Cycling FTP Calculator
Estimate cycling FTP from a 20-minute, 8-minute or ramp test. Shows FTP, W/kg, Coggan's seven training levels in watts and where your W/kg sits on Coggan's power-profile table.
Cycling FTP Calculator
| Coggan level | % FTP | Power range |
|---|---|---|
| Enter a test result and your weight to see FTP and the levels | ||
How to use the Cycling FTP Calculator
Pick the test you did
20-minute test: after a warm-up, ride 20 minutes as hard as you can sustain; FTP is 95% of the average. 8-minute test: two all-out 8-minute efforts with 10 minutes of easy spinning between; FTP is 90% of the higher average. Ramp test: one-minute steps that get harder until you cannot continue; FTP is 75% of your best one-minute power. Direct entry: if you already have an FTP, type it in.
Use power, not heart rate
Every method here needs watts from a power meter or a smart trainer. Coggan's own notes on his training levels say heart rate is hard to match to power because it varies so much. If you test on a smart trainer, Carmichael Training Systems advises running the 20-minute and 8-minute tests in slope or resistance mode rather than ERG mode, so you set the pace yourself.
Enter your weight
W/kg is FTP divided by body weight. The tool places that figure on the threshold column of Coggan's power-profile table, for men or for women, between his average-untrained figure and the world-class top of the table. It does not give you a racing category: Coggan himself doubts that power can rank riders that way.
Read the training levels
FTP sets Coggan's seven training levels. Level 2, Endurance, is 56–75% of FTP; Level 4, Lactate Threshold, is 91–105%; Level 5, VO2 Max, is 106–120%. Level 7 covers sprints and has no percentage at all. The watts are rounded to whole numbers.
FTP: a one-hour idea measured in shorter tests
Functional threshold power is the highest average power a cyclist can hold for about an hour. Andrew Coggan and Hunter Allen defined it in the first edition of Training and Racing with a Power Meter in 2006. Few people want to ride flat out for an hour to find it, so coaches estimate it from shorter efforts and scale the result down. Every one of those scalings is a convention.
Where 0.95, 0.90 and 0.75 come from
The 20-minute test takes 95% of the average because Allen and Coggan found that riders hold about 5% more power for 20 minutes than for an hour. In his own description of the test, Allen adds that some riders need to subtract more than 5% and others only 3%, depending on how much short, anaerobic power they have. He puts a 5-minute all-out effort into the warm-up to take the edge off that power before the 20 minutes start.
The 8-minute test comes from Carmichael Training Systems. Its coaches take 90% of the higher of two 8-minute efforts, and CTS's own guide notes that the test may overestimate FTP, because a rider with strong short-duration power does better over 8 minutes than over an hour. The ramp test raises the load every minute until you stop, and takes 75% of the best one-minute power; Zwift's version adds 20 W a minute. CTS warns that for some riders the right figure is nearer 70%, so treat a ramp result as a starting point.
Coggan's seven training levels
Coggan sets his levels as percentages of threshold power rather than of power at VO2max, because he regards power at lactate threshold as the most important physiological determinant of endurance cycling performance. As he publishes them at TrainingPeaks: Active Recovery below 55%, Endurance 56–75%, Tempo 76–90%, Lactate Threshold 91–105%, VO2 Max 106–120%, Anaerobic Capacity above 121%, and Neuromuscular Power, which has no percentage. He describes Level 4 work as blocks of 10 to 30 minutes and Level 5 as intervals of 3 to 8 minutes. Other copies of the table round the edges differently; Joe Friel's guide on the same site, citing the same book, lists Zone 2 as 55–74%. This page prints Coggan's own figures.
"Category-based values would seem to have limited practical use." Andrew Coggan, "Creating Your Power Profile", TrainingPeaks
W/kg and Coggan's power profile
Power-to-weight matters most when climbing, where the work is lifting rider and bike. Coggan's power profile turns it into a table of W/kg at four durations, anchored at the bottom by untrained people and at the top by world champions. In the threshold column of his spreadsheet the table runs from 1.86 to 6.40 W/kg for men, with an average untrained man at 2.22, and from 1.50 to 5.69 W/kg for women, with an average untrained woman at 1.83. The steps between those anchors are even, so the tool reports how far along that line your W/kg sits. Coggan built the table to show a rider's strengths and weaknesses across durations, not to rank riders. He writes that power standards by racing category would have limited practical use, because race results measure competitive ability better than power does.
What raises FTP
The evidence is thinner than training plans suggest. In a 9-week trial, Stöggl and Sperlich (2014) split 48 well-trained runners, cyclists, triathletes and cross-country skiers into four groups. Polarised training, mostly easy with some very hard sessions, raised peak oxygen uptake the most, by 11.7%; threshold and high-volume training added little. The sessions were set by heart rate, and the study measured VO2peak, not FTP.
From a 20-minute test to training zones: what FTP numbers mean
FTP is the highest average power you can hold for about an hour. Coggan and Allen defined it in their 2006 book.
The 20-minute test takes 95% of the average, because riders hold about 5% more for 20 minutes than for an hour.
Hunter Allen says some riders should subtract more than 5%, and others only 3%.
Carmichael's 8-minute test takes 90% of the better of two 8-minute efforts.
The ramp test takes 75% of your best minute; for some riders 70% fits better.
Zwift's ramp test adds 20 W every minute until you cannot keep pedalling.
Coggan's Level 4, Lactate Threshold, is 91–105% of FTP, ridden in blocks of 10 to 30 minutes.
Level 7, Neuromuscular Power, has no percentage: it is measured against your own best sprints.
In Coggan's power-profile table an average untrained man sits at 2.22 W/kg of threshold power and the table tops out at 6.40.
