How to Improve Your FTP After 40 (And Why Most Advice Gets It Wrong)

Let's start with the thing that most cycling content won't tell you: masters cyclists can absolutely improve their FTP. Significantly. We've had athletes gain 40 to 60 watts at FTP over the course of 6 to 12 months of structured training. The problem isn't age. The problem is following advice that was written for 25-year-olds.

The myth of the single approach
Most training advice treats FTP improvement as a one-size-fits-all problem. Do Sweet Spot. Do threshold intervals. Rinse and repeat. The reality is more interesting — and more individual. In our experience, athletes tend to fall into one of two camps when it comes to what actually drives FTP improvement.

Some athletes respond best to short, high-intensity efforts. Think 12 x 30 seconds at MAP (Maximum Aerobic Power) — hard, punchy, repeated. For these riders, this kind of work drives aerobic adaptations that translate directly into a higher FTP, even though the intervals themselves are well above FTP pace.

Other athletes need longer, sustained work to move the needle. Three to five efforts of 8 to 12 minutes at FTP pace, repeated across several sessions. For these riders, the short sharp stuff simply doesn't produce the same response — they need time at intensity to drive the adaptation.

Here's the important part: you probably don't know which camp you're in until you've tried both properly. And "properly" means consistently, for long enough to see a result — not two sessions and a shrug.

How long does it actually take?
Expect to commit one to three quality sessions per week for around six weeks before you see meaningful improvement. Not two weeks. Not one hard block. Six weeks of consistent, progressive work.

This is where a lot of riders go wrong — they train hard for a fortnight, test, see minimal change, and conclude the approach isn't working. Six weeks is the minimum timeframe for genuine physiological adaptation to show up in a test. Patience isn't optional.

Recovery is not optional either — and this is where masters riders differ most
If you take one thing from this post, let it be this: recovery is training. For masters cyclists, the recovery side of the equation matters more than it does for younger riders. Your ability to absorb training stress, repair muscle tissue, and come back ready to go again is the limiting factor — not your willingness to work hard.

What good recovery actually looks like:

Protein intake — high, and consistent. Not just post-ride, but throughout the day. Muscle protein synthesis is less efficient in older athletes, which means you need more of it to get the same repair response. Most masters cyclists are undereating protein.

Carbohydrates — plenty of them, particularly around hard sessions. This is not the time to be riding hard in a fasted state or cutting carbs in the name of body composition. Fuel the work.

Sleep — non-negotiable. This is when adaptation actually happens. Cutting sleep to fit in training is counterproductive. If you're sleeping six hours a night and wondering why you're not recovering between sessions, there's your answer.

Foam rolling and soft tissue work — not glamorous, not exciting, genuinely useful. Spending ten minutes on soft tissue work after hard sessions reduces the accumulated stiffness that makes the next session harder than it needs to be.

What this looks like in practice
A simplified six-week block for FTP improvement might look like this: one to three quality sessions per week targeting either short MAP efforts or sustained FTP intervals (depending on which approach fits your physiology), with remaining sessions split between moderate-intensity endurance work (MIET) and genuinely easy riding. This pyramidal approach means the bulk of your training time sits at low-to-moderate intensity, with a smaller proportion of hard quality work on top.

The temptation for most motivated cyclists is to make the easy days too hard, which means the hard days aren't hard enough. The quality sessions need to be genuinely hard. Everything else should support them — not compete with them.

The 40 to 60 watt question
When we say we've seen athletes gain 40 to 60 watts at FTP in 6 to 12 months, the obvious question is: what did those athletes do differently? Consistently: they trained to a structured, progressive plan built around their individual physiology. They recovered properly. They stayed patient through the periods where the numbers didn't move. And they had their training adjusted when something wasn't working — rather than just repeating the same block and expecting a different result.

None of that is complicated. Very little of it is easy.

Where to start
If you're not sure where your current fitness sits, our Power Level Calculator will assess your MAP and FTP, tell you where you are relative to riders at your level, and recommend whether a structured training plan, group coaching, or 1-to-1 coaching is the right next step.

It takes about three minutes and gives you a personalised report.

Want the structured training without doing it alone? The Collective gives you MAP-based progressive training cycles, monthly live Q&As with Ric, and TrainingPeaks Premium included — from $89/month. Or for a fully individual programme, enquire about 1-to-1 coaching here →