What is FTP?

Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is the highest average wattage a cyclist can sustain for approximately 60 minutes. It is the single most important metric in cycling training because all training zones are defined as percentages of FTP. A higher FTP means you can produce more power at a sustainable effort level, directly translating to faster riding.

FTP training zones

Zone	Name	% of FTP	Feel	Training adaptation
1	Active Recovery	<55%	Very easy	Recovery; blood flow without stress
2	Endurance	56–75%	Comfortable, conversational	Aerobic base, fat metabolism
3	Tempo	76–90%	Moderately hard	Improved lactate clearance
4	Lactate Threshold	91–105%	Hard, sustained effort	Raises FTP directly
5	VO₂ Max	106–120%	Very hard, 3–8 min intervals	Increases maximal oxygen uptake
6	Anaerobic	121–150%	Near maximal, 30–2 min	Neuromuscular power, sprint capacity
7	Neuromuscular	>150%	All-out sprint	Peak power and muscle recruitment

FTP test protocols

20-minute test: ride as hard as possible for 20 minutes; multiply average power by 0.95 to get FTP. Most commonly used.
8-minute test: two 8-minute maximal efforts with 10-minute recovery; multiply average power by 0.90. Better for riders who struggle to pace 20-minute efforts.
Ramp test: power increases by a fixed amount every minute until failure; take 75% of the peak 1-minute power as your FTP. Easiest to execute; widely used by TrainerRoad and Zwift.

FTP vs. heart rate zones

Power-based zones derived from FTP are more objective than heart rate zones because power is instantaneous and not affected by fatigue, hydration, temperature, caffeine, or emotional state. Heart rate lags behind effort by 30–60 seconds and drifts upward in hot conditions (cardiac drift). For interval training requiring precise intensity control, power zones are the gold standard. Heart rate remains useful for longer endurance monitoring and detecting overtraining.

Zone ▲▼	Name ▲▼	Watts ▲▼
Z1	Active Recovery Easy spinning, recovery rides	0–110 W
Z2	Endurance Long aerobic base rides	112–150 W
Z3	Tempo Sustained effort, brisk training	152–180 W
Z4	Lactate Threshold Race pace, hard sustained effort	182–210 W
Z5	VO2 Max Hard intervals, breathless	212–240 W
Z6	Anaerobic Capacity Short, very hard efforts	242–300 W
Z7	Neuromuscular Sprint efforts, maximal	302–∞ W