Indoor Cycling Workout: Progressive Threshold & Power Climbs

Training with power (watts) on an indoor bike or turbo trainer is the most effective and targeted way of achieving focused fitness training. This can be done indoors on a Wattbike, Matrix IC7 Spin Bike, a Smart Turbo Trainer (like the Wahoo Kickr) or a standard turbo trainer with a power meter. I coach athletes at Glasgow University’s Revolve Indoor Cycling Classes every Tuesday (5.15pm & 6pm) and Wednesday (7.30pm) – these classes feature spin bikes that measure your power output and the sessions are structured to target your individual power zones.

To calculate your Functional Threshold Wattrate (FTW) on a Matrix IC7 bike, you need to complete a FTW Power Test:

Functional Threshold WattRate

Here’s a sample workout from The Beast, my 60min Revolve spin class at 7.30pm Wednesday at Glasgow University Stevenson Building:

Progressive Threshold & Power Climbs

 DURATION  % FTW CADENCE (RPM)
 Warm Up  0:05:00  50-70  90
 Warm Up  0:03:00  70-90  95
 Warm Up  0:02:00  90-110  100
 Easy  0:02:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 1a: Tempo  0:02:00  80-90  90-100
 Phase 1a: Sweet Spot  0:06:00  90-95  90-100
 Phase 1a: Supra Threshold  0:02:00  100-110  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2a: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2a: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2a: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2a: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2a: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:03:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 1b: Tempo  0:02:00  80-90  90-100
 Phase 1b: Sweet Spot  0:06:00  90-95  90-100
 Phase 1b: Supra Threshold  0:02:00  100-110  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2b: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2b: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2b: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2b: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Easy  0:01:00  30-40  80-90
 Phase 2b: Standing Power Climb  0:01:00  120-130  90-100
 Cool Down  0:05:00  50-70  90