FTP Estimator

Functional Threshold Power is the highest power you can sustain for roughly an hour, and it's the single number that drives every training zone in this calculator. Rather than asking you to ride a true 60-minute all-out effort, this calculator supports three shorter, more practical field tests, each with its own correction factor derived from how effort decays over time: a 20-minute maximal effort is multiplied by 0.95, since most riders can hold slightly more power for 20 minutes than for a full hour; a ramp test's peak one-minute average power is multiplied by a steeper 0.75 discount, since ramp-test peak power reflects a much shorter, higher-intensity effort than threshold; and an 8-minute test average is multiplied by 0.90. Once FTP is estimated, the calculator divides it into the seven power zones exercise physiologist Dr.

Andrew Coggan published (and TrainingPeaks distributes) — Active Recovery up through Neuromuscular Power — as percentage bands of FTP (for example, Zone 2 Endurance sits at 56-75% of FTP, Zone 4 Threshold at 91-105%), the standard framework used across most cycling training platforms to structure workouts by physiological demand rather than raw wattage. Watts per kilogram divides estimated FTP by body weight, the standard way to compare climbing and racing ability across riders of different sizes. Because this is a formula-based estimate rather than a lab-measured value, it's only as accurate as the pacing and honesty of the underlying test — a poorly paced ramp test or a 20-minute effort with a fast start and fade will skew the estimate in either direction.