshold but rather mid range performance. Also please don't relate this back to a trained professional, this is more relative to an un-trainer/semi trained cyclist. In which sense working on developing strength/torque in your mid range performance is very important. My first FTP test I was cycling at 100+ RPM well before I get to watt ranges at the top end of my ability- suggesting that quite simply my power (or wattage) was coming from speed (or cadence). I am however relating all this back to my own experience, I just don't want people getting the idea that im trying to apply this to professional or well conditioned athletes. ;)
Low cadence high torque is not a replacement for heavy lifting in the off season, this comes up time and time again...If you're trying to develop this strictly on the bike your body will continue to compensate. Gym work is for neuro muscular development and recruitment, waking up the muscles that tend to "fall asleep" over the season. The strongest cyclists are the ones that can recruit the most muscles in each movement efficiently, you don't need bigger quads, hammys and glutes you need more engaged quads, hammys and glutes...
Yup having well developed movement patterns is definitely important, but from a cycling perspective if you are an un-retained or relatively un-trained athlete you will still need to develop the particular muscular strands responsible for the pedal movement. If you have years of cycling behind you then you won’t get the same adaptive response which is why you’ll need to do heavier gym work - amongst other reasons.
Great to hear about your continued journey towards peak cycling fitness! 🎉 as Mark Lewis says, “this is what I do. Use it if you will but I’m not your mum telling you what you have to do” or something like that 😂 there’s a lot of good stuff in there we can all consider and adapt. Great to get your views! 💪 🚴
ich mach nur 1 Stunde FTP Tests bzw. 40 bis 50 Minuten Vorbereitungseinheiten an der Schwelle. Ich möchte keine verfälschten Werte. 4 Watt/KG ist aber nicht so dramatisch viel. Alles darüber... da wird die Luft schlagartig dünner. Mehr als 4,6 bzw. 280 Watt exakt eine Stunde lang, waren da nie drinnen.
How many hours per week do you spend on zone 2? And what duration are the sessions. Last winter I was doing 3 x 1.5 hr sessions per week and didn't see any improvement. I have been told it should be 6 hr per week minimum. Any thoughts?
Good question- with Zone 2 youre not going to see dramatic improvements in an untrained cyclists in the same way a god structured program would help you. Zone 2 becomes more important in a trained/conditioned cyclist due to the law of diminishing returns. Im putting out a video on why Zone 2 works and how it works next week. Ultimately you will want to be doing up to and over 200 miles a week without releasing toxins into your blood so you can develop your mitochondria which are used to create ATP that is the energy that allows the muscles to move. Zone 2 is about NOT stressing the body so the volume has to be high.
@@thewattlife Can’t agree. Z2 is awesome for untrained cyclists. In fact when people are untrained almost any stimulus will produce adaptations and fitness gains. It’s called newbie gains. But yes still works for pros in the off/build season. Lots of Strava data showing their 8 hour rides available. The volume of Z2 in a programme is highly dependent on the hours available to train and the phase of the season and proximity of races. You can’t just say it’s 200 miles. Z2 is more about hours anyway and often hard to achieve on the road due to terrain. Lots of well established science on why Z2 works and not sure what you mean when you talk about not releasing toxins into the blood….?
I am sitting at 3.2w at the peak of the season everytime and manage to come out of the winter with roughly 2.8-2.9 - I wish I could get to 4w/kg somehow :-(
So for me what really helped was breaking down different parts, so doing lots of low cadence hard gearing Zone 2 work to build strength, and then the 20-30 min races to build fitness. Now im focusing on building my 30-3 min power which will help me develop anaerobically and also continue to build strength. Keep going, i dont think we realise how tiny little gainz eventually equal big changes.
@@thewattlife never tried low cadence Z2, my Z2 training is in the range of 85-90 easy spinning the legs in easy gear. might try that one thanks. when you say Z2 you mean heartrate right? because my HR tends to go down on low cadence and I can produce more watts.
Yup- I do some flat days and some climbing days. Cadence between 45-60 and stay in zone 2 on the HR which limits you getting carried away and keeps the time under tense high
@@thewattlife Would be great. I just did Wattbike FTP test for the first time. Not going to lie, lower than I thought would be haha! Only ever really road cycled so not sure the differences between indoor.
I have a pair of Sidi 60 for my indoor training which are very sexy and comfortable. Slightly less performance than the Sidi Wire 2 Carbon that i ride outside: saddleback.co.uk/collections/sidi-road-shoes/products/sidi-wire-2-air-carbon-road-shoes
Cleat i have just found a comfortable position but i havent had too much experience with cleat positions so im not even sure if i have mine correctly positioned
@@thewattlife Indeed. And see the big picture in months, years, not weeks. Don't overdue the hard sessions to frequently or you get burned out. Build your house, before building your roof. I also ride B and only have an 3.5/3.6 ftp but high stamina and TTE gave me a 11th place yesterday in WTRL (but only 54 participants). So small tip...Build your engine and then increase the turbo!
