Cycling Power Zones Calculator

Cycling power zones calculator

Once you know your FTP, training becomes a matter of riding in the right power zone for each workout. This calculator turns a single FTP number into the exact wattage ranges for all seven Coggan zones, the system used by coaches and platforms worldwide. No guessing — just enter your FTP and ride to the numbers.

How it works

Each zone is a fixed percentage band of FTP. The calculator multiplies your FTP by the lower and upper bound of every band:

Zone 1 Active Recovery  < 55% FTP
Zone 2 Endurance        56–75% FTP
Zone 3 Tempo            76–90% FTP
Zone 4 Threshold        91–105% FTP
Zone 5 VO2max           106–120% FTP
Zone 6 Anaerobic        121–150% FTP
Zone 7 Neuromuscular    > 150% FTP

For an FTP of 250 W, Threshold (Zone 4) becomes 228–263 W and VO2max (Zone 5) becomes 265–300 W. The watts update instantly as you change the input.

What each zone trains

Understanding why each zone exists makes the numbers more useful:

Zone 1 — Active Recovery (below 55% FTP): This is easy spinning used between hard sessions to promote blood flow without adding training stress. It should feel genuinely easy — conversations are comfortable. Many riders underestimate how light Zone 1 should be.

Zone 2 — Endurance (56–75% FTP): The foundation zone. Long hours here build aerobic base, mitochondrial density, and fat-oxidation capacity. Most of a well-structured week should be spent here. Many riders ride too hard for Zone 2, which shifts them into a “grey zone” that is hard enough to accumulate fatigue but not hard enough to trigger the specific adaptations of Zone 3 or 4.

Zone 3 — Tempo (76–90% FTP): Comfortably hard. Useful for time-crunched riders who want some aerobic stimulus in a shorter ride. Higher training stress than Zone 2 but significantly more manageable than threshold.

Zone 4 — Threshold (91–105% FTP): This is riding near or at your FTP — the intensity you can sustain for approximately an hour at maximum effort. Intervals here (typically 2×20 min or 3×15 min) raise FTP itself over weeks of consistent work.

Zone 5 — VO2max (106–120% FTP): Short, very hard intervals (typically 3–8 minutes) targeting maximal aerobic power. These raise your aerobic ceiling but are highly fatiguing; a few sessions per week is typically the limit.

Zone 6 — Anaerobic (121–150% FTP): Short, very intense efforts (30 seconds to 2 minutes) that develop the ability to generate power above the aerobic system’s capacity. Used sparingly — they create significant fatigue but limited aerobic adaptation.

Zone 7 — Neuromuscular (above 150% FTP): Maximum sprints of a few seconds. Develops peak power and neuromuscular coordination. Cannot be sustained long enough to build significant aerobic fitness but is important for race situations requiring explosive accelerations.

Illustrative worked example

For example, with an FTP of 280 W:

Practical guidance

Spend the bulk of your weekly volume in Zone 2 to build aerobic endurance, and use shorter focused efforts in Zones 4 and 5 to raise your ceiling. Re-test FTP every 4–8 weeks and re-enter the new value — zones scale with your fitness and will be too easy (or too hard) if you use a stale FTP. Everything runs locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded.