FTP BoostThe 8-week plan to raise your FTP
FTP Boost
8 weeks · 3 rides a week · 45–110 min
Raise your FTP in eight weeks. Sweet spot builds your base, threshold work lifts your ceiling, and an FTP test at both ends shows how far you came.
Three rides a week on your smart trainer. Sweet spot builds your base, threshold lifts your ceiling, and an FTP test at both ends shows how far you came.
8
Weeks
3
Rides a week
45–110
Minutes
2
FTP tests
01Who it is for
You want more watts.
FTP Boost is for you if you ride regularly and want more power. You can hold sweet spot for 20 minutes, and you have three days a week. You want a number at the start, a number at the end, and real work in between.
Each week has two quality rides and one longer zone 2 ride with some tempo in it. About 7 of its 28 hours are in zone 4, at threshold: more than in any other plan in AnyMap.
Only two days a week? Step Up fits better. Training for a long event, not a number? Look at Gran Fondo Ready.
20 minutes of sweet spot
You can hold 88 % of your FTP that long.
Three days a week
Two quality rides and one longer ride.
Two tests
A 20-minute test in week 1 and in week 8.
02The science
How FTP really goes up.
The Fit in Four page explains what FTP is. This page explains how to measure it, and how to move it.
1. Two ways to test
The 20-minute test: after a warm-up and five hard minutes, ride 20 minutes as hard as you can hold. Your FTP is 95 % of it. It takes pacing, but 20 minutes is close to what FTP describes.
The ramp test: the target climbs every minute until you stop. Your FTP is 75 % of your best minute. It is short and simple, but that minute leans on your sprint: strong sprinters get too high a number, steady “diesel” riders a little too low. That is why this plan uses the 20-minute test.
2. Sweet spot builds the base
Sweet spot, 88 to 95 % of FTP, gives a lot of training for the fatigue it costs. Weeks 1 to 3 grow it from 30 to 40 minutes of work per ride.
3. Threshold lifts the ceiling
Weeks 5 to 7 move up to 95–100 %. Long blocks right at threshold, like THE BIG TWENTY, teach the body to hold the line between steady and too much for longer.
4. Over-unders clear the burn
UP & OVER and OVER THE LIMIT swing just above and just below FTP. Above, lactate builds; below, your body learns to clear it while you keep working. That raises the power you can sustain.
Your FTP · 95 % of it
219W
2.92
W/kg
Sweet spot
88–95 % FTP
193–208 W
Threshold
95–100 % FTP
208–219 W
03Week by week
Test, build, rest, lift, retest.
Each week has two quality rides and one longer ride. Below is every ride as the app draws it: every block as long as it lasts, as tall as its power, in the color of its zone.
Weeks 1–4 · 12 rides · 13 h 36
Test, then sweet spot
The plan starts with FTP CHECK, your first number. Then sweet spot, from three times ten minutes to two times twenty, and long rides with tempo. Week 4 is a rest week: three easy rides, and a touch of sweet spot to stay sharp.
Week 1
Week 1 · Ride 1
FTP CHECK66 min
An FTP test to start: it sets your FTP, so every target in the program fits you. Ride 5 minutes hard, rest, then 20 minutes as hard as you can hold. You set the watts.
Week 1 · Ride 2
FIRST GEAR60 min
Three 10-minute sweet spot blocks. This is where the FTP gains begin.
Week 1 · Ride 3
STEADY GROUND75 min
Zone 2 with three short tempo lifts. The aerobic base carries all the hard work.
Week 2
Week 2 · Ride 1
THREE TWELVES65 min
Three 12-minute sweet spot blocks. Settle in and let the minutes roll.
Week 2 · Ride 2
SPICE RACK70 min
Two 15-minute sweet spot blocks, then four short, spicy bursts to finish.
Week 2 · Ride 3
LONG TEMPO90 min
Ninety minutes of zone 2 with two tempo blocks. Eat and drink as you go.
Week 3
Week 3 · Ride 1
TWIN TWENTIES70 min
Two 20-minute sweet spot blocks: 40 minutes of work, the most so far.
Week 3 · Ride 2
EIGHT BALL65 min
Four 8-minute blocks at the top of sweet spot. Close to your FTP, but not quite.
Week 3 · Ride 3
TEMPO TRAIL90 min
Zone 2 with three 12-minute tempo blocks. Strong and smooth, never a fight.
Week 4
Week 4 · Ride 1
REST & RESET45 min
Rest week. Easy riding with three quick spin-ups. Your body builds the gains now.
Week 4 · Ride 2
LIGHT TOUCH60 min
Still a rest week: three short sweet spot blocks keep you sharp without making you tired.
Week 4 · Ride 3
EASY MILES60 min
An easy hour in zone 2. Next week the threshold work starts.
Weeks 5–8 · 12 rides · 14 h 36
Threshold, then the retest
Now threshold: four times ten minutes, three times twelve, and THE BIG TWENTY, the key ride of the plan. Over-unders twice. The long ride grows to 110 minutes. Week 8 tapers, and ends with FTP RETEST.
Week 5
Week 5 · Ride 1
FOUR TENS70 min
Four 10-minute blocks at threshold. Now we lift the ceiling.
