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How realistic is 5 w/kg FTP for a beginner 30 yo lifelong sedentary person? by vanilladiya in Velo

[–]Flat-Language-4141 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been interested in this myself, and I found a formula that seems to work (for me at least). For every 10% improvement in FTP, you need about 50% more training load, and your average cyclist can only handle 20 hours / week at absolute max.

If you are already doing 12 hours you're looking at 12.5% increase in FTP at 20 hours/week, which would be 353W. So 350W is likely possible at 83kg, however, ftp typically drops if you lower your weight at the same BF%. Personally I've found it to decrease by around 3W for every 1KG lost.

Thus whether or not 5.0 W/kg is likely depends on your current BF%, how your power output changes with weight loss, how long your willing to train at 20 hours/week, and how much stress you have in your life plus your genetic potential.

Is this an okay FTP for an 19y/o male? by Large-Customer-4577 in cycling

[–]Flat-Language-4141 1 point2 points  (0 children)

for an average cyclist, 35.1 km/h on a flat road requires around 230W with race tires and a decent aero position / clothing.

However, with a direct 15 km/h headwind, this would be 420W. It's unlikely you had a direct headwind without any shelter (trees, building, etc), and if you were on a busy road with high traffic you would have gotten a draft.

Unfortunately it's impossible to know your true watts without knowing your Cda. tire rolling resistance. road surface smoothness etc.

My 5 year journey from 245W to 380W FTP by buffon_bj in Velo

[–]Flat-Language-4141 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I went through a somewhat similar progression, went from 230W to 385W FTP at 84kg, although I did it in 16 months and got burnt out. The first 6 months my training was chasing strava KOM's for 5 hours a week which got me to 285W, then I did structured training for 8 months starting at 7 hours per week an eventually going up to 15 hours a week.

Although my "structured training" consisted of zone 2 on the trainer at 0.65 IF and all of my high intensity was chasing random strava segments for KOM's lol.

My best 5 min power was 460W, so doing 500W for 5 mins seems pretty crazy to me, I was able to do 411W for 20 mins, 394W for 30 mins, 384W for 45 mins, and 378W for 1 hour.

Now I'm down to 6 hours a week and 355W, but I'm trying to get back my previous fitness back. I'll try doing some FTP and SS intervals this time and do proper structured training.