You're doing good stuff and heading in the right direction, but you've got the science mixed up. The whole science you've described about cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance and cadence is incorrect . There is a mid-point balance between event length, muscular endurance and cardiovascular capacity that dictates optimal cadence. It sounds like you progressed to a better utilisation of cadence vs force ratio in your power production for the event length giving you better results. Producing high power when spinning (souplesse) is a sign of high efficiency, where cardiovascular capacity is high and the body is using a large amount of mitochondria-rich, low-contractile force muscles to produce that power. A very good, long-term, repeatable capacity. Lower cadence pedalling pushes the metabolic load more onto the less aerobically-efficient, higher contractile-force, muscle fibre types, resulting in more power pushed for the same heart rate (or same power for a lower heart rate). All it requires is the capacity to handle the RPE for the effort. However, this type of loading is less sustainable and results in earlier fatigue. For a 20 minute effort, the effort is so short that event length muscular endurance, for any reasonably fit cyclist, is not an issue. If you can significantly 'spin it up' to increase power at the end of the FTP test, you are selling yourself short during the bulk of the FTP test. Doing muscular strength endurance on the bike is adapting strength capacities into a cardiovascular framework. After a certain period of this adaptation, a rider should start bringing that developed efficiency into a more aerobically efficient muscular capacity by increasing cadence for a number of training microcycles. After this adaptation has occurred, cycle back, rinse and repeat, with low cadence-high force work for a number of training cycles followed by higher cadence work to again move the newly aerobically adapted capacity to a higher aerobic, more efficient, more sustainable capacity for that power. In a structured training programme there should also be some consideration (once a week) for the 300-400% FTP
I left power production level out of the mid-point balance equation in "There is a mid-point balance between event length, muscular endurance and cardiovascular capacity that dictates optimal cadence."
Appreciate this comment and great information in there. Ive been working in some nice muscular strength rides this last week and working on a few other things so will see in a few weeks how progress is coming along. Although in my last race despite my cadence for my FTP test and my 'how long can i hold my FTP' being 80-85 my race cadence was straight to being back over 100+
I pretty much only cycle in the 70’s, and race at 90-93 RPM. I’ve gone from an FTP of 1.9 w/kg to 3.9 w/kg in 8 months. Every time I try higher cadence work I feel like I’m not even pedaling, it’s a weird feeling.
I like having the variability- previously anytime I needed more watts I’d have to rely on cadence, now I can vary it a bit and that acts as a bit of neuromuscular recovery. Gotta keep building on it now
oh well...tell us a bit more...you are discussing about the cadence but you forget to tell us you have been doing squats like a champ.....and most probably you have other historical reasons for having the hability to go from bellow 2w/kg to 4....in just 8 months, otherwise not very easy to achieve.
@@almograve , I didn’t forget obviously - but yes, I enjoy them and have no doubt gotten stronger as a result. I’m 33, almost 34. I was a decent 800/1600m runner in high school but 3 kids and 15 years later does a lot to the body. I know how to train, but I’ve never cycled before this and haven’t seriously trained in 7 years before this (and the first time at all training since having kids at all for the past 6 years). The fitness is coming back, but I wouldn’t say I’m anything special.
Look DOUBLING your FTP in a year is something VERY special indeed. You clearly have cracking genetics … lucky you. If you double it again the next year then Vingegaard is screwed. 😅
I woke up early this morning for some reason and started listening to one at 5am... great knowledge in there and super helpful... even if it did eventually send me back to sleep. LOL
This just popped up on my feed. Ive actually been thinking about training and I do find my self spinning up really fast. Ive been back on Zwift for 4 weeks now but just been doing the odd race and building the miles up. Im going to get some structured training done. My FTP iOS currently 311 but my body weight is 115kg so my WP/KG is low. Working on lowering my body weight and currently lost 10kg. Have you any tips on what training plan will be good for weight loss and building leg strength ?
Good owrk on getting back into it- i know how tough that can be. With weight loss doing it in controlled manor is important so steady state volume rides are important as well as the odd bike/weight strength workout as this will increase your post training energy consumption- basically the calories you need to rebuild and repair muscles which is a lot less during a low intensity session as you dont do as much muscle damage. For a good weight loss routine id say stick to 90-95%% low intensity volume (and during this you can work some low cadence big gear riding with low HR) and then 5-10% intensity work with tempo sessions and races.
lots of really sound advice. semi-related-im curious how the gains you've been making on the bike has transferred to your running? have you noticed any differences? maybe in terms of aerobic changes or simply strength? (that is if you've been able to get out after the broken bone) could also do with knowing your arm workout-looking Strong!
Great question- initially i found that aerobically i wasnt suffering so much but my leg speed running was just gone. I just didnt have the muscular strength and its taken a month or so to start coming back. Running fast was just not really possible and it felt like my legs just could turn over quick enough. Getting back to it though and its coming back quick
i think it is not ftp. It is power from 5-10 min. FTP is a power from 1 hour! Test 1 hour or ride for ex. Alpe dZwift and try use your power on this route. Try to ride with your FTP by 1 hour.
@@TSbiker10 20min is fine tbh. gives you a precise enough number to base your intervals on and you can track progress doing the 20min effort later on. You don't really need to know your true 1h FTP, you need to know your training zones and how to build your interval training
All depends on your goal i would suppose- anyone that wants to improve will need to have an idea of where they are in the first place which i think it what the FTP figure provides for most people
We all have an optimal cadence. it is different for each individual. Study has shown that we are most powerful and efficient at that cadence. What Max was talking about here is not so much lowering your operational cadence, but to train your legs to be able to operate in that cadence longer before muscle fatigue forces you to compensate by spinning.
