| Zone | Name | %FTP | RPE | Description |
| 1 | Active Recovery | <55 | <2 | Easy spinning |
| 2 | Aerobic Endurance | 56-75 | 2-3 | All day pace |
| 3 | Tempo | 76-90 | 4-5 | Brisk ride |
| 4 | Lactate Threshold | 91-105 | 6-7 | 1 hour time-trial pace. Intervals lasting 6 to 20 minutes. Requires recovery. |
| 5 | VO2 Max | 106-120 | 7-8 | Short hill charges. 2 to 6 minute intervals. A few days recovery in between sessions. |
| 6 | Anaerobic Capacity | 121-150 | >8 | High intensity efforts of under 2 minutes. |
| 7 | Sprint Power | >150 | Max | Very short sprints. |
| Based on Power-based training levels By Andrew Coggan, Ph.D. | ||||
As with heart-rate, the Zones fade into each other so it’s worth getting to know specific wattages which lie in the middle of each Zone. This will also make it easier to remember wattages for training sessions.
A useful tip is to have a sheet of paper handy so you can remind yourself during your training sessions.
For example, if your FTP is 220 watts your target wattages will be:
| Zone | Name | Range (Watts) |
Centre (Watts) |
Target Range (Watts) |
| 1 | Recovery | Below 120w | ||
| 2 | Endurance | 123 – 165 | 145 | 140-150 |
| 3 | Tempo | 165 – 198 | 180 | 175-190 |
| 4 | Threshold | 199 – 231 | 215 | 210-220 |
| 5 | VO2max | 232 – 265 | 250 | 240-260 |
| 6 | Anaerobic | 266 – 330 | 300 | 280-320 |
| Sweet Spot* | 190 – 210 | 200 | 190 – 210 |
* The Sweet Spot is gaining recognition as an effective training ‘Zone’ for one to two hours rides. It’s quite a hard session without being exhausting as the effort level is kept ‘Moderately Hard’ but staying below Threshold. You will probably finish the ride with a sort of tingling sensation in your legs. See the Sweet Spot Training page for information.