Week 5 · Ride 2
UP & OVER65 min
Two minutes just under FTP, one minute over. Learn to clear the burn while you keep riding.
Week 5 · Ride 3
SWEET & LONG100 min
A long zone 2 ride with 20 minutes of sweet spot in the middle.
Week 6
Week 6 · Ride 1
STEADY FIRE70 min
Three 12-minute blocks just under FTP. Keep the fire steady, not wild.
Week 6 · Ride 2
FIVE BY FIVE60 min
Five 5-minute blocks at FTP, then four bursts above it. Short, sharp, and effective.
Week 6 · Ride 3
THE BRIDGE105 min
A long ride with two 15-minute sweet spot blocks. It bridges your endurance and your power.
Week 7
Week 7 · Ride 1
THE BIG TWENTY75 min
Two 20-minute blocks just under FTP: the key ride of the program. Pace the first, own the second.
Week 7 · Ride 2
OVER THE LIMIT65 min
Harder over-unders: two minutes at FTP, one minute well over it. Three sets.
Week 7 · Ride 3
LAST LONG ONE110 min
The longest ride of the program, with three sweet spot blocks. After this, it is time to rest and test.
Week 8
Week 8 · Ride 1
SHARPENER45 min
Short blocks at FTP and quick bursts. Sharp legs for the retest.
Week 8 · Ride 2
SPIN & READY45 min
Easy riding with four spin-ups. Rest well: the retest is next.
Week 8 · Ride 3
FTP RETEST66 min
The 20-minute test again. Eight weeks of work: see how far you came. Pace it like the first one, and your new FTP shows at the end.
04Then and now
The hour, then and now.
“Shut up, legs!”
FTP is the power you can hold for about an hour. Cycling has a race for exactly that: the hour record. Its history is the history of FTP.
1972
Merckx and the hour
In Mexico City, Eddy Merckx rides 49.431 km in one hour, alone on the track. FTP means the power you can hold for about an hour: the hour record is FTP in its purest form.
1994
Over 53 km
Miguel Induráin rides 53.040 km in Bordeaux, on a bike built for speed. Bikes change so much in these years that the record later starts again, with simpler rules.
2014
Shut up, legs
At 43, at the end of his career, Jens Voigt rides 51.115 km under the new rules. A rider famous for suffering, now against the clock.
2022
Ganna
Filippo Ganna rides 56.792 km in Grenchen. Today the hour is planned to the watt, with a pacing plan built from the rider's power-duration curve.
Today
The curve, not one number
Pros test in the lab and in the field, and read their whole power curve: their best power for every duration. FTP is still the anchor every zone is built on.
05In the app
Your trainer does the counting.
You don't need a spreadsheet or a coach to ride this plan. Open AnyMap, pick FTP Boost, and ride the next ride. Here is what happens on the way.
Connect in seconds
AnyMap finds your trainer, heart rate strap and Zwift Click over Bluetooth by itself, and connects again next time.
Devices
KICKR CORE
Trainer · Connected
Polar H9
Heart rate · Connected · 84 bpm
Zwift Click
Controller · Connected
SCAN FOR DEVICES
ERG mode holds the watts
In every block, the trainer sets the resistance for the target. Pedal faster or slower: the watts stay. Here is UP & OVER, played fast, at an FTP of 150 W.
ERG · FTP 150 W
UP & OVER
145Target watt
Your FTP stays true
After every ride, AnyMap checks your FTP. Ride a new best, and it goes up at once, with every zone. The next ride is already a little harder.
New FTP
156W
+6 W
Your zones moved up. Every workout now uses 156 W.
Watch the weeks add up
Every ride is saved, second by second. Your week shows time in each zone, and your month shows rides, kilometers and time against the month before.
3h 45min
This week
6
Week streak
1417%
Rides
41834%
Km
13h 5021%
Time
Make a ride your own
Copy any ride of the plan into the workout builder and change it. Try it here: tap a block, drag its top for more watts or its side for more time, or tap + for a new block.
New workout · FTP 150 W
My workout
33:3010 blocks
Tap a block to change it, or + to add one.
06FAQ
Before you test.
Nobody can promise a number. Riders who are newer to structured training often gain more; riders who have trained with power for years gain less. What the plan does promise: two tests on the same protocol, so the number you see is real.
You don't need to. After every ride, AnyMap checks your FTP, and a new best raises it at once, by 2 W or more. A big jump of more than 15 % from a normal ride is only offered, not set: it can be a power spike or a trainer that needs calibration.
On the flat, your watts move you; on a climb, your watts per kilo do. That is why the calculator on this page shows both. Training raises the first; the second also depends on your weight.
Often it is a little lower indoors: more heat, no wind to cool you, no hill to push against. That is fine. Train indoors with your indoor FTP, and the targets fit the place where you ride them.
AnyMap shows every test result, but never sets a lower FTP by itself; it only offers it. A bad night of sleep, a cold or a hot room can cost watts on the day. Ride a few days, and test again when you are fresh.
Yes. The first ride, FTP CHECK, is free, with no account. So is the ramp test. AnyMap Premium opens the other 23 rides of the plan, and every other plan and workout.
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