I just cant believe how drivers in your country are so patient (in the beginning of the video). Just yesterday i was riding in a main avenue at night very little traffic, there is 4 lanes and i was using the slowest lane going at 35 km/h, cars were passing at 40 - 45 km/h in the other lanes. Suddenly some guy without even lights comes fast from behind, slow down really close to me and start playing the horn like crazy at me. Just another regular day in my country...

Yes, did a ramp test on an indoor trainer. It eliminates variables and the wattage can be dialled up precisely and at set intervals

Thanks guys, you have inspired me to get riding. I purchased a bike on Friday and today was my first ride out, it was amazing thanks for all the advice.

I just got a power meter and have been wanting to do a baseline FTP test per your guidance in this video. Future video idea: was thinking it'd be really great to have Simon or Dan do a GCN training video to guide you through how to pace yourself for the test!

I must be old. Every time GCN mentions FTP I think of put, and get commands. Joking aside thanks for another great video

Can we have a GCN Turbo Trainer video that would guide us through a 20-minute FTP test? Would also be interesting to compare your suffer faces (Lasty?) while you do it :)

2:52 The best!

LOL At Simon's voice, just like he got a kick in the nuts

Hello GNC, thank you for this video. I would like to ask if you could do a video explaining this methods more clearly , i.e., writing facts on a board, and giving the formulas for calculate our threshold and hearth rate.

Very slick. You lot are getting better and better.

Just another point to mention. The results I get on my Tacx flow trainer are higher than those on my Quark crank-based power meter. I've have had the trainer for years. However, the two years when I was watching both showed that the Quark translated much better to actual road conditions. It also showed that I was easing off too soon at the tops of hills. Just a note to be careful with numbers and expectations between different power meter measurements.

When I started riding with traffic at 40mph with full stops on red lights and back to 30-40mph sprint back to a car i hit my peak power. Did that everyday for 3 weeks. Unfortunately that was at the end of a season. I stick to what works for me and that is pushing hard everyday

i've calculated with virtual power on trainerroad. not 100% accurate but does what you need for the training programs. one of the hardest 20mins ive done a bike

Dan loyd have been to Denmark in the biggest cycling race called "Post Danmark Rundt". That is really nice, cut GCN please let us know he's thoughts about the race and what did he finnish overall? :) Sincerly a big GCN fan from Denmark :)

Wahoo KICKR and the TrainerRoad 20 Minute test worked well for me.

Thanks guys! Nice and easy ,even for a beginner. Have a nice day.

2:52, my mom heard some noises, walked in and thought I was watching porn. lol jokes, I wear headphones for a reason!

Cheers gcn another great video. I now need to find a toad to try and find my fthr ... keep up the quality vids

2:52 im sorry wtf was that😅

For the 20 min test you must do a 5 min all out before !!! 20 min worm up 3x 1min going fast 5 min recovery 5 min all out 10 min recovery 20 min all out

i had mine tested in a lab for a research trial and we also tested lactate, it was over 2 hours and intervals. Mine came out at 188bpm FTHR , max HR was 210

Hi guys, great show, I been watching most of your videos, since 2 weeks ago that I just got back into cycling... is there any video on How to rest like a Pro ;) or how to recover after a hard stage or hard day training. See you around.

This is great guys! Thanks so much

Could you not do the 20 minutes on a velodrome to guarantee no interruptions?

Another method is to use mFTP. Modelled FTP. Free products like Golden Cheetah can, for example, look at your last 3 months of power data and use a 'model' to estimate your CP and FTP.

Highly knowledgeable.

well that was a great edit @ 2:38

i recorded my cycling data with google fit for speed, time and distance and used my oneplus band to record spo2 and heart rate then sync it to google fit and then downloaded it to manually upload it to strava where I saw my avg power for 2hrs was 166W with maximum power of 1280W at some points... i never knew I could release that much power... i don't know how accurate this is but it must be 90% accurate which measures for 150W avg power which is also impressive for me

Thank you for this, I can save 1k Euro for power meter :)

So how do you calculate FTHR over the 20 minute interval? Multiply avg by .95?

Chris Carmichael offers a slightly different way in his time crunched cyclist book. If I recall, he makes you do 2x8 min TT, then work from that.

I believe the latest studies show using the 0.95 of the 20min FTP is pretty inaccurate unless you are already very fit, for people not at that level it could be as much as 0.75 of 20min ftp

Do you have here a video on how to train with a heart rate monitor?

Do a video on which is better: Rim brakes vs disc brakes

This is the point where i admit i don't train, i just go out for bike rides!