Polarised training raised VO2peak by 11.7% in a 9-week trial of 48 well-trained athletes. It did not measure FTP.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The one you will repeat the same way each time. Carmichael Training Systems rates the 20-minute test as the closest match to lab-measured threshold power, the 8-minute test as quicker but prone to read high, and the ramp test as the easiest to pace because a smart trainer sets the load. A change between two tests of the same kind tells you more than a single number from any of them.
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Because a ramp ends at a power you can hold for about a minute, far above what you can hold for an hour, and 75% is the conversion coaches and apps settled on. Zwift calculates FTP as 75% of the highest one-minute power in its ramp test. Carmichael Training Systems warns that riders with strong short-duration power can come out high, and that for some the right figure is closer to 70%.
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Not with this tool. Every conversion here starts from watts. Coggan gives rough heart-rate ranges beside his power levels but says relating the two is difficult because heart rate varies so much, and because the link between power and heart rate differs from rider to rider.
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Hunter Allen suggests repeating the 20-minute test every 6 to 8 weeks, because fitness changes over cycles of about that length, and testing in each phase of the season. If your FTP is out of date, every level on this page is out of date with it.
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Conditions, pacing and the power source all change between the two, and a different power meter can read differently from a smart trainer. This tool cannot tell you how large the gap should be. Test in the same place, on the same equipment and the same way each time, and keep separate figures if you train seriously both indoors and out.
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Because no source we could find supports one. The page used to print a ladder from "Cat 5" to "World Tour" by W/kg, with women's bands set at 85% of men's; neither had a source, and the man who built the best-known power tables, Andrew Coggan, writes that category-based power values would have limited practical use. The tool shows where your W/kg sits on Coggan's own table instead.
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There is no single proven recipe. Coggan describes Level 4 work as blocks of 10 to 30 minutes just below to just above threshold, and Level 5 as intervals of 3 to 8 minutes aimed at VO2max. In a 9-week trial of 48 well-trained athletes, Stöggl and Sperlich found polarised training, mostly easy with some very hard sessions, raised VO2peak more than threshold or high-volume training. That trial measured VO2peak, not FTP, and set its sessions by heart rate.
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Less than on climbs. Going uphill, most of your power goes into lifting your own weight, so W/kg decides the pace. On the flat, most of it goes into pushing air aside, which depends on your size and position rather than your weight, so total watts and aerodynamics count for more. Coggan's table is in W/kg, so it describes climbing ability better than flat-road speed.
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No. The calculation runs in your browser and what you type is never sent anywhere. The page still makes requests of its own (its scripts, an anonymous performance measurement, and ads or analytics only if you allow them), but none of them carries your power figures or your weight.
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The Heart Rate Zones Calculator gives heart-rate bands for days you ride without power, the Sweat Rate Calculator helps plan drinking on long rides, and the VO2 Max Calculator estimates aerobic capacity.
Method & sources
What this tool implements
- Coggan power-based training levels exactly as he publishes them at TrainingPeaks: 1 Active Recovery <55%, 2 Endurance 56-75%, 3 Tempo 76-90%, 4 Lactate Threshold 91-105%, 5 VO2 Max 106-120%, 6 Anaerobic Capacity >121%, 7 Neuromuscular Power N/A (maximal).
- Every conversion is labelled a convention: Allen notes some riders need to subtract more than 5% and others only 3%; CTS that the 8-minute test may overestimate FTP and that a ramp result may be nearer 70% than 75%.
- Power profile anchors read from Coggan's powerprofile-allrounder-v4.xls (functional-threshold column): men 6.40 top, 2.22 average untrained, 1.86 bottom; women 5.69, 1.83, 1.50. The table steps evenly between anchors, so the tool reports the share of the way along it. No racing category is given: Coggan writes that category-based values would have limited practical use.
- Corrected 2026-10-16: Level 6 printed as 121-150% and Level 7 as 151%+; a silent 70 kg default for a blank weight; a "Cat 5 to World Tour" W/kg ladder and "women ~85% of men", unsourced; Pogačar, Roglič and Vingegaard W/kg figures, "outdoor FTP 5-15% lower in heat", "untrained riders gain 20-50% in a year", power-meter prices, an 80/20 zone prescription, Zwift category bands, "Tour de Singapore" and named cycling clubs, all unsourced and removed; an unattributed pull-quote ("FTP doubles weekly training time efficiency") replaced by a quoted, linked Coggan line; retest interval 4-6 weeks changed to Allen's 6-8.
Sources
- Coggan A. Cycling Power Zones Explained. TrainingPeaks. https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/power-training-levels/
- Coggan A. Creating Your Power Profile (with powerprofile-allrounder-v4.xls). TrainingPeaks. https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/power-profiling/
- Allen H. The FTP Test: What is it and How to Do it. Favero Electronics. https://cycling.favero.com/en/blog/ftp-test-what-it-and-how-do-it
- Carmichael C. FTP Tests: How to perform 20-Minute, 8-Minute, and Ramp Tests. Carmichael Training Systems. https://trainright.com/?p=27294
- Zwift Insider. How (and Why) to Take an FTP Test on Zwift — ramp test: +20 W per minute, FTP = 75% of the highest 1-minute power. https://zwiftinsider.com/zwift-ftp-tests/
- Allen H, Coggan AR, McGregor S. Training and Racing with a Power Meter, 3rd ed. Boulder, CO: VeloPress; 2019. ISBN 9781937715939 (1st ed. 2006, ISBN 1931382794).
- Stöggl T, Sperlich B. Polarized training has greater impact on key endurance variables than threshold, high intensity, or high volume training. Front Physiol 2014;5:33. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2014.00033
What can make this go out of date
- None at runtime; nothing the reader types is sent anywhere.
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