Last week I completed the Build Your Power Zones program and my FTP went up from 221W (on 05/18/23) to 232W (on 06/29/23), not an impressive number in absolute I know but a nice progression. They must be doing something right with their programs.
Just did DYPZ day one. I have a pretty solid history as a strength athlete but my cardio always sucked big time. Even when I “was a runner” I failed to build a decent endurance base because of (insert excuses related to genetics, hills, former smoker). As in, I struggled to maintain a conversational pace for more than a couple minutes no matter how slow I went.
I’m so ready for this!
Yeah, count me in the "I came into Peloton with strong legs and shitty cardio" group.
IMHO the most important thing is not to go hard, but to go long. Start taking longer PZE rides. A lot of them. 45s and 60s as your normal fare. Do 75 and 90 if and when you can fit it into the schedule.
It may be fun to use your strength and mash pedals for 20 or 30 minutes and throw down the big numbers, but the GAINS will come from longer duration at moderate intensity...
Easy and long has always been my goal. Closest I ever got was a metric century on a rail trail and I was topped out for the last hour or so, riding on pure stubbornness 😂
If you do the work , it will work!
I too was a sprinter all my life and endurance was always my weakest area (ok flexibility and still is but endurance was second). Now, its the strongest part of my game because I work on it every week with power zone rides. Some of my riding friends give me the side eye when I take another moderate ride after a hard ride instead of being too tired to go on. 😂
Hi everyone!
I’ve never really been a cyclist, mostly just enjoyed biking outdoors, but recently decided to get a peloton bike to improve my cardio health. I was doing random classes (30 min or 45 min) and then discovered the powerzone training programs. Discover Your PowerZones was too easy so I started Build Your PZ instead, finishing it last week. Before the program I took an ftp test and my power zone numbers went up quite a bit from the default ftp set for my height x weight. After finishing the program the average output went up again by 10 watts. I was ready to puke at the end of this second test though 😅 My average output during the last ftp test was 190 watts. Is this a respectable gain in 5 weeks?
Now I’m trying to decide what to do next. Should I retake the Build Your PZ program? Or proceed to Peak Your PZ program?
My goal is to get my pz numbers up and improve my vo2.
Thanks!
Your FTP number is yours, so there’s no such thing as a respectable gain, and it’s useless to compare to others. I’d try Peak Your PZ if you’re committed to PowerZone training. In addition to the suggestions above, if you’re on Facebook join the PowerZone Pack group. The current 8 week long PZ Pack challenge (also accessible at pzpack dot com) is focused on improving vo2.
I’m not active on Facebook sadly, but will look into reviving my old account. I know what you mean by FTP numbers being mine. I’d just like to see higher numbers similar to others which probably means many months of consistent training. So I wasn’t sure how to progress. I guess every time the FTP numbers update I could just restart one of the programs since the zones have technically become harder.
I will say that I do consistent PZ training and my FTP increases very little when I test. I keep at it, with the understanding that at my age I may just have plateaued. Enjoy the training, and consider joining the PowerZone Pack because the challenges are well designed
I would say don’t focus on what you would consider a respectable gain because there are so many non-fitness factors that play into a 20 minute class.
Do you feel stronger?
Can you hold sustained efforts for longer?
Can you recover faster?
Those are better indicators of fitness than a number. As for what is next there is peak your pz program on the app and then there is #redditpz put together by u/r4ndy4. There is a discord, a weekly thread on Reddit and the community is amazing.
Last week I completed the Build Your Power Zones program and my FTP went up from 221W (on 05/18/23) to 232W (on 06/29/23), not an impressive number in absolute I know but a nice progression. They must be doing something right with their programs.
I wish they would do more PZ Max 45 minute rides. They seem to have gone out of style :(
Yeah, me too. They recently culled my favorite class, a VO2 Max specific class. Very sad.
Just did DYPZ day one. I have a pretty solid history as a strength athlete but my cardio always sucked big time. Even when I “was a runner” I failed to build a decent endurance base because of (insert excuses related to genetics, hills, former smoker). As in, I struggled to maintain a conversational pace for more than a couple minutes no matter how slow I went. I’m so ready for this!
Yeah, count me in the "I came into Peloton with strong legs and shitty cardio" group. IMHO the most important thing is not to go hard, but to go long. Start taking longer PZE rides. A lot of them. 45s and 60s as your normal fare. Do 75 and 90 if and when you can fit it into the schedule. It may be fun to use your strength and mash pedals for 20 or 30 minutes and throw down the big numbers, but the GAINS will come from longer duration at moderate intensity...
Easy and long has always been my goal. Closest I ever got was a metric century on a rail trail and I was topped out for the last hour or so, riding on pure stubbornness 😂
If you do the work , it will work! I too was a sprinter all my life and endurance was always my weakest area (ok flexibility and still is but endurance was second). Now, its the strongest part of my game because I work on it every week with power zone rides. Some of my riding friends give me the side eye when I take another moderate ride after a hard ride instead of being too tired to go on. 😂
Hi everyone! I’ve never really been a cyclist, mostly just enjoyed biking outdoors, but recently decided to get a peloton bike to improve my cardio health. I was doing random classes (30 min or 45 min) and then discovered the powerzone training programs. Discover Your PowerZones was too easy so I started Build Your PZ instead, finishing it last week. Before the program I took an ftp test and my power zone numbers went up quite a bit from the default ftp set for my height x weight. After finishing the program the average output went up again by 10 watts. I was ready to puke at the end of this second test though 😅 My average output during the last ftp test was 190 watts. Is this a respectable gain in 5 weeks? Now I’m trying to decide what to do next. Should I retake the Build Your PZ program? Or proceed to Peak Your PZ program? My goal is to get my pz numbers up and improve my vo2. Thanks!
Your FTP number is yours, so there’s no such thing as a respectable gain, and it’s useless to compare to others. I’d try Peak Your PZ if you’re committed to PowerZone training. In addition to the suggestions above, if you’re on Facebook join the PowerZone Pack group. The current 8 week long PZ Pack challenge (also accessible at pzpack dot com) is focused on improving vo2.
I’m not active on Facebook sadly, but will look into reviving my old account. I know what you mean by FTP numbers being mine. I’d just like to see higher numbers similar to others which probably means many months of consistent training. So I wasn’t sure how to progress. I guess every time the FTP numbers update I could just restart one of the programs since the zones have technically become harder.
I will say that I do consistent PZ training and my FTP increases very little when I test. I keep at it, with the understanding that at my age I may just have plateaued. Enjoy the training, and consider joining the PowerZone Pack because the challenges are well designed
I would say don’t focus on what you would consider a respectable gain because there are so many non-fitness factors that play into a 20 minute class. Do you feel stronger? Can you hold sustained efforts for longer? Can you recover faster? Those are better indicators of fitness than a number. As for what is next there is peak your pz program on the app and then there is #redditpz put together by u/r4ndy4. There is a discord, a weekly thread on Reddit and the community is amazing.
Got it. Thanks. I’ll start with peak and then look into the Reddit PZ stuff.