I did the same thing in 2019, then the lockdown and pandemic BS wrecked my cycling life. He also had an experienced coach. He was also a college baseball player so he has a background with activity.
I’d say average for a somewhat fit cyclist that doesn’t train methodically is indeed 3.5-4 w/kg. Most guys training somewhat methodically I know are around or close to 5 w/kg. But that is with much more cycling history than EJ
@@PaganiZondaF650hp sounds good, I do around 3-5 hours of cycling per week during the winter being quite fit and I'm pretty much always around 3.5 W/kg
@@PaganiZondaF650hpI think maybe your view is skewed by the people you ride with. If you look at stats, average ftp across a few training apps falls around 250w. Nothing for weight, but optimistically assuming median weight is somewhere around 70kg, that puts it around 3.5w/kg at best
@@oceanedetotes congrats, but the context of someone talking about couch to crit is surely enthusiast cyclists, not top 2 category racers. In the enthusiast demographic, 4w/kg is way above average.
4w/kg is definetly not average. Trainer road published a bell curve of w/kg of their 10's of 1000's of users (maybe 100s 1000s). And these are all cyclists serious enough to be paying for a training app. The middle of the bell curve for a man was 2.75-3.00 w/kg. Only about 7% of their users are at or above 4 watt/kg. Less than 1% are above 5 watt/kg
Very useful data point. Intervals.icu also produces bell curves continuously for your age group. My FTP, for which I train a fair bit, is pretty much stuck just under 3.5, and I'm in the middle of the bell curve. I'm not sure how niche the website is, it's certainly very geeky, so there may be a bias, hard to know. The average is not 4w/kg.
I'm super happy for EJ, but no one watching this video should think getting to 4 w/kg in one season is normal or average. Many people train years to get to that or never reach it. Really insane progress.
this is incredible progress. I do think you have some really good genes and natural talent for cycling. Most people train a full year to get 50watts extra ftp, you gained more while losing weight, that's just not achievable for most people. But not trying to take away from the incredible gains and great training you did, excited to see how strong you can get.
A video covering some general training practices for amateur cyclists from your perspective would be cool 🤙 The intensity work you got from racing had to attribute to your massive gains paired with rest and zone 2 volume 💪 5w/kg is huge.
Unbelievable man! Watching with mouth open! After 25 years of just cycling I'm now ahead of season, when I want to train systematicly (within time I have for training) and find out, what my 41 years old body can do :-). Your video is true inspiration. Cheers from Czech Republic!
Casual observations indicate the ‘mean’ FTP of the population at large is very close to zero. In other words, not sure if 1/2 the population can actually sustain any exercise for an entire hour.
I googled "Watt Per KG Chart" and found 4w/kg slightly above the middle of the page. Reading all the comments though I can see that I defiantly misspoke! My bad!
Genetics wins the day and reality is, here-to-fore you had an untrained racer's body that you have now trained with proper diet and why you have improved as fast as you have. A lot of higher tier crit racers you competed against trained as hard if not harder than you and you beat them. No amount of training will allow 99.999% of the public to compete with the best in the world at the Tour de France including all the NorCal Cat 1's that train hard year around. There are pro's and then there are elite pro's and ultimately genetics separate everybody. Many for example and the smartest among us want to be Elon Musk including all the MIT grads, but there is only one Elon Musk. Will be fun to see how good you get and most importantly, stay safe because Crit racing is a blood sport.
talking about average ... meanwhile I went from 2.8w/kg to 3.1w/kg in 4 years lol - some people just got amazing talent, while others are on the far other side of the spectrum.
I’m right there with you. I have been stuck at 2.9-3.1 W/kg for the last year. I think I need more volume to break through, but with 2 young kids I just don’t have the time.
@@clrbrk9108 same here - I manage to do 6h a week. I've been doing a lot of VO2Max work lately, short workouts 30-45min with really high intensity. i try to do 3 of them a week and a long ride 2-3h on weekends. I feel stronger, FTP test still to be done.
4.1 w/kg is A level on Zwift. It's not average. The issue with this statement is if someone looks at their 293FTP and 3.5 w/kg, they are supposed to conclude below average? Who are you averaging, world tour riders?
Wow mate, you're a f___ing mutant. I'm stuck at 4,3w/kg forever, I just hit the wall it seems. Unfortunately I even weigh 68kg, which means I have little total power. Some people just have it. Some haven't.
dude be proud of yourself, 4,3 W/kg ist super strong. Most people can't crack 4 W/kg at all. I seriously doubt what EJ is showing on his channel... I mean he would be 1 in a million talent. Too good to be true...
@@sebastiansowieso8179 I think it’s real. He has great genetics. He is tall and muscular so his climbing is not as strong, whereas his sprint is high level already. He’s committed to pursuing this, so we will learn more in ‘24.
Oh, great yesterday I verify that I’m gonna start this season with my highest ever functional power only to sit here today with a stomach bug and this video comes in my feed which is gonna make me feel so much weaker. Thanks. 😅. -U10
EJ means way to HIGH of a caloric deficit for anyone confused. In other words, he is saying it's risky to not get enough energy and lose weight so quickly. Best of luck in the new year!