You could train that by staying in a slightly harder gear. You won’t achieve best performance in those sessions but your legs are getting used to the sensation of pushing beyond your comfort zone. The same way they need to push beyond their fatigue limit.
Over gear training is important, but not because they are very good at developing leg strength. Do gym work if that is the goal. Rather, they help your body acclimate to riding high torque low cadence so that you don’t just fall apart forced into the situation.
Yes exactly. I find this a lot at the end of a short punch climb when I hit out the saddle in a bigger gear for 10-15 secs and then sit back down. You need the ability to mentally register the tougher gear and work through it for a short period of time. These can be make or break moments that when I first started- would BREAK ME!
The Climb Portal is super helpful if you want to work on low-cadence, overgeared efforts. Find a gear and cadence that is comfortable where the climb is. 4-5% and then try to stay in that gear when the climb kicks up to 10-12%.
Great advice- i have a massive mental block when it comes to doing climbing work on Zwift, just cant get my head into it... however i do need to do Alp du Zwift in under 60 mins so i guess that will count as a good climbing session
You can train with power on a single speed and I do. SS is a great bike for rain too I have a Salsa Stormchaser 38/17 so you can do hills once pretty fit and mostly stay in zone 2 if you don't hammer it and go slow. But on many of these hills say 6-7 percent or less you can drop the cadence to like 20-30 and do a torque workout in Z2. Then downhill its Z1 spinning like crazy at 110-120.
Really good advice and thanks for sharing your learning. Certainly resonates with my experiences
Hoping to do another one of these now that my cycling has gone up another level. Maybe drop a new one in the Spring/Summer
Some very useful advice there Max, I'll definitely change some of my training once I've finished my FTP Builder plan. Especially the triangle effect from load, intensity and rest. My aim ids to do long events, so I'll be adding lots of Z2 to my training, then add in some intensity once rested, those low cadence, high power workouts are perfect for that. I'll leave the racing to you, I keep chasing carrots....
How did you find the FTP power plan?
Be interesting to hear how you felt it helped you develop. I dont follow a specific Zwift plan but i am now doing 3-4 workouts a week that im choosing at my own will based on how im feeling and the volume/intensity of the past 48 hrs.
@@thewattlife I'm liking the plan in that it forces me to do certain sessions. The day after I commented on your video it gave me low cadence high power training, which felt good. I'll probably change to high Z2 volume with a mixture of sessions, like you depending on how I feel, but knowing I'm capable of finishing them.
I can totally relate to cadence part. I am so used to push power with cadence and I feel I am stuck at my current ftp.
I just knew that if i could build some strength then it would be an easy win to add a few extra watts... Things are getting a little more tricky now though
Proper VO2 workouts work usually even better than zwift races, but it's true many find it easier to push themselves during racing. For the lower cadence you should try longer efforts too, like an all out Alpe Du Zwift and find the cadence that's sustainable. If you're doing back to back hard days a higher cadence also reduces the fatigue on your legs.
Just learning all this. After a couple of tough races I think I’m adapting to start working on my 1-5 min power with some VO2 max workouts
VO2 Max training has a limit. As they are HIIT (true HIIT not gym HIIT), they should be considered icing on the cake. They bring any already fit person to peak performance, but done too often or for too long, results in overall performance decline. International level / Olympic coaches only programme them for a maximum of 5 weeks at a time, sometimes less, before major events. Any longer risks a long term (months long) performance trough to follow.
@@drewd9985 this is true but doing a VO2 workout twice a week is unlikely to be problematic and can result in steady gains when coupled with plenty of z2/3.
I’m a begginer cyclist, did my ramp up test and scored 227w ( 2.83kg/w), strived to keep candance at around 90rpm all the time, reached HR of 198, close to max. Yet when I started doing workouts based on that FTP, I couldn’t sustain 200w for 8mins, gave up midway. I have been doing anaerobic/fast twich sports for the last 4 years and it was obvious to me that a ramp test overestimated my FTP.
I just did the regular FTP test on Zwift with 20min best effort block and I scored 160W (2w/kg) @ 90rpm. Which is what I could probably sustain for 1 hour. Choose your tests wisely.
Also at lower candence it is easier for me to hold higher power with less HR effort, it actually is harder for me to hold 90rpm at the same power. Completely opposite to what you experience ;)
I just did a 20 min FTP Zwift test and dropped the video up online. My result was a lot lower than my Ramp test.
Both are fun for different reasons but the 20 min test is brutal
Increasing weekly hours at zone 2 is also vital to push your FTP up.
Yeah, ultimately you can only really increase your tempo/interval ratio so much so improvements start coming from Zone 2 base building.
I don’t agree about the cadance aspect at al, low cadance is usually an indicator of fatigue
That makes perfect sense if you are over training and your cadence has dropped relative to your previous benchmarks. Much in the same way if your HR is lower relative to past performance but when it comes to cadence i think being able to generate more power across a broader range then you will see improvement.
