Hi folks, I’m new to cycling and to Zwift, been on the smart bike for about 3 weeks and really enjoying it.
I’m in my 40s, and keep myself in reasonable shape from running and other sports and I’m ultra competitive.
I’m wondering which of the zwift training plans would give me the best results fairly quickly in general fitness and overall cycling ability.
I know it’s it a very general question, just looking for some thoughts and appreciate anyone’s opinion.
I’m on the 6 week FTP builder program. Same as you, I’m a pretty new regular cyclist, and newcomer to Zwift. My goal is primarily general fitness, and looking to improve my cycling strength, but not kill myself. Early experience for me is positive with this program, I’m enjoying the first workouts, which focus mainly on low intensity power zones. I also like the fact that my heart rate is smack in the ‘aerobic’ zone for me. This compares well with running, which always pushed up my heart rate to an uncomfortable level.
Before starting the FTP builder program, I did the ‘Zwift 101’, which does an FTP ramp test to set your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) level. This is crucial to setting the intensity of other training programs. FTP is a great way of measuring your cycling strength. Early days really, but I’ll see if my level improves at the end. What I can say is that I’m getting some great workouts, and certainly gets me sweating enough. I’m actually doing much more exercise, on a lower intensity level than I ever did with running, plus I feel it’s less physically damaging.
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That’s great, thanks Andrew.
Give the Build Me Up training plan a try for a good representation of what the demands of a competitive cyclist will face. The first month works on steady state fitness, the second month works on VO2 Max fitness and the final month puts it all together. There are always people who say they can breeze through one month or another but the final month always catches up to them, assuming their FTP is set correctly.
Thanks Fez, I’ll take a look at it too.