20-Minute FTP Test

The 20-Minute FTP Test is a cycling time-trial effort used to estimate your Functional Threshold Power, or the highest steady power you can hold for about an hour. It trains your ability to pace a hard, sustained effort and challenges the legs and lungs in one long, controlled push.

Set up on a bike connected to a power meter or indoor trainer that displays watts. Adjust your saddle and handlebars so you can pedal smoothly without strain, keep a water bottle within reach, and set up a fan if you are indoors. Do this test when you are fresh, not during a heavy training week.

After a full warm-up, ride 5 minutes hard, then spin easy for 10 minutes to let your legs recover. Then start the 20-minute test and ride as hard and steady as you can without fading. Record your average power for those 20 minutes; your FTP estimate is 95% of that number. Try to keep your effort level even from start to finish rather than blasting the opening.

Breathe steadily and keep your upper body relaxed with your core lightly braced against the handlebars. To make it easier, treat the test as a steady practice ride and reduce the opener. To make it harder, perform the test on a sustained uphill grade or into a steady headwind.

Fault: Going out too hard in the first few minutes and then fading badly for the rest of the test. Fix: Start slightly below what you think you can hold, then build the effort only if you still feel strong after the halfway point.

Fault: Starting the 20-minute effort before you have fully recovered from the opener. Fix: Take the full easy-spin interval and wait until your breathing and legs have settled before you begin the test.

Fault: Letting your power jump around instead of holding a steady line. Fix: Pick one effort level you think you can sustain and aim for the same output from minute to minute.

Fault: Testing when you are already tired from hard training. Fix: Schedule this test fresh, after a couple of easy days, and repeat it only every 4 to 8 weeks.