@@thewattlifeit would be great if you can go into detail on a future video on the cadence thing. Ive heard you mention a few times that you want to be able to generate x power at lower cadence, but I have always heard cadence is more of a preference thing. Would love to see the thinking/data behind it!
Well if you are building power you would do low cadence work want to work get leg speed up work on spinning drills your cadance during a effort is mainly what you are doing for such effort. If your doing a 20 min effort its about gearing an cadence efficiency overall.
I don’t think you’re right to be honest… Power = Torque x RPM. So if his cadence drops for Power=x his torque/force therefore must have improved. Which means with a lower cadence he’s able to output the same power.
When I’m getting tired and legs lose power, I tend to go to higher cadences. On higher cadences the muscle contraction isn’t as strong. This sometimes is enough to keep cramps at bay.
Hey Max! I love to see your progression! I'm trying to get 4 W/kg aswell! But I have 1 suggestion as for the testing. I would use a 20 min test. Ramp test isn't accurate for measuring FTP. It's usefull to compare with other ramp tests but to know your FTP the 20 min test is much more accurate (I got this information from a world tour trainer, training alot of pro cyclists and developed his own training app. No credits for me 😂) Keep up the good work man!
Thank you, yeah this is what I’m come to find after starting cycling properly this year. I knew nothing so did a ramp test but was finding that I wasn’t able to really produce the watts it suggested my FTP was.
So there’s a bunch of videos on here testing various tests out and their different results. From everything it seems, for me anyway, the most accurate is actually my Zwift estimates FTP. Like you said in your other comment, I’m horrible at pacing a 20 mins test but maybe next year I’ll give it another go
@@thewattlife I try to see the test as 4 times 5 minutes. This helps abit. First 5 min I set the pace not too high. 2nd 'block' I try to get the average a little bit up. 3rd block (and hardest block for most people) I try to hold the average. Sometimes it drops abit and this is mentally very heavy but I know I have a good last 5 min. Last 5 minutes I give it all and yes I go full out the last minute. Average over 20 min is everything included :) I try to do this every 4 months. I'm currently at 3.65 w/kg and I think you are abit better so you won't be that far from 4 w/kg :)
@@thewattlife The ramp test is made to estimate your MAP (4/7min efforts), where the last level define the wattage. Many people makes that mistake, especially because it's easier to do the Ramp Test rather than a true 20 mins effort. But even the FTP and its protocole to measure it are not accurate at all. But you did a great job to increase it this much ! Let's think that it's just the begining !
Trainer Road uses ramp test to calibrate their workouts. They do a lot of research and consider it adequate. Personally, I found that team and 20-minute tests give me the same result. Given that ramp is much easier, I’m going with ramp.
I also try to do at least 1 to 2 vo2 max sessions per week which can then transition into zone2 riding since you really can’t do more than 40 - 50 mjn of vo2 specific training in a session (including recovery periods). And don’t forget to eat protein like a monster
Hey Matt. thanks for your advice. its really good. i also do running (and a little swimming, so hopefully a future triathlete). do you also run? if so, what kinds of cycling workouts do you see beneficial for running? when i do too much zone 2 cycling and take away time from running, it makes me significantly slower. yes, i might become a better endurance runner overall due to a better engine, but my legs feel slow. do you reckon climbing workouts or high intensity workouts on the bike would be better to support running?
With regards to Zone 2 training - if for example I am doing 8 hours a week - how much should I be dedicating to Zone 2
@thewattlife - Please could you let me know about your recovery from the broken leg back to riding in terms of timescales to being back on the bike and how you re-introduced cycling back into your routine? I have recently broken my tibia and am just starting physio on the long road to recovery. Any advice would greatly appreciated. Regards.
So this is a bit of a funny one- i fractued my leg in two places behind the knee on the tib and femur. Luckily it wasnt too painful when i was cycling due to the impact from the injury coming when the leg was straight while i was running, but cycling you put pressure through the leg when it is bent. I hope this makes sense, so all in all it allowed me to keep cycling straight away and my knee would just ache after bike sessions.
I was back into bike sessions straight away but lower wattages- it took 12 months before i could run again at all but cycling was different.
I don't actually think that cyclists should think about their cadence very much, but for what it's worth, almost every single guy in the world tour is at at LEAST 95 rpm. Many sit around 100-110 when riding at threshold. Ganna, for example, rides at 108-110 when he's pushing his 480 watt threshold. He is not an outlier! So I wonder where you got the idea that 95 is a "high" cadence? It's probably on the low end of average among modern cyclists!
Great video, and love the progression! I was at 4.2 w/kg at 77kg three months ago when I got pneumonia, and now I'm at 3.2 w/kg at 79kg, sounds very similar to your situation haha.
Sure i understand this- however, my cadence is over 100 when at threshold, what i was finding was that i didnt have the leg strength to push higher watts- for instance my first FTP test i could cycle 380 watts even at a 100+ rpm. Now however i can cycle 380 at 85-95 RPM (think of this as strength development not just a cadence thing). So relatively now- i have a cadence variability at 380 watts where my range can be 85-105.
Ultimately cadence isnt the issue the issue is torque and power, which manifests in a practical sense in cadence ranges.