Finding a straight road could be a bit tricky but I do have a turbo trainer. Would you suggest a 20min effort x 1 rather than 0.95 for my on the road ftp?

NWA was really into FTP. :)

A lot Great Information on FTP. I do need to get a Power Meter. I'm more interested in FTHR. I'm 59 years and need to stay close to b.p.m on the H.R. I don't race, well, I chase Boobs... It's what ever you're into, Ride safe and most importantly have fun...

"about a third shorter" - technically it is exactly two thirds shorter, or one third of the distance. About a third shorter would mean riding for about 40 minutes

Is there a marked difference calculating FTHR on a trainer rather than on the road? You mentioned a power difference that could skew FTR calculation but would greater control over variables (wind, gradient, temperature etc) mean a trainer result for FTHR would be more accurate?

Great Video guy's..

Great vid! :)

Ok, so here's a question... do I use my Normalized or Average 20 minute power for the FTP calculation? Why? What would the effect be of each? Why might they be much different in a test like this?

While using a power meter to gauge your efforts, is riding hard for one hour a good way to train?

So in terms of effort we're talking turns-per-minute on a relatively comfortable gear or do you go flat out on a very high gear?

The version of this test I have done with cycling clubs and tri clubs (on a trainer - it's unridable outdoors 6 months of the year where live) is pretty similar except for one difference. Warm-up 10-15 minutes + 3-5 short sprints, rest 5 minutes, then a 3 MINUTE ALL OUT EFFORT, rest for 10 minutes, 20 minute test, warm down. Still use the 95% factor on the 20 minute test. I think the theory is that the 3 minute interval reduces the 20 minute performance to something more like the actual FTP. Results seem to correspond to power out on the road. Comments?

Did you know that you can hold your threshold a lot longer if you spin in 100+. I use to not be able to finish critz... now I would do 2 critz, jumping one to another. Not because of more training, but because I learn how to spin after an injury.

What is the difference between 20 min peak power, 20 min Max Avg power and Normalized power

1:59 I thought he was going to say "...you need to seriously consider attempting the hour record"

Nice bike

This video makes me wonder about the relation between FTP and cardiovascular fitness, and further, if we can calculate relative FTP? For example, if Simon and Matt are spinning at the same speed while recording a video, and while explaining the concept of FTP Matt is gasping for air and Si is not (a bit of a throwback to the Matt/Contador vid), could this be a rough way to calculate that Si has a relatively higher FTP than Matt? :)

Can you do the 30 minute interval on a stationary bike?

Interesting in the intro that Matt is gasping and Simon is chatting away. There is nothing quite as demoralizing as feeling like you want to be sick and your mate is just having a happy conversation...

if we can't find a good road , we can do this on turbo trainer right?

which training zone does your FTHR correspond to? so we should be training in zone 4 when doing interval training?

Interesting comment at the end. I find my FTHR is higher on the road but my FTP is actually higher on my trainer. (My max power is higher on the road by a long way!)

What type of shoes are the boys using in this vid? They look pretty slick.

That last 5 minutes of an FTP test really works on hardening your perineum... you'll know when your voice starts to go Bee Gees

Presenter FTPs please or have I missed them in the thread. In watts per kilo be ace. Many thanks

Just out of curiosity, what was the wether temperature during this video that you needed to wear winter cloths? Asking because I'm thinking of starting cycling when its cold and i want to compare to my country..

Glad to see more videos on training with power. There are at least seven more or less reliable ways to test your FTP. Do a search for "ftp seven deadly". Mr. Lloyd, I think you were trying to simplify matters when you said this, but power above your FTP is definitely not anaerobic by definition as you implied in the video. Once you're above your VO2max, which could be another 50W+ higher, for a sufficient amount of time, then you'll be (mostly) anaerobic. As I understand it, you can only make a purely anaerobic effort for about 10 seconds, i.e., in a sprint. It's starting to get complicated already; I see why you said what you did.

Hi GCN! Do you have to recalculate FTHR or FTP at any time or will it always be the same? Cheers! Luke

@2:52 wut on earth was everyone thinking?

Is indoor FTHR on a trainer the same as your outdoor FTHR?

How do you calculate you FTHR?

Great video - so come on lads, what were your FTP?

What gear or speed are you doing these test?

Can you do FTP calculation on an indoor trainer?........

When doing the 20 minute method, at the end Matt says to use your peak FTP during the 20 minute session. Are you taking your highest power reading during the 20 minutes or actually the average power during the 20 minutes?

does intake of lactic acid from fermented food stuffs bad ?

