To increase your FTP, ride consistently, add a little more training load over time, and spend part of each week on structured intervals: sweet spot and threshold work for sustained power, and short VO2max intervals for your aerobic ceiling. Keep most of your other riding easy, add heavy strength training if you can, and protect your sleep. In controlled studies, trained riders improved key measures of endurance in 9 to 10 weeks of this kind of training.
There’s no single magic workout. FTP rises when your body gets a steady stimulus it can recover from, week after week. The rest of this guide covers the parts that matter most and what the research says about each.
First, know what you’re trying to raise
Functional threshold power (FTP) is an estimate of the highest power you can sustain for roughly an hour. If you’re new to the term, start with What Is FTP?, then come back.
Two things are worth keeping in mind before you chase a bigger number:
- FTP is a training anchor, not a score. It sets your zones and workout targets. If it’s set too high, every workout feels too hard and you stall. If it’s set too low, you leave gains on the table.
- A test is a snapshot. Your fitness changes week to week. That’s why WattAscent keeps your FTP current with Adaptive FTP instead of waiting for the next test day.
1. Consistency beats heroic weeks
The riders who improve most aren’t the ones with the biggest single week. They’re the ones who string together months of training without long breaks.
Fitness fades surprisingly quickly when you stop riding, so a missed fortnight costs more than most people expect. See How Fast Do You Lose Cycling Fitness? for the details.
Practical rules:
- Pick a weekly volume you can sustain on a bad week, not your best week.
- Add load gradually. A little more time, a few more minutes of interval work, or one extra interval is enough.
- If you’re always tired, your FTP is probably set too high or your recovery is too short.
2. Ride sweet spot and threshold intervals
Sweet spot and threshold work are the bread and butter of FTP training. They train you to hold power close to your current limit for longer.
In WattAscent’s zones, Sweet Spot is 88–94% of FTP and Threshold is 95–105%. Sweet spot gives a big aerobic stimulus for the fatigue it costs, so you can do more of it. Threshold work is harder but more specific to the power you want to raise. See Cycling Power Zones Explained for all eight zones.
Progress these workouts by extending time in the zone before raising the target. For example, move from 3 × 10 minutes to 3 × 15 minutes, then to 2 × 20 minutes.
3. Don’t skip VO2max intervals
Your FTP sits underneath your maximal aerobic power. Raising that ceiling gives your FTP room to grow, and VO2max intervals are the most direct way to do it.
How you structure them matters. In a 10-week study of trained cyclists, one group did short intervals: 3 sets of 13 × 30 seconds hard with 15 seconds easy. The other did 4 × 5 minutes hard with 2.5 minutes easy. Total work time was nearly identical, and both groups did two sessions a week (Rønnestad et al., 2015).
The short-interval group improved more:
| Measure | Short intervals (30/15) | Long intervals (4 × 5 min) |
|---|---|---|
| VO2max | +8.7% | +2.6% (not significant) |
| Power in a 40-minute all-out test | +12% | +4% |
| Power at a blood lactate of 4 mmol/L | +12% | +5% |
The study was small, with 9 riders in one group and 7 in the other, and some differences were only trends. Still, it’s a useful reason to include 30/15-style sessions alongside classic longer VO2max efforts. In WattAscent’s zones, VO2max work sits at 106–120% of FTP.
VO2max sessions are very hard. If you have a heart condition or other health concerns, check with your doctor before adding high-intensity training.
4. Get your intensity mix right
How you spread your training across easy, moderate and hard riding matters as much as any single workout. This is called your training intensity distribution.
The most cited comparison put 48 well-trained endurance athletes on one of four 9-week programs (Stöggl & Sperlich, 2014):
- High volume: 83% low intensity, 16% threshold, 1% high
- Threshold: 46% low, 54% threshold, 0% high
- High-intensity intervals: 43% low, 0% threshold, 57% high
- Polarized: 68% low, 6% threshold, 26% high
The polarized group improved most in key variables, including an 11.7% rise in VO2peak and an 8.1% rise in power or speed at a blood lactate of 4 mmol/L.
That doesn’t settle the debate. A 2019 meta-analysis found a moderate edge for polarized over threshold training in time-trial performance, but it rested on only three trials, and their quality scores were low (Rosenblat et al., 2019). A larger 2024 meta-analysis of 17 studies found polarized training gave a small extra boost to VO2peak, mostly in highly trained athletes and short programs. It found no difference in time-trial performance (Silva Oliveira et al., 2024).
The takeaway: keep most of your riding genuinely easy, do your hard sessions properly hard, and don’t let every ride drift into the middle. Whether you lean polarized or pyramidal matters less than doing it consistently.
5. Add heavy strength training
Strength work won’t replace riding, but it can make you a more economical cyclist. A review of the research recommends adding heavy strength training to endurance training to improve cycling economy, and found the strongest evidence for a performance benefit with heavy, rather than light, loads (Rønnestad & Mujika, 2014). Combined training also increased power at VO2max and time to exhaustion in some studies (Rønnestad & Mujika, summary). Results for power at lactate threshold were mixed.
If you’re new to lifting, learn the movements with light weights first, ideally with a qualified coach, and schedule heavy sessions away from your hardest rides.