A lot of solid research for non pros showing that cadence is highly personal. Trying to emulate what they do - like slammed stems, narrow bars, cadence of 110 is the way to take all the fun out of riding.
@@MarquitoRH Yep! As I said, I don't think cyclists should think about their cadence much or at all - whatever feels easiest is usually the right thing to do!
I was just wondering about this perception that 95 or 100 rpm is "high" when it is in fact average relative to all the cyclists we see in the media.
I'm interested in cadence trends generally. Like, everyone has a preferred cadence, which you would think is dictated by one's physiology. So the distribution of cadences among people should be the same across time and space. But it isn't! In 1999 when Lance was riding at 90 rpm it was seen as spinning crazy fast. Now 90 is on the low end, and 110 is normal. Despite this, in the triathlon community, low cadences (80 rpm) are still very common. As you say, all the research shows that cadence within a reasonable range doesn't matter, but trends like this suggest that we pick our cadences much more based on social pressure than true personal physiology!
Interesting you're saying to lower cadence. Lots of other stuff says that cadence should be between 90 and 100rpm. I took me a couple years to train myself for that, before I would just grind it out at lower cadences, think 75 to 85. Now I'll do 90-100 on most rides and then 100+ on VO2. Maybe I need to rethink that and do a low cadence day once or twice a week.
100 is too high i think, for me 80-85 is optimal - especially riding at home. On lower cadence you will have lower HR, just check it.
So i talk about lower cadence from a training perspective- im not exactly new to cycling but new to racing and trying to improve. I dont have years of cycle miles in my legs so i definitely need to build the strength, to do that i either need to be pushing big watts or slowly grinding reasonable watts... the latter being more friendly in terms of fitting ito a training plan
Generally good advice, the other day i just clocked in a 20min power of 370 Watts and its defintely also been a learning process. Generally you just need to progressive overload and SLOWLY increase your wattage. A lot of people on a schedule like doing proper Workouts but i feel like that could be too much intensity to quickly and just be too much for muscles which havent been used a lot. Maybe its just me too but Generally you need to like the training you are doing. For me i found that slowly building up with zone 2 and slowly increasing time in zone 3. Then i did a couple of zone 4 intervalls - really really few but they were good to sort of prime the body. But i mean doing more and more zone 3 is just fine for me, its adds a good amount of training stress and it gets the body ready to do more intensive work
Love the progressive overload. Yeah ive found that up until now i havent really had to follow much of a program, ive been able to get away with smashing races and doing quite a lot of general riding but i think this is going to have to change. Obviously everyone is different but i have a few weeks where im going to focus on building even more strength and then some punchy 1-5 min power sessions
I think every bit of my critical power curve was hit on a zwift race. 😂 no way I could hold on like that if I was just doing boring old intervals
Relying on muscular strength is fine for shorter Zwift races, but no good for doing longer events. So low cadence isn't so good for long endurance, and is much less suitable for improving your aerobic ceiling. Ideally, you'd do a mix of low and high cadence efforts, and also drills like cadence builds to help with the efficiency of transitioning between the two. And from races of yours I've watched, you seem to struggle with lasting endurance.
I think you might be look at this out of context slightly. Whether it was a short race or a long ride i didnt have the leg strength to ride at relatively low wattages without having to keep my cadence close to or over 100 RPM.
Developing leg strength has meant that my wattage range while cycling at 75-90 RPM has increased. This is beneficial whether its a short race or a long endurance ride. The thing that i have to work on now is repeatability and lactate clearance. Which again should help my over all performance. Let me know if you think this doesnt make sense
@@thewattlife oh it does, I just meant that as a means for increasing FTP, higher leg speed is better, as the focus of FTP is what you should be able to hold for an hour. As for clearing lactate, this is where leg speed matters too :) Either way, you've made great gains!
i have never done a FTP tests. i did some group rights tho which were quite demanding and zwift estimated some FTP for me out of that. you think thats more or less accurate? my suspicion is that its fairly accurate as it reflects quite well a longer period of time cycling. the short tests might show me a higher FTP than i could do in reality because i can push through them more. doing tough group rides 2-3 hours seem more realistic to me. maybe im wrong.
Do a 20 minute max effort test and get your FTP like this. Fast group rides and estimated ftp are not the way to go. With a 20min test you get a precise FTP that is right, and also an effort you can replicate to measure progress. I've had an estimated ftp by zwift that was way off, 300W instead of 250W. Yes you can push through them more, but that's how it's supposed to be, your max watts over 20mins. You are supposed to be able to hold 95% of it for an hour, but that's theory, it's nearly impossible to do so but it's fine, the number you'll get will be perfect to base all your intervals sessions on, your zones and track progress
You are saying here that lower cadence focuses more on building leg strength. I have plenty of strength but run out of breath far too easily. I can't figure out how to best improve how long I can go without running out of breath. I often hear Zone 2 is optimal for building the heart and cardiovascular system, but definitions vary widely anywhere from 60-80% max heart rate. I also know you can reach Zone 2 with many very different combinations of cadence, resistance, and duration.
Since lower cadence more increases muscle, what cadence do you think most increases heart size and cardiovascular adaptations?
