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Do long rides increase FTP?

Author

Noah Mitchell

Published Jan 23, 2026

Endurance rides help to increase your aerobic ability, which helps to bolster your FTP and also increases your stamina, which is the ability to maintain as close to your FTP power for as long as possible.

Do endurance rides improve FTP?

Go long. The occasional long ride is an excellent way to improve your aerobic fitness, which ultimately determines your FTP. So, riding for three hours or longer trains your body to become more resilient and your energy systems to burn energy more efficiently.

How much can you realistically increase your FTP?

With a ramp rate average of 5 points per week and a starting CTL of 50-70 (common after a period of rest during the offseason), that leaves us with about 8 weeks of solid training to see any significant improvement in FTP. In many cases, I recommend adding 2-3 recovery weeks spaced throughout this time.

How long does it take to increase FTP?

Again working backwards from the athlete's goals, CTL should be around 100 anywhere from 3-6 weeks prior to goal events. With a ramp rate average of 5 points per week and a starting CTL of 50 (common after a period of rest during the offseason), that leaves us with 10 weeks of training to improve FTP.

How long can you ride at FTP?

Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is an estimate of the power an athlete can sustain for about 60 minutes or a 40km TT. There is no formal model or protocol for establishing it, most people use rules of thumb like FTP is 95% of 20 minute power, or they use the best power from a 40km TT.

25 related questions found

What is a strong FTP?

FTP in watts for males

49% of people have an FTP below 260W. 44.3% of people have an FTP of 270W or more. 6.7% of people have an FTP between 260W and 270W.

Is 200 watts good cycling?

No exact watt number is appropriate for all riders. Generally speaking, a beginner cyclist may average around 75–100 watts in a 1-hour workout. A fit participant will average more than 100 watts, and pro cyclists can reach 400 watts per hour.

What is a reasonable FTP?

The article claims that a typical fit cyclist might be able to crank out 250 to 300 watts as an average for a 20 minute FTP (functional threshold point) test, while the pros usually average 400 watts.

How can I increase my FTP fast?

How to Increase FTP

  1. Increase the duration of your weekend group rides. You need to go over 4 hours to really stress your cardiovascular and muscular system. ...
  2. During the week you should do 3 days of solid FTP intervals (91-105% of your FTP). ...
  3. Try to be rested between sessions in order to maximize the benefits of FTP work.

How much does FTP fluctuate?

Normal Daily Fluctuation

Your FTP just like your body weight actually varies every day, every week, every month according to multiple internal and external factors. It is not unusual for body weight to fluctuate as much as 2–3% per day!

Does weight training improve FTP?

Cycling economy and Time to Exhaustion are the two primary reasons weight lifting helps make cyclists faster without actually improving FTP or VO2 max. The Neuromuscular strain you can dose by lifting at your MAX WEIGHT can only happen in the weight room.

How much can you improve your FTP in 6 months?

If you increased your volume you'd probably see an even larger increase in FTP. I experienced a ~21% increase in 6 months by progressing from Low Vol --> High Vol plans (but I was also coming off the couch). As stated above, gains are very individual.

What is a good 20 minute FTP?

The 95 per cent is a number based off averages, but for many amateurs, the power drop-off between 20 and 60 minutes can be much greater than five per cent, so those athletes might be better off using 92 or even 90 per cent.

Does polarized training increase FTP?

I'm okay with that amount, because it's a lot, but you can boost your VO2Max ceiling by raising your FTP; you can raise your FTP by riding at Sweet Spot and 100-105% of your current FTP; but polarized training does not have a way to utilize these FTP boosting properties (and indirectly, pushing out your VO2Max).

What is a good FTP on Zwift?

An average FTP (Functional Threshold Power) on Zwift varies between 210 and 270 Watts for males. For females, the average FTP varies between 150W and 200W. The bottom end of the spectrum accounts for beginner athletes while the top end accounts for experienced athletes.

What is Matt Wilpers FTP?

“FTP” stands for “Functional Threshold Power” and is typically described as the power or output one could sustain for around one hour.

What is peloton FTP?

Your FTP, or Functional Threshold Power, is the highest power a rider can maintain for one hour on the Bike. With Peloton, you'll identify your FTP via your average output over a 20-minute maximum effort test.

Is peloton FTP accurate?

Is Peloton FTP Test Accurate? As a whole, the peloton FTP test is accurate because it's calculated based on the power output, heart rate, and oxygen uptake from a 20-minute ride. The results are automatically converted into the peloton app and provide immediate feedback on your power zone.

Does Zwift automatically update FTP?

Zwift will automatically calculate your FTP on every ride, using the maximum 20-minute average power you record on each ride, but will only notify you if it detects an increase over your current score.

Why is Zwift so hard?

“The racing is short and particularly intense,” he explained. “It is 45-90 minutes of racing instead of three to six hours. The consequence for the riders is that there is no opportunity to save energy like they have in road races, so they have to make prolonged, all-out efforts that push them to their physical limit.”

How many watts is Peter Sagan?

The data confirmed what Vila said. Sagan, during an 18-second period of the Tour of Suisse's stage 5, produced an average of 1,220 watts. Over that time, he reached 76.2 kilometers an hour and peaked at 1,417 watts — enough to power a small space heater or an espresso machine.

Is Strava watts accurate?

According to Strava's algorithms I averaged 343 watts for this three hour ride. From many years worth of rides in the legs, I can confirm that Strava's estimated power data ranges from “somewhat accurate” to “wildly ridiculous” (and everything in between).

How do I get FTP for cycling?

Cycling. Functional Threshold Power (FTP): You can estimate FTP with your best recent 20-minute power value (either from a dedicated 20-minute test or a sufficiently hard 20-minute effort from a race or workout). Multiply that value by 95% to get your FTP.

What is a good watts per kilo?

Generally, untrained riders have an FTP below 2.0 W/kg for men and 1.5 W/kg for women, while professional racers may be capable of sustaining more than 6.0 W/kg for men and 5.5 for women.