…Or How My FTP Increased By 100 Watts Over 5 Weeks

At the beginning of June 2023, I was sailing down a hill on my bike after leaving Farnham in the south of England under a beautiful sunny sky, when a patch of gravel on a bend put me in the hedge.

I struggled for many months to improve, but my body didn’t respond.

It wasn’t pretty. After being discharged from the hospital with three broken ribs and a separated shoulder, I was grounded. It was going to take time to heal, and the family wasn’t willing for me to ride my bike—even indoors. Inevitably, my fitness took a dive. My precious 290-watt FTP evaporated over the coming weeks. Months later, when I eventually got back in the saddle, I was lucky to push 210 watts for any length of time. I struggled for many months to improve, but my body didn’t respond. I may have become a little fitter as I gassed myself on the indoor trainer, but it wasn’t significant.

After many hours of struggling to increase my power output, I started to harbour dark thoughts. I was worried I may never see my FTP go north of 240 watts again. Necessity being the mother of invention, I began to ‘think outside the box’. What could I do to get back to some sort of form?

It was almost by accident that I made a few changes to my fitness regime, which led to an insane 100 watt increase in my FTP in no time. While I can’t be sure any or all of these changes were the catalyst for this miracle, I’ll go through the things I did differently.

Cycling is not strength training

For a long time, I’ve been aware that, despite cycling being incredibly beneficial for your health and general well-being, it doesn’t cover all the fitness bases. You can cycle your ass off doing big miles over long weeks, and muscle can still wither. The facts are that cycling is not strength training, it’s more cardio based exercise, and you’re guaranteed to lose muscle mass as time passes if you don’t regularly address your resistance training.

However, I wasn’t throwing big weights around, as I suffer from osteoarthritis

It was this together with the fact that I was now well into the shoulder physio routine I’d been prescribed to manage my busted shoulder that motivated me to join a gym a little closer to home. This way I hoped I’d have fewer excuses not to strength-train.

Rediscovering the Leg Press Machine (Prejudice and its effects)

I can be a funny sod sometimes. My research had me believing that using free weights was the only way to maintain muscle. I was convinced that the exercise machines at the gym were for pussies. While this argument has some merit, like a lot of things, it depends!! When you can’t lift a barbell due to a shoulder injury, those exercise machines come in very handy. That’s how I found myself lying on my back, staring at the face-plate of the leg press machine.

I could almost see them increase in size in real time.

Knowing for a while that strength work is essential for cyclists, I’ve been popping to the weight room off and on for over four years or so. However, I wasn’t throwing big weights around, as I suffer from osteoarthritis issues in my knees and other joints. So, I was keeping things reasonably light, sticking to free weights, and working mainly on technique. I feel this probably stood me in good stead and built a little foundation from which to progress, although progression wasn’t coming quickly at all.

The leg press machine

Back to the leg press machine… What I discovered is that I could push far more weight on this than I was able to squat under a barbell. Twice, three, or four times the weight. I learned that you’re not so restricted by upper body and back strength if the focus is only on the legs.

Crucially, I was able to load really heavy weights

When doing a full-depth barbell back squat, I could push maybe 50kg max—including the bar weight—without risk of injury, but on the leg press machine, I was clearing far more than 110kg and more! After a few sessions, my quads responded for the first time since I can’t remember when. I could almost see them increase in size in real time.

Inevitably, all this grabbed my full attention. I began to see the leg press machine as a tool to be able to regain some of the muscle mass I’d lost following my accident. So, I committed and began a more intense leg press routine. I began adding in wide stance, narrow stance, ass-to-grass (full range of motion) and single leg pushes. All at maximum weight. Five or fewer repetitions for five sets, with two minutes of rest in between. Crucially, I was able to push good quality really heavy weights, way beyond what was possible before using free weights. OK, so I couldn’t walk for a week after every session, but I could sense the improvement!

Mixing weight training while upping the racing

At the same time, I’d returned to riding my bike indoors on Zwift. Thankfully, my shoulder had healed just enough for the family to finally allow me back in the saddle. My Zwift racing team was entered into a new race series, and so I began to join in the fun.

So, I decided that rather than risk it, I would start to fuel my training sessions.

Contrary to the advice that strength training and cardio don’t mix, I continued to do races while recovering from my weight sessions. In fact, I also entered myself into two gruelling Zwift multi-day stage races with the club. This saw me do massively long, very hilly indoor rides every day. That really hurt. These events were on top of my regular training and weekly races.