Should I focus on increasing cadence or duration to most increase heart size and cardiovascular adaptations?
What heart rate percent range do you think maximizes heart adaptations?
cadence generally gets higher rather than lower as you become a better/fitter cyclist (still do low cadence work, though)
Interesting I’ve found that the more time I spent of Zwift I was making the most of being out the saddle- now that I’ve joined pace lines IRL I’ve realised just how important seated power is
@@thewattlife zwift obviously incentivises standing, as you get the power benefit without the aero cost.
If you do stay seated indoor cycling typically increases cadence - both in the sense that you'll ride a higher cadence indoors and that this will increase your outdoor cadence a little too
Paceline's of course make you stay seated more. I find trying to hold a wheel when I'm struggling increases cadence too... but sometimes you need to stand to close a gap. Worth learning to do so without the bike going back as you stand (risking touch of wheels with the guy behind)
Reality check. Your ftp isn't 4w/kg. Your max 20 min power in Zwift is 3.7 which would indicate your ftp is less than 3.5. This matches up with your results in cat B.
Don't just focus on ftp. 1, 2, 3-5 min power is also very important to weather surges. A 1 min 8w/kg, 2 min 6w/kg and 5 min 5w/kg will serve you well.
Most people in Zwift only care about 15 sec power, ftp and sprinting with 200m to go.
Cover your heart rate in a race and go all out and see where you are really at.
Fear not, i dont think i can hold 4 w/kg for 60 mins however i can only go on the result from the ramp test as a bench mark. I think i could hold 4 w/kg on a steady 20 min effort and i have a lot of work to do on my shorter minute numbers. However i only started this year so while the ramp test results are fun im currently building different aspects of my cycling to be able to put in some good race results.
Ultimately ill be racing outside a lot more next year too.
what do you reckon too high power properly low cadence? Say 45-60rpm
Why the focus so much on cadence? 300 Watts is 300 Watts regardless of the cadence. Higher cadence is lighter on the legs, works the CV system more, and allows you to respond quicker to a sudden increase in effort. Low cadence might be more efficient for some people, but tires the muscles sooner Everyone is different, and under stress the rider will tend to self select the right cadence for them. No need to focus that much on cadence and leg strength. And remember FTP is only one measure, not that relevant for say a track sprinter for example.
Yup i hear what you are saying but this is all relevant to progression. 300 watts might be 300 watts but having the variability to decide whether to perform at a high cadence and rely on your aerobic capacity or your neuromuscular strength at lower cadence allows variability, ultimately variability allows longevity. So as an up and coming cyclist identifying weaknesses is important, previously ive only ever been able to cycle relying on my aerobic capacity and lactate threshold, now i have more strength from lower cadence work which allows me to sit more comfortable at certain watt ranges.
@@thewattlife we have to agree to disagree :). There isn’t much variability in cadence when you are on the limit. Striving for a lower cadence might be more efficient for a constant TT effort for some slow twitch fibre dominant riders but most of the time a higher cadence is preferable in most situations.
ah to be clear my focus on cadence is not at the upper end of threshold but rather mid range performance. Also please don't relate this back to a trained professional, this is more relative to an un-trainer/semi trained cyclist.
In which sense working on developing strength/torque in your mid range performance is very important.
My first FTP test I was cycling at 100+ RPM well before I get to watt ranges at the top end of my ability- suggesting that quite simply my power (or wattage) was coming from speed (or cadence).
I am however relating all this back to my own experience, I just don't want people getting the idea that im trying to apply this to professional or well conditioned athletes. ;)
@@thewattlife
Lots of good research showing the benefits of heavy lifting - squats and dead lifts etc far outweigh low cadence training
Hello! I just bought zwift. Is it healty? I sewat a lot and i think zwift brings dehydration.
Yeah for sure, I often go to sleep and wake up with a headache. Please make sure you drink lots and rehydrate. But it’s definitely helathy
@@thewattlife thanks! We love you!
Low cadence high torque is not a replacement for heavy lifting in the off season, this comes up time and time again...If you're trying to develop this strictly on the bike your body will continue to compensate. Gym work is for neuro muscular development and recruitment, waking up the muscles that tend to "fall asleep" over the season. The strongest cyclists are the ones that can recruit the most muscles in each movement efficiently, you don't need bigger quads, hammys and glutes you need more engaged quads, hammys and glutes...
Yup having well developed movement patterns is definitely important, but from a cycling perspective if you are an un-retained or relatively un-trained athlete you will still need to develop the particular muscular strands responsible for the pedal movement.
If you have years of cycling behind you then you won’t get the same adaptive response which is why you’ll need to do heavier gym work - amongst other reasons.
Great to hear about your continued journey towards peak cycling fitness! 🎉 as Mark Lewis says, “this is what I do. Use it if you will but I’m not your mum telling you what you have to do” or something like that 😂 there’s a lot of good stuff in there we can all consider and adapt. Great to get your views! 💪 🚴
Its been a fun journey so far- just need to get faster to survive a few more races now
ich mach nur 1 Stunde FTP Tests bzw. 40 bis 50 Minuten Vorbereitungseinheiten an der Schwelle. Ich möchte keine verfälschten Werte. 4 Watt/KG ist aber nicht so dramatisch viel. Alles darüber... da wird die Luft schlagartig dünner. Mehr als 4,6 bzw. 280 Watt exakt eine Stunde lang, waren da nie drinnen.
