Your training zones are fundamental to our Njinga Training philosophy. If you’re not training with up to date training zones, then you’re not going to Train Smart.
Train Smart at Njinga means quality training; getting the maximum benefit out of each session. As your training zones are specific to you and an integral part to aiding your performance, you need to ensure that they are kept up to date for your current cycling fitness level. Training with old or out of date training zones will lead to slower improvements or more often than not no real improvements at all. As a result, this can lead to panic and over training and frustration with why you are not improving! Regular testing or benchmarking is critical to helping you to Train Smart.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR ZONES ARE UP TO DATE?
How do you know when you should re-test? This depends on the individual rider concerned, their training goals and how often they are training i.e. the time they can dedicate to training each week and the type of training they are doing including intensity level. Experienced riders who train all year and have built up a great cycling fitness tend to have smaller gains or movements in their training zones. Someone new to cycling or developing their riding and starting to participate in sportives or moving on to road racing have different goals and will see more noticeable changes in their FTP scores.
Below we will try and give you a rough idea on when you should re-test and provide a few pointers that you may find useful.
1. HOW SERIOUSLY ARE YOU CURRENTLY TRAINING?
2. ARE YOU TRAINING A COUPLE OF TIMES A WEEK?
3. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC CYCLIN GOAL IN MIND?
If you can only train once a week with Njinga doing our group cycling classes only and a commute to work or short rideout of 40km then we would recommend every 12 weeks.
5. NO SPECIFIC GOAL IN MIND?
If you have no specific goal in mind and are simply doing cycling as a means to stay fit and healthy then we recommend you test at the beginning, middle and end of year.
For more detailed answers on how often you should re-calculate your training zones it’s best to talk to one of our experienced Njinga coaches (who are all British Cycling certified coaches) about your personal goals at a rider consultation session. We can discuss what would work best for you depending on your goals (from weight loss through to competitive riding) and commitment level to training, etc.
If you Train Smart, you will see results faster!
To find out more and to book the FTP Test click here.
"When to re-test depends on the individual rider concerned, their training goals, and how often they're training. For example: the time they dedicate to their training each week and the type of training they're doing, including intensity level."
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