These measures should therefore not be used interchangeably unless their relationship is tested on an individual basis. There is a large debate raging whether FTP is a thoroughly valid concept, due to large limits of agreement between most variables, suggesting a high level of interindividual variability in the relationship between FTP20 vs. Research has shown that FTP60 and FTP20 are more closely related to LT2, and should, therefore, be the preferred method of testing. This would assist in reducing the effort time and improve the practicality for regular assessments.Ī second method of determining FTP60 was suggested as performing 2x 8-minute time trials and utilising 90 per cent of the mean power output. Exercises sustained at intensities higher than these physiological markers do not reach steady-state and lead to exhaustion.Īs it is rather painful to perform a 60-minute sustained effort as a test, Hunter Allen and Dr Andrew Coggan suggested that FTP60 could be determined as 95 per cent of the mean power output in a 20-minute TT (FTP20). Functional threshold power is defined as the highest power output a cyclist can maintain in a quasi-steady state for approximately 60 minutes (FTP60).įTP was conceptualised in this way as it resembles physiological markers of performance such as the maximal lactate steady state (MLSS) and second lactate turn-point (LT2).

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