How many hours per week do you spend on zone 2? And what duration are the sessions. Last winter I was doing 3 x 1.5 hr sessions per week and didn't see any improvement. I have been told it should be 6 hr per week minimum. Any thoughts?
Good question- with Zone 2 youre not going to see dramatic improvements in an untrained cyclists in the same way a god structured program would help you. Zone 2 becomes more important in a trained/conditioned cyclist due to the law of diminishing returns.
Im putting out a video on why Zone 2 works and how it works next week.
Ultimately you will want to be doing up to and over 200 miles a week without releasing toxins into your blood so you can develop your mitochondria which are used to create ATP that is the energy that allows the muscles to move. Zone 2 is about NOT stressing the body so the volume has to be high.
@@thewattlife
Can’t agree. Z2 is awesome for untrained cyclists. In fact when people are untrained almost any stimulus will produce adaptations and fitness gains. It’s called newbie gains. But yes still works for pros in the off/build season. Lots of Strava data showing their 8 hour rides available.
The volume of Z2 in a programme is highly dependent on the hours available to train and the phase of the season and proximity of races. You can’t just say it’s 200 miles. Z2 is more about hours anyway and often hard to achieve on the road due to terrain.
Lots of well established science on why Z2 works and not sure what you mean when you talk about not releasing toxins into the blood….?
I am sitting at 3.2w at the peak of the season everytime and manage to come out of the winter with roughly 2.8-2.9 - I wish I could get to 4w/kg somehow :-(
So for me what really helped was breaking down different parts, so doing lots of low cadence hard gearing Zone 2 work to build strength, and then the 20-30 min races to build fitness.
Now im focusing on building my 30-3 min power which will help me develop anaerobically and also continue to build strength. Keep going, i dont think we realise how tiny little gainz eventually equal big changes.
@@thewattlife never tried low cadence Z2, my Z2 training is in the range of 85-90 easy spinning the legs in easy gear. might try that one thanks. when you say Z2 you mean heartrate right? because my HR tends to go down on low cadence and I can produce more watts.
Yup- I do some flat days and some climbing days. Cadence between 45-60 and stay in zone 2 on the HR which limits you getting carried away and keeps the time under tense high
Have you or anyone done an FTP test on the Wattbike vs zwift?
I haven’t but that might be something worth trying- I’ll see if I can find someone with a watt bike and ask to dive on for a video
@@thewattlife Would be great. I just did Wattbike FTP test for the first time. Not going to lie, lower than I thought would be haha!
Only ever really road cycled so not sure the differences between indoor.
Does it have its own test for you to do which provides you with a result automatically?
@@thewattlife Yes it did. 20min FTP test
Which shoes do you use and where is the cleat placed?
I have a pair of Sidi 60 for my indoor training which are very sexy and comfortable. Slightly less performance than the Sidi Wire 2 Carbon that i ride outside:
saddleback.co.uk/collections/sidi-road-shoes/products/sidi-wire-2-air-carbon-road-shoes
Cleat i have just found a comfortable position but i havent had too much experience with cleat positions so im not even sure if i have mine correctly positioned
Nice work. But don't look at FTP alone. Also work on TTE. How long can you hold your FTP...Certainly when using a ramp test based FTP...
Yeah this is exactly what I need to work on which is holding threshold for longer periods of time... big few weeks coming up
@@thewattlife Indeed. And see the big picture in months, years, not weeks. Don't overdue the hard sessions to frequently or you get burned out. Build your house, before building your roof. I also ride B and only have an 3.5/3.6 ftp but high stamina and TTE gave me a 11th place yesterday in WTRL (but only 54 participants). So small tip...Build your engine and then increase the turbo!
You're doing good stuff and heading in the right direction, but you've got the science mixed up.
The whole science you've described about cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance and cadence is incorrect . There is a mid-point balance between event length, muscular endurance and cardiovascular capacity that dictates optimal cadence.
It sounds like you progressed to a better utilisation of cadence vs force ratio in your power production for the event length giving you better results.
Producing high power when spinning (souplesse) is a sign of high efficiency, where cardiovascular capacity is high and the body is using a large amount of mitochondria-rich, low-contractile force muscles to produce that power. A very good, long-term, repeatable capacity.
Lower cadence pedalling pushes the metabolic load more onto the less aerobically-efficient, higher contractile-force, muscle fibre types, resulting in more power pushed for the same heart rate (or same power for a lower heart rate). All it requires is the capacity to handle the RPE for the effort. However, this type of loading is less sustainable and results in earlier fatigue. For a 20 minute effort, the effort is so short that event length muscular endurance, for any reasonably fit cyclist, is not an issue.
If you can significantly 'spin it up' to increase power at the end of the FTP test, you are selling yourself short during the bulk of the FTP test.
