Cycling Power Zones Explained: What Each Zone Does and How to Train It

Power zones divide the range of efforts you can ride into bands, each defined as a percentage of your Functional Threshold Power. They give every ride a purpose: easy days stay easy, hard intervals hit the right intensity, and you can see exactly what a workout is training. The most widely used model is the seven-zone system popularized by Dr. Andrew Coggan.

The seven zones

Zone	Name	% of FTP	What it trains	Try
1	Active recovery	under 55%	Spinning the legs, recovery rides	recovery spin
2	Endurance	56–75%	Aerobic base, fat use, long rides	90-minute zone 2
3	Tempo	76–90%	Muscular endurance, steady pressure	tempo 3x20
4	Threshold	91–105%	Raising FTP, time trial pace	threshold 2x20
5	VO2max	106–120%	Aerobic ceiling, 3–8 minute efforts	VO2max 5x4
6	Anaerobic capacity	121–150%	Short, very hard efforts of 30 s–2 min	30/30s
7	Neuromuscular	maximal	Sprints of a few seconds	sprint 6x15s

You need a current FTP to use them. If you do not have one, start with our FTP test guide, then read your exact watt ranges off the FTP calculator chart.

What each zone feels like

• Zone 1: barely any pressure on the pedals; you could ride like this all day.
• Zone 2: comfortable and conversational, but you know you are riding.
• Zone 3: steady effort; speaking in short sentences.
• Zone 4: hard and focused; a few words at a time. An hour at the top of this zone is roughly what FTP means.
• Zone 5: very hard; breathing heavily, efforts of a few minutes.
• Zone 6: burning legs within a minute.
• Zone 7: all-out sprint, seconds only.

Sweet spot

Sweet spot is not a separate zone but a band straddling the top of zone 3 and the bottom of zone 4, roughly 88–94% of FTP. It is popular with time-crunched riders because it builds FTP efficiently while being recoverable enough to repeat several times a week. Our 3x15 sweet spot workout is the classic.

How to split your week

Most of your riding time should be easy. Many coaches recommend that roughly three-quarters or more of weekly riding time is spent in zones 1 and 2, with the rest made up of one or two hard sessions in zones 4 to 6. Riding too much in zone 3, hard enough to tire you but not hard enough to drive big adaptations, is a common amateur trap. Our cycling training plan shows how this works in a real week.

Power zones vs heart rate zones

Power responds instantly and is unaffected by heat, caffeine or fatigue in the way heart rate is. Heart rate lags behind on short intervals and drifts upward on long rides. Many riders use power to set the target and heart rate as a check: if heart rate is unusually high for a given power, you may be tired, dehydrated or getting ill.

Keep your zones current

Zones are only as good as the FTP behind them. Retest every 4 to 8 weeks of structured training. If threshold intervals start to feel easy, or zone 2 rides feel strangely hard, your FTP has probably changed.