Can the presenters do another video on their other bikes? Like the trek and ridley in this video

is the 20 min peak = max avg power (20 min), using garmin connect

Well, Gcn, i wanted to ask you something. I m 13 and i have a merida scultura 400. Not to show off and i know not at all a mind-blowing thing but stamina till now is that I can ride 125k non stop @26kph. I have been constant with your channel and i would have probably seen all of your videos. I was wondering that since i am 13, when should i start my FTP training?? Could i start it now??? I would be really pleased and thankful if you reply....

Where's Neal? BTW... FTP really stands for File Transfer Protocol

Power meters are so expensive :(

Matt, does your left knee cross over the top tube at the top of your pedal stroke?

Did my commute home at a fair whack and my Elemnt Bolt informed me that for my best 20mins I averaged 272watts. Would it be reasonable therefore to extrapolate an ftp of 258(95% of 272)watts?

I know this is not related to the video, but I would like to know how cold is it where you shot this video. It may give me some inspiration to ride under -10 C. Thanks

How can I download data from my Garmin 510 to training peaks?

may I suggest shutting off the motor on the scooter when stopped behind it to shoot.

The more you tweak the tests to give higher numbers the more overestimated the result will be. The best way (even better than ride one hour due to pacing problem) is to make a 5 min max test, then wait 10 minutes and then do a 20min test. Then use Monod Scherrer to determine your CP 60. This is also your FTP. Don't change the protocol. I.e. doing a 20min test without 5min all out and taking 95% as many do gives almost certainly 5% too high FTP value and makes training sessions too hard. Also, there is no single FTP heartrate. Riding at FTP over one hour the heartrate will raise from Zone 3 (first 3 minutes) to Hf max (last 3 minutes). So every 5 minutes there will be a different herartrate. You can take the average, but it is meaningless except at 30min into the test. Note: Power*time above FTP to VO2max is called anaerobic capacity but that is false. Up to VO2max almost everything is aerobic. You can verify that with a step test and measure O2 consumption. It raises linearly with power which means the power is produced almost entirely aerobically. Instead it is that more that more and more fast twich fibres are activated which produce more lactate and tire much more quickly. Instead Anaerobic capacity which is a misnomer the therm temporary aerobic capacity over CP would describe it much better. Anyway use Monod Scherrer, it is much better i.e. more accurate than 20min alone.

So i have a FTP of 201 in home Trainer test. How many more watt i have to add to that FTP when i train outside to be in the right Zone?

Does this ftp mean pma ?? I think the best way to measure it indoor on home trainer

Hi Gcn, the test for the FTHR of 30 minutes. Is that 30 minutes flat-out then search your max Heart-rate and x 0.95?

yippee! Denmark

I do the 20 minute test purely because I can't be guaranteed a 20 minute uninterrupted stretch outdoors, so I need to do it on the turbo. And an hour at full gas staring at the wall? Nope!

Doing a Matt Stephens at 2:25

I have Low Blood Pressure, and whether training or doing criteriums (kermis-koers) I find that the first 10-15 minutes my heart rate is pretty high / at the limit, but then it 'calms down' and remains constant, even during a demarrage or sprinting for the finish line. I guess calculating my FTP would only work if the first 10-15 minutes vs the rest of the time remains constant every time I test and compare. Could it also be a case of the 10-15 minutes being a period where the lungs are 'opening up', allowing more oxygen to the muscles? Then it would be best for me to do the test that begins with the 20 minute warm-up!

Do you have to calculate your average Hart rate an multiplying it ni 0.95 or the maximum by that ?

+Global Cycling Network Should I do the FTP Test on flat or hilly course?

Can i do these on stationary bike

What trek bike does Matt use in this video?

Do i have to do this test or is an other ergometer like an Assault bike okay too?

Was watching this as I was doing my first FTP test, and my mother (who I'm visiting on holiday) was wondering what that was, after hearing Si and Matt explain she designated FTP to mean "Fuck the Pain" - I think that's how we all feel doing this test.

I just watched your video on disc brakes and it seemed Simon was all for them. However, I haven't noticed (or have failed to take notice of) any of you guys using any since that video. Is there any particular reason for this?

so, is it a requirement to take a helium canister with you when doing the full hour FTP so that you cAn breathe it in after 55 mins?

Do I multiply my max heart rate by 0.95 or average heart rate over the 20 minutes?

can i do ftp test use roller?

Comment : why does Matt shift down then up then down then up again at around 3:30 in the functional threshold power vid. Very interesting way to warm up, maybe he had cold fingers ? Nathan Blackmore 14

You kind of lost me here on FTHR. I don't have a power meter. If I go balls to the wall for 30 minutes, subtract the first 10, then the average HR of the last 20 is FTHR? I'm trying to find if I'm going into an anaerobic state sometimes.