Hey guys, I need some advice please. So I am new to zwift and I want to improve my average speed on the road as well as hill climbs. What workouts can I do on zwift to help me with this?
@Muj welcome to Zwift.
As with many things, the answer to your question is “it depends”. Tell us a little more about yourself as that will define so much about what workouts are best suited for what you want to accomplish.
- What is your riding experience? i.e. are you a fit athlete that has been riding for years or fairly new to cycling and thus have more strength and cardio development to start of with
- How much time do you have to devote per week and for how many weeks? This will guide if a Training Plan is best and which ones can fit within your desired Zwifting time budget. The answer to the first question will also drive part of this answer.
- Are you looking for a Training Plan over weeks or just individual workouts ad-hoc when you can? You’ll get far more out of a Training Plan as it is structured to meet your goals without you having to choose workouts, they are pre-defined in the Training Plan.
- What are your goals for the workouts? You mention speed and hill climbing, so I presume improved strength and cardio fitness, but best to know what it is you are after.
The more insights into your current state and desired result you can provide, the better forum members can offer recommendations.
Start with training programs which build up your FTP.
Hi @Joel_Larner
I started riding last summer but it was about 1-2 times per week, the most I managed to get to was 60 miles (was missions) and an average speed of 14mph, so pretty fairly new, prior to this I used to play football 1-2 times per week but then ruptured my mcl in my knee, so cycling has been perfect.
I bought the elite direto turbo trainer 2 weeks ago and I started my 6 week beginner ftp workout, and finished my first week.
I can dedicate 4-5 hours per week, I was thinking of doing this up until may then get onto the road ready for the summer.
Yes my goals are to up my average speed on the roads and be comfortable going up hills. I am part of a local cycling group with friends and they can eat up the hills easily with a good speed, I was always the one at the back trying but still slow lol.
@Muj it sounds like you are more towards the beginning side of your cycling career. When you mention a “6 week beginner ftp workout” is that the FTP Builder training plan? If so, great choice. That has plenty of workout to it, get’s you engaged 4-5 hours / wk, will help you establish a good baseline FTP, and will help you strengthen some. You ask about good workouts to do - if you are doing a Training Plan, follow it and don’t throw in additional workouts. The Training Plans are designed to be the right amount of training per week. If you start tossing in more, you are robbing your body of the intended recovery days between workouts. If you start throwing more in, it will actually be detrimental. Over-training is a common issue with newer cyclists. You body needs those recovery days, that is when muscle rebuilding occurs and thus strengthening. Check out this article on ZwiftInsider.
Once you finish the FTP Builder, if you want to do another one, other good training plans to consider might be the Fondo or the Pebble Pounder. These will continue to grow you without trying to break you. The Build Me Up plan is an excellent stengthening plan, but it pushes one quite hard for a long 12 weeks. The workouts will stress your legs so you need to be ready for such a plan.
I prefer to go with the Training Plans as they are well structured and you don’t have to go picking workouts out of a long list when you don’t know what you should be doing. The downside is they are designed around putting in the number of hours and days each week. If that does not fit into your life, then picking individual workouts can work better but you may not get as good of benefit.
Hope this helps
Hi @Joel_Larner yes I would say more at the beginners side of my journey.
The 6 week beginner program I mention you can find online too but seems you know about it anyway 
After this 6 week I was thinking of moving to the 4 week FTP booster or I was also looking at TT tune up or gran fondo, unless these are extremely difficult at the moment.
I agree with doing a specific plan and sticking to it. My plan is to eventually become a strong fast rider decent up hills 