6. Recover like it’s part of the plan
Training is the stimulus. Recovery is when you adapt. If you never absorb the work, more work won’t help.
Sleep is the biggest lever most riders ignore. A systematic review of sleep interventions in athletes found that sleep extension, simply spending more time asleep, had the most beneficial effect on subsequent performance of the approaches studied (Bonnar et al., 2018).
Other habits that help:
- Keep easy days easy. A recovery ride should feel almost too light.
- Plan lighter weeks when life gets busy, rather than forcing the plan.
- Watch for warning signs: workouts that keep failing, a heart rate that won’t rise, or motivation that disappears.
WattAscent’s optional readiness check, a short warm-up that measures your heart rate response, can ease a workout or swap it for an endurance ride on days you aren’t ready.
7. Think in watts per kilogram, carefully
On climbs, what matters is power relative to body weight, measured in watts per kilogram (W/kg). Raising FTP is the most reliable way to improve it.
Body weight is a sensitive lever. Undereating hurts recovery and training quality, and it can harm your health. If you’re thinking about changing your weight, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian rather than cutting food to chase a number. To see how your FTP compares, read What Is a Good FTP?.
Sample workouts to raise your FTP
These are examples, not a plan. Start at the low end of each range and build week by week.
| Workout | Main set | Zone (% of FTP) | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet spot builder | 3 × 12 minutes | Sweet Spot, 88–94% | 5 minutes easy between |
| Threshold | 2 × 20 minutes | Threshold, 95–100% | 8 minutes easy between |
| Over-unders | 4 × 8 minutes, alternating 2 minutes at 95% and 1 minute at 105% | Threshold | 5 minutes easy between |
| Short VO2max (30/15) | 3 sets of 13 × 30 seconds hard, 15 seconds easy | VO2max, 106–120% | 3 minutes easy between sets |
| Long VO2max | 5 × 4 minutes | VO2max, 106–120% | 4 minutes easy between |
| Endurance | 60–120 minutes steady | Endurance, 56–75% | Not applicable |
Warm up for at least 10 minutes before any interval session. A typical week might include two interval sessions and the rest at endurance or recovery intensity.
How long does it take to increase FTP?
In the two training studies above, trained athletes showed measurable improvements after 9 weeks (Stöggl & Sperlich, 2014) and 10 weeks (Rønnestad et al., 2015) of structured training. Newer riders often improve faster, and experienced riders more slowly, so treat a training block of two to three months as the right unit for judging progress.
Train smarter, not just harder
Raising your FTP comes down to the right mix of stress and recovery, adjusted to your real life. WattAscent builds that mix for you, keeps your FTP current with Adaptive FTP, and re-plans your week when you miss a session. If you’d like a plan that adapts as you get fitter, start training. It’s $99 a year with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
How much can I increase my FTP?
It depends on your training history. In a 10-week study of trained cyclists, short VO2max intervals raised 40-minute all-out power by 12% on average (Rønnestad et al., 2015). Gains usually slow as you get fitter, so a few percent a season is normal for experienced riders.
Is sweet spot or polarized training better for FTP?
Both can work. Research gives polarized training a small edge for VO2peak in highly trained athletes, but no clear difference in time-trial performance (Silva Oliveira et al., 2024). Choose the approach you can follow consistently, and keep easy days easy either way.
How often should I test my FTP?
A traditional approach is to retest every 4 to 6 weeks. With Adaptive FTP, WattAscent checks your FTP every two weeks using your rides and test results, so your targets stay current without extra test days. Learn more in Adaptive FTP.
Does strength training increase FTP?
Heavy strength training improves cycling economy and adds to the benefits of endurance training (Rønnestad & Mujika, 2014). Its effect on power at lactate threshold is less consistent. Think of it as a support for your riding, not a substitute.
Why isn’t my FTP going up?
Common causes are an FTP set too high, too little recovery, too much moderate riding, or inconsistent weeks. Look at your sleep and your easy days first. If your FTP has dropped, read How Fast Do You Lose Cycling Fitness?.
References
- Stöggl T, Sperlich B (2014). Polarized training has greater impact on key endurance variables than threshold, high intensity, or high volume training. Frontiers in Physiology, 5:33. link
- Rosenblat MA, Perrotta AS, Vicenzino B (2019). Polarized vs. threshold training intensity distribution on endurance sport performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 33(12):3491–3500. link
- Silva Oliveira P, Boppre G, Fonseca H (2024). Comparison of polarized versus other types of endurance training intensity distribution on athletes’ endurance performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54:2071–2095. link
- Rønnestad BR, Hansen J, Vegge G, Tønnessen E, Slettaløkken G (2015). Short intervals induce superior training adaptations compared with long intervals in cyclists: an effort-matched approach. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 25:143–151. link
- Rønnestad BR, Mujika I (2014). Optimizing strength training for running and cycling endurance performance: a review. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 24(4):603–612. link
- Bonnar D, Bartel K, Kakoschke N, Lang C (2018). Sleep interventions designed to improve athletic performance and recovery: a systematic review of current approaches. Sports Medicine, 48:683–703. link