I’ll just mention that according to the watts/kg calculator, 4 w/kg puts you in the 92nd percentile of male TR users. So I’d push back a bit against the idea that anyone can easily achieve this!
(It’d be cool to see a w/kg breakdown by weekly hours trained or years of TR use.)
I agree with Drew. 4w/kg is not a given.
I was around 4 watt/kg when I was racing in my 20-30s. At 57, I’d be lucky get get much past 3 watt/kg these days.
Can’t because of physiology or can’t because of training limitations. I’d say it’s probably the latter, most people can’t or don’t want to spend 5-6 days on the bike for 90-240 mins…
This.
I’m 40, athletic background in golf, went from untrained to 4.2+ in the last 3 years. Real progress happened when I went from 3hrs/week to 10 and hired a coach and a nutritionist. Of course ymmv, but seemingly I’m nothing special and I was able to get there by sticking with it.
Just ride your bike regularly and with variety and you can get there pretty quickly without any specific training.
Not very representative imo, as this is generally referencing low volume althletes.
Although not many are going to reach 4w/kg on under 10 hours a week.
I’m 57, and currently sitting at 3.7W/KG. But I’m on higher consistent volume than most. Training age around 2 years. But I don’t chase that number, it’s just one point on my power curve and other points are more important for my events.
Turning 42 this year, 173 cm (5’8"), 63-65kg depending on the day. Started riding in 2019 and training later that year. Since 2020, average 400-450 hrs/year, though I only follow structured training for 3-4 months of the year, and just ride remainder of the year.
Took 4-6 months to reach and break 4wkg, peaking at 4.4-4.5wkg indoors and slightly higher outdoors. Finished off-season in November last year at around 3.75wkg and currently around 4.2wkg. I am noticing a slight a decline over last couple years based on my indoor power numbers, but I do wonder if any part of that is due to trainer wear or just aging. Outdoor power and indoor power measured with outdoor PMs seem largely unaffected, and read 8-10% higher.
Volume doesn’t directly raise your FTP. It builds a lot of stamina though, which you can use to train specifically for FTP if that’s what you want to do at some point.
The last 0.4 is within reach. Lay on the SST and threshold workouts. You’ll have to give up the long rides during this period though, so there’s always a tradeoff.
Assuming you’ve built a high volume base, there is no reason long rides and SS/threshold workouts can’t coexist (including working the intervals into your long rides). It’s actually a really common way to train for folks who aren’t time constrained. You can’t do hard stuff every day, but that’s true whether you are also doing long rides or not.
I’ve hovered between ~4.5 W/kg in my late 20s to around 3.5 W/Kg last year as I gained some weight and lacked consistency due to job and kid demands.
My FTP hasn’t changed much over the last 10-15 years. I’ll always get to around the same spot after 2-3 months of consistent training, but in a real shocker I can’t eat like I did in my 20s as at 40. Who’d have thought.
Getting back close again so far this year, at 3.9 now using altitude FTP (non-adjusted). Doing TR low volume (non-masters) plan. I’m masters age, but find 3 intensity rides a week is totally doable on LV plan for me at least. The last year or two I struggled holding my early spring form through summer as I added more volume, so plan to change to masters plan or generally reduce intensity and add volume here starting in a month or two.
For weight, I’ve lost about ~15 pounds since end of last year with some diet changes that I don’t feel have been too obtrusive. I did a combination of food logging via MyFitnessPal to identify the worst offenders in my diet as well as Dry January to understand how alcohol affected my diet and sleep. I’ve resumed having the occasional beer, but am more mindful of it and drink sparingly. Lastly, while I know meal replacement drinks are somewhat controversial due to being highly processed, I’ve had really good results with replacing breakfast with Huel Black. High protein in the morning seems to curve other cravings later for me. YMMV.
laughs in mid-50’s
Just wait… 
Not necessarily, you can create your own smoothie recipes easily, with organic fresh or frozen ingredients from known sources. I have been on breakfast smoothies for last 5 years, no sudden cravings, plus yearly blood samples have been always ok.
+1. It’s been about 4 years since I’ve made it to my target race weight. Still holding out hope that this is the year…
Honestly, I think it’s as much about fighting off complacency as I age as it is about physiological changes. I get within ~5lbs of my target and then often lose the drive/discipline to drop those really difficult final pounds of extra fat.
Agreed there, I meant the processed replacement shakes (huel, Soylent, ka’chava) are more controversial since they have a lot of ultra processed ingredients. My body comp and blood test values have improved using them, but I don’t pretend that it’s “clean” food in the ideal sense of eating whole unprocessed foods. I don’t have time for anything else in the morning besides grab and go so I accept the compromise.
You are lucky to be on the right side of the bell curve distribution. I rode regularly with Kent Bostick, former Olympian and World Champion. He was a regular on our Saturday group ride. He’s 13 years older than me and I could barely hold his wheel while he was taking a pull at the front at over 300 watts.
This is an interesting thread and food for thought. I’m primarily a runner (marathons/ultras) and put in a lot of time there, but tend to hop on the trainer here and there mainly as a low impact stimulus or after a race while I’m recovering.
I’m looking to add more cycling and maybe do some gravel races next year, especially as I get older I assume I won’t be able to keep up the running volume/intensity.
For context, I did a total of 8 hours on the bike ALL YEAR in 2023. I took an FTP ramp test on 12/27 with a 3.6 w/kg which I was happy with. I’ve been doing some structured bike workouts 1-2x per week in 2024 (24 total hours, so 2-3 hrs per week) on top of running, and was able to hit a 20 minute power this morning of 320W (~304 FTP for 3.95 w/kg).
I’m happy with that progress on such small bike volume in 2.5 months, which leads me to think I should probably put more time into the training come Autumn/Winter (after my running season) to see what I can push it up to.
Mods, can we ban the new guy, please? Our fragile egos can’t handle this.