Doing muscular strength endurance on the bike is adapting strength capacities into a cardiovascular framework. After a certain period of this adaptation, a rider should start bringing that developed efficiency into a more aerobically efficient muscular capacity by increasing cadence for a number of training microcycles. After this adaptation has occurred, cycle back, rinse and repeat, with low cadence-high force work for a number of training cycles followed by higher cadence work to again move the newly aerobically adapted capacity to a higher aerobic, more efficient, more sustainable capacity for that power.
In a structured training programme there should also be some consideration (once a week) for the 300-400% FTP
I left power production level out of the mid-point balance equation in "There is a mid-point balance between event length, muscular endurance and cardiovascular capacity that dictates optimal cadence."
Appreciate this comment and great information in there. Ive been working in some nice muscular strength rides this last week and working on a few other things so will see in a few weeks how progress is coming along.
Although in my last race despite my cadence for my FTP test and my 'how long can i hold my FTP' being 80-85 my race cadence was straight to being back over 100+
I pretty much only cycle in the 70’s, and race at 90-93 RPM. I’ve gone from an FTP of 1.9 w/kg to 3.9 w/kg in 8 months. Every time I try higher cadence work I feel like I’m not even pedaling, it’s a weird feeling.
I like having the variability- previously anytime I needed more watts I’d have to rely on cadence, now I can vary it a bit and that acts as a bit of neuromuscular recovery. Gotta keep building on it now
oh well...tell us a bit more...you are discussing about the cadence but you forget to tell us you have been doing squats like a champ.....and most probably you have other historical reasons for having the hability to go from bellow 2w/kg to 4....in just 8 months, otherwise not very easy to achieve.
@@almograve , I didn’t forget obviously - but yes, I enjoy them and have no doubt gotten stronger as a result. I’m 33, almost 34. I was a decent 800/1600m runner in high school but 3 kids and 15 years later does a lot to the body. I know how to train, but I’ve never cycled before this and haven’t seriously trained in 7 years before this (and the first time at all training since having kids at all for the past 6 years). The fitness is coming back, but I wouldn’t say I’m anything special.
Look DOUBLING your FTP in a year is something VERY special indeed. You clearly have cracking genetics … lucky you. If you double it again the next year then Vingegaard is screwed. 😅
@@MarquitoRH, lucky me for sitting on a bike 8-15 hours a week for 8 months straight depending on a training block and lifting hard I guess.
Please go listen to some Empirical Cycling podcast episodes. Not hating, keep up the work, but I think you'd learn a lot.
I woke up early this morning for some reason and started listening to one at 5am... great knowledge in there and super helpful... even if it did eventually send me back to sleep. LOL
This just popped up on my feed. Ive actually been thinking about training and I do find my self spinning up really fast. Ive been back on Zwift for 4 weeks now but just been doing the odd race and building the miles up. Im going to get some structured training done. My FTP iOS currently 311 but my body weight is 115kg so my WP/KG is low. Working on lowering my body weight and currently lost 10kg. Have you any tips on what training plan will be good for weight loss and building leg strength ?
Good owrk on getting back into it- i know how tough that can be.
With weight loss doing it in controlled manor is important so steady state volume rides are important as well as the odd bike/weight strength workout as this will increase your post training energy consumption- basically the calories you need to rebuild and repair muscles which is a lot less during a low intensity session as you dont do as much muscle damage.
For a good weight loss routine id say stick to 90-95%% low intensity volume (and during this you can work some low cadence big gear riding with low HR) and then 5-10% intensity work with tempo sessions and races.
lots of really sound advice. semi-related-im curious how the gains you've been making on the bike has transferred to your running? have you noticed any differences? maybe in terms of aerobic changes or simply strength? (that is if you've been able to get out after the broken bone) could also do with knowing your arm workout-looking Strong!
Great question- initially i found that aerobically i wasnt suffering so much but my leg speed running was just gone. I just didnt have the muscular strength and its taken a month or so to start coming back. Running fast was just not really possible and it felt like my legs just could turn over quick enough. Getting back to it though and its coming back quick
i think it is not ftp. It is power from 5-10 min. FTP is a power from 1 hour! Test 1 hour or ride for ex. Alpe dZwift and try use your power on this route. Try to ride with your FTP by 1 hour.
I need to do another run up the Alpe soon, so will be a good chance to see what roughly my FTP is
@@thewattlife Good luck!
@@thewattlifethe ramp test gives a false impression of FTP, just as FTP outta racing.
The only good way is to do the 1h FTP test
@@TSbiker10 20min is fine tbh. gives you a precise enough number to base your intervals on and you can track progress doing the 20min effort later on. You don't really need to know your true 1h FTP, you need to know your training zones and how to build your interval training
Training on MTB bike is great way to improve FTP . Reason is that at the lower speed you can maintain or stay at your zone more accurately.
I haven’t tried that but I do do hill climbs and I guess that’s similar
Miles are irrelevant if you ride gravel or mtb. Just go on hours for rule of thumb.
Definitely makes sense yes
Solid. 👍
For a normal cyclist FTP is nothing. Train intervals over 10 Minutes
All depends on your goal i would suppose- anyone that wants to improve will need to have an idea of where they are in the first place which i think it what the FTP figure provides for most people
I’m sorry to say but the game starts after 4 watt/kilos 😢
I’m finding this out… the game begins now
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