If I did a race the evening after a morning strength session, it felt like the pedals gave little to no resistance. It was strange. I’m not saying it didn’t hurt, because it did. I would also occasionally test my max power output and be surprised to find that I was able to hit 1000 watts and above for a few seconds on a regular basis.

Fuelling my workouts

Seeing these latest hard-won gains in my leg muscles, I became a little precious about them. In the past, I’d wondered whether my efforts to reduce my body weight, which included some 10+ day fasts, had contributed to me losing my once chunky thighs. So, I decided that rather than risk it, I would start to fuel my training sessions. I hoped that this might help me retain my new-found legs.

It would appear that at 87 kg, I’m of a body type some might call ‘chunky’.

I looked up how to make home-made energy drinks and started filling my bidon with sugar and salt solutions as recommended. Coincidentally, this is also in line with the latest science, which has been fully embraced by the pro peloton, that encourages endurance athletes to take on massive amount of carbs while training and racing.

Going for a run

Pushing these heavy weights came with another surprising benefit. I worried I was increasing my chance of injury by going heavy. Counter-intuitively, I noticed that my knee pain actually subsided! So much so that I was now able to go for short, low-intensity interval runs. I haven’t been able to do this sort of thing confidently anytime during my whole life! It seems that my newly acquired strength was also stabilising my knees. They say that strength reduces joint pain like mine. However, this was the first time I’d experienced such a positive, unequivocal result despite committing to knee and tendon rehab exercises for years. I can only put these benefits down to not loading my legs enough in the past.

Chillin’ about body-weight

This whole process also led to me thinking about my body and what I’m naturally good at. It would appear that at 87 kg, I’m of a body type some might call ‘chunky’. It follows that I’m definitely not the feather-light type that’s able to shoot up steep inclines. However, I can put out watts, which does help me get over hills. Whereas a 67 kg rider only has to put out 280 watts to fly up a hill. I need to produce 510 watts to keep up with them. But if I can do that, then although I might still lose touch, I get up and over hills as fast as most people.

…my FTP had shot up to an unbelievable 320 watts from 220.

So I decided not to worry about my cycling weight. Instead, I’m now more focused on muscle. I’m not saying I’m ignoring my nutrition; I’m simply monitoring everything in balance. Once I feel happy with my power output, I’ll take a look to see if I can gradually lose a few pounds without losing my current gains.

Muscles? On me legs?

A couple of weeks into my new fitness routine, and after a Zwift race one evening, I received an email from my tracking software that my FTP had increased by 20 watts!! I was thrilled, but I didn’t expect to continue receiving similar messages over the coming weeks.

About five weeks after my first leg press session, my FTP had shot up to an unbelievable 320 watts from 220. The biggest increase I have ever seen. I felt in the best shape of my life. I was even staying with the lead riders in my C category Zwift races and winning the odd sprint. Inevitably, I was almost instantly upgraded to B category by the all-powerful Zwift algorithm.

Was this the perfect storm that put me in the best shape of my life?

Bear in mind, everything here is anecdotal. I have no peer-reviewed scientific evidence that proves my hunch that these changes are behind my recent gains. I also can’t prove which of these changes made the biggest difference. That’s because I implemented all these changes at roughly the same time. In my heart, I feel it was probably the leg press machine work I put in. As it is, I’ll continue to implement these changes and see if I continue to make further gains. After all, why mess with what seems to be a good thing?

Disclaimer

Nothing in this post is intended as health or fitness advice. I’m simply sharing my story about my journey from and FTP of 220 watts to 320 watts. I’m not suggesting anyone else implement any of the things I’ve described. It’s important to understand that health or fitness is very individual. Everyone is different, and their goals are specific to them. Please, before embarking on or changing an exercise regime, consult your doctor and/or health professional.

NB** Update

It’s now a few months later, and while I don’t have any hard data to point to, I feel I may have lost some of the gains I made. I took part in another Zwift stage race, more brutal than the last. This saw me grinding out 2 hour + stages with a huge amount of climbing everyday for 3 weeks. So, I ended up not doing any training of my higher intensity zones. It saw me doing masses of zone 2 and 3 for long stretches.

I suspect I also became mentally fatigued and am less motivated to engage in focused training at the moment. I can still hit my new high power numbers, but for much shorter periods.