So awesome! Well done! Enjoy the riding and keep up the good work. I started riding in 2020 and had some fantastic gains initially, coupled with aggressive weight loss (not by the book, lost a lot of muscle whilst doing so). Now being a father there’s less time than ever, but your content inspires me to get going again in a structured way, there’s always room for improvement. Cheers
No way 4 W/kg is "slightly above average". It's way up there. At 5 you are in a small group of people capable of that. Your numbers after one year are insane. You have natural talent, perhaps completely unknown to you one year ago.
@@larkiess the Coggan power charts put 4 W/kg as a competitive cat 3. That might seem like "average" in a ranking system of 5 categories, but there are way way more cat 4/5 and other Freds in the cycling world, especially if you expand to gravel, which is uncategorized, than cat 1/2 racers. I suppose it depends who you hang around, but around here 4 would make you pretty above average quick.
260-190? That's basically me back in 2015-2016 with mostly bike training and better food, to get the same cal deficit and lose weight (i got as low as i remembered 15 years before). Then i got married, and slowly bounced back. ATM Forcing me to repeat the recipe.
No way 12min power × 0.92 is your ftp. In fact 20minpower × 0.92 is more realistic. Anyone, try to hold you supposed ftp for an hour if you're doing the too optimistic 0.95 😂
First off, congrats! You put in a ton of work and earned that. I can only assume beyond that training you had some natural ability tucked deep inside that you finally let out. Keep killing it!
Something you didn't address in your video, ( that could make a good video) is, what does nutrition look like on/off the bike, and do you do any gym sessions. With you max watts it would surprise me if you don't lift. Good work this year, 2024 will be even better 💪
Do you repair and change things at your bike all for yourself or do you have a local bike shop that does this for you? Especially doing maintenance more complex tasks like checking the bottom bracket etc. Every time i need to do this, I have a 1-2 week break because people are too busy for appointments at my bike shop. This really hurts my motivation sometimes and it is very expensive
That's a good question. I usually go down to the local bike shop to use their tools, but do most of the work myself if that makes sense. They will help me with some things, but I am very blessed in that way that it's usually same day repairs.
Hi EJ, how long are your z2 ride? During your base phase you are doing 3 hard rides over z2 then the rest of the week all Z2? How long are this z2 rides? Would u recommend SS base training?
About FTP Average... Isnt it built by Cyclists who are a lil bit deeper in the matter anyways, so the average is already built from the top percentage of bikeriders in terms of interest in powerstats and that stuff.. (?!) I mean, Gisela (50yo) passionate touringbikerider, will never do an FTP test. ^^ so any data put into the averga is data from a dude or girl who is a ambitious cyclist, u know ? (sry no native speaker)
What a beast ! Trying to do the same but gravel style ! At 32 230 5'11" heaviest I've been. Did my ftp and got around 250 don't know the exact number. You are an inspiration!
That's a tremendous gain. I love cycling. I'd love to be able to improve to ride strong with some friends. I didn't work as hard at it, but I did work. In one year, my FTP went from 164 to 157. I'm sure age is part of it. I'm 61. I didn't start riding until 57. However, I believe it's 95% genetics. I'm one that never improves in anything athletic, even though I attempt to improve. Is there anyone else out there that has performance gain issues regardless the amount of work one does like me?
Amazing progress! So it seems revealed that Jeff’s coaching at NorCal really didn’t contribute to your success. More due to Tucker. Either way, you must have some serious natural talent.
Great going! I’ve been enjoying your RU-vid channel and posts on Instagram. Have you thought about doing the early birds series or even just one of them? You can learn some good race craft and tactics at any stage of your racing journey. Plus, it could provide good content for your followers. Just a thought 💭 Happy New Year! Go get ‘em!
That is a fantastic question. I used the masterclass for about 2-3 weeks. Then from there on out it was basically racing that replaced the structured intervals during the week for me. That is when Jackson came in as a major help to explain to me how much zone 2 to do, balance my fatigue, and how to make sure I didn’t get burned out.
You’re way above average. Looks more like you started close to average - thank your parents, sounds like you did well in the genetic lottery 😁 Amazing progression!
bro cool, congrats! but the vid title says you train like a pro to get better - and there is 1-2 sentences in whole vid about how you trained. more details, or change the title
how does training and being a caloric deficit work? When you're training that hard you need food to repair the muscles and damaged tissues. How was being in a deficit possible?
I have never seen such an improvement in only a year. That´s really crazy and for sure you can get to 5,5W/kg in the next 3 to 5 years. That will win you some races
Good job dude..! Now, since you shared your experience, now you can call it legacy and your grandsons will be sharing it to their friends that their grandpa was once a cycling champion.
I'm on the same journey as you, and want to share all my struggles and victories in order to inspire more people to accomplish something that seems to be not reachable !
I can’t help but be sceptical that these numbers are purely through weight loss and hard training. Are you sure you didn’t add anything “special” to your pre ride mix? I mean, you did say you trained like a pro…
