Open library · free downloads
Interval sessions with power targets set as a share of your FTP. Download them as ZWO for Zwift, MRC for TrainerRoad and most trainer apps, or as an ERG file built for your own numbers. No account needed.
VO2max workout · Advanced
Stress: 87 Intensity: 0.87
VO2max workout · Intermediate
Stress: 57 Intensity: 0.77
Threshold workout · Advanced
Stress: 92 Intensity: 0.85
Tempo workout · Intermediate
Stress: 89 Intensity: 0.77
Sweet Spot workout · Intermediate
Stress: 85 Intensity: 0.80
Sprint workout · Intermediate
Stress: 47 Intensity: 0.64
Recovery workout · All levels
Stress: 18 Intensity: 0.49
FTP Test workout · All levels
Stress: 54 Intensity: 0.97
VO2max workout · Intermediate
Stress: 61 Intensity: 0.83
Every workout here is built on seven power zones, set as a percentage of your Functional Threshold Power. The colour of each block in a power profile tells you what it trains, from easy recovery spins to all-out sprints.
| Zone | Name | Power |
|---|---|---|
| Z1 | Active recovery | 0–55% FTP |
| Z2 | Endurance | 56–75% FTP |
| Z3 | Tempo | 76–90% FTP |
| Z4 | Threshold | 91–105% FTP |
| Z5 | VO2max | 106–120% FTP |
| Z6 | Anaerobic | 121–150% FTP |
| Z7 | Neuromuscular | > 150% FTP |
Short on time? High-intensity intervals on a trainer pack serious fitness into under 45 minutes. Four HIIT sessions with targets, how often to do them and how to recover.
Read More »Power zones turn your FTP into a training map. What each of the seven zones trains and feels like, where sweet spot fits, how much time to spend in each, and a workout f…
Read More »Training for a century or a long sportive? How to build endurance step by step, what to practice on long rides and a 16-week outline that takes you to 100 miles.
Read More »Short on time or chasing a goal? Eight structured indoor cycling workouts, sorted by what they train and how long they take, plus tips to make indoor rides count.
Read More »Is your FTP good? Watts alone do not tell you. Here is how watts per kilogram changes the picture, rough levels from new rider to pro, and how age affects the numbers.
Read More »How to calculate your FTP from any test, plus ready-made charts: training zones for FTPs from 150 to 400 watts and watts per kilogram at different body weights.
Read More »A structured workout is a ride with a plan: a warm-up, a set of intervals at fixed power targets, the recoveries between them and a cool-down. On a smart trainer in ERG mode the trainer holds each target for you by changing resistance as your cadence changes, so all you have to do is keep pedalling. That is what makes indoor training so efficient. An hour on the trainer can contain exactly the work you intended, with no traffic lights and no coasting.
Every workout in The ERG Room is written as a share of your own fitness rather than in fixed watts. You enter one number, your FTP, and each session scales to you. The files are free, need no account, and work in the apps most riders already use.
FTP, or functional threshold power, is roughly the highest power you can hold for about an hour. It is the anchor for everything else here. If you do not know yours, read what FTP is in cycling, then choose a test: the classic 20-minute FTP test or the shorter ramp test. Our guide to FTP testing explains how to prepare and how to pace each one, and the FTP calculator turns your result into a number you can use.
Curious how you compare? What is a good FTP puts the figures in context. Retest every several weeks: as you get fitter, the same workouts need a higher number to keep doing their job.
Each block in a workout sits in one of seven power zones, from easy recovery to all-out sprints. The zone tells you what the effort is for. Long, steady riding builds endurance. Efforts near threshold raise the power you can sustain. Short, hard intervals lift your ceiling. Cycling power zones explained shows where each zone begins and ends and what it feels like on the bike.
If you train with a heart rate strap instead of, or alongside, a power meter, see cycling heart rate zones for how the two systems line up, and zone 2 training for the easy riding that should make up most of a week.
Choose by what you want from the session, not by how hard it looks:
Each workout page shows the power profile, the time in each zone and the training load, so you know what you are signing up for before you clip in. For a wider view of how sessions differ, see our overview of indoor cycling workouts.
Every session can be downloaded as a ZWO file for Zwift, as an MRC file that most trainer apps read, or as an ERG file built for your own FTP. We keep short, step-by-step guides for the common setups:
New to indoor training hardware? The smart trainer guide explains what ERG mode needs to work, and direct drive vs wheel-on trainers compares the two main designs.
In ERG mode the trainer sets the resistance for you. Pedal faster and it eases off; slow down and it tightens, so your power stays on target whatever your cadence does. That is ideal for steady intervals, because you cannot drift above or below the plan.
It has two limits worth knowing. If your legs fade and your cadence drops, the trainer adds resistance to hold the watts, which slows you further. When that happens, stop pedalling for a second, spin back up and let the trainer catch you. And very short sprints are over before many trainers can react, so riders often do those in resistance or slope mode and simply push as hard as they can. A hard start does not make a session better: settle into each interval over the first few seconds.
Single sessions make you tired. A plan makes you fitter. Most riders do well on two or three structured workouts a week with easy riding or rest between them, and a lighter week every so often to absorb the work. How to build a cycling training plan shows how to arrange hard and easy days, and the long-distance training plan applies the same ideas to a big event.
Start below what you think you can manage and add load gradually. If you are new to hard exercise, returning after illness or have a health condition, check with a doctor before starting interval training. Stop a session if you feel unwell; no workout is worth finishing at that price.
The ERG Room is an independent project. The workouts are our own, built from standard training principles, and how we build them explains the way targets, training load and intensity are worked out. We do not sell coaching or equipment, and the downloads are free and need no account.
