Most beginners fail at indoor training for one of two reasons. They ride hard every session until they burn out, or they ride the same easy spin every time and never get faster. A structured plan fixes both by deciding in advance how hard each ride should be, so you stop improvising and start progressing.
This plan asks for three rides a week, roughly three to four hours total. It is built for a smart trainer in ERG mode, so every target below is a wattage the trainer will hold for you. All the percentages are of your FTP.
Set your FTP first
The whole plan scales off one number, so get it before week 1. Run a ramp test, take 75% of your best minute, and enter that as your FTP. If you have never tested, a rough starting estimate is fine — the plan will still work, and you will retest at the end to see the change. Everything below is expressed as a percentage of that FTP, and if you are riding in ERG the app converts the percentages to watts on its own.
A quick zone reminder for the sessions:
- Endurance (Z2): 56–75% of FTP. Comfortable, conversational, all day.
- Tempo (Z3): 76–90%. Working, but sustainable for a long time.
- Sweet spot: 88–94%. The efficient middle — hard enough to build fitness, easy enough to recover from.
- Threshold (Z4): 95–105%. Around your FTP; genuinely uncomfortable.
The weekly shape
Every week has the same three-session rhythm, and the load ramps for three weeks before backing off.
- Session A — endurance. Steady Z2. This is your aerobic base and it should feel almost too easy. The discipline is keeping it easy.
- Session B — the key workout. The hard session of the week, where the fitness gains live. This is the one to protect if life eats your schedule.
- Session C — mixed. A shorter session that tops up the week without digging a hole.
Leave a day between sessions where you can. Three-on, four-off across the week is plenty of recovery for a beginner.
Weeks 1–3: build
Week 1
- A — Endurance 45 min. 45 minutes steady at 65%. Nothing clever. Hold a conversation the whole time.
- B — Sweet spot 2×8. 10-minute warm-up, then two 8-minute blocks at 88% with 5 minutes easy between. Cool down.
- C — Tempo 40 min. 10-minute warm-up, then 3×6 minutes at 80% with 3 minutes easy between.
Week 2 (a little more)
- A — Endurance 55 min at 65%.
- B — Sweet spot 3×8 at 89%, 4 minutes easy between.
- C — Tempo 45 min: 3×8 minutes at 80%, 3 minutes easy between.
Week 3 (the peak)
- A — Endurance 60 min at 68%.
- B — Sweet spot 2×15 at 90%, 6 minutes easy between. This is the hardest session in the plan so far.
- C — Tempo 45 min: 2×12 minutes at 82%.
Week 4: recovery
Do not skip this week and do not add to it. Recovery is when the fitness you have been building actually shows up. Cut the volume by roughly 40% and keep everything easy.
- A — Endurance 40 min at 60%.
- B — Endurance with a taste 40 min: mostly 65%, with 3×3 minutes at 85% just to keep the legs awake.
- C — Easy spin 30 min at 55%. Genuinely easy.
You should finish week 4 feeling like you want more. That is the point.
Weeks 5–6: consolidate and test
Week 5
- A — Endurance 60 min at 68%.
- B — Threshold introduction 3×8 at 95%, 5 minutes easy between. Your first real taste of threshold. Keep your cadence up and spin, do not grind.
- C — Sweet spot 2×12 at 90%.
Week 6 (lighter, then retest)
- A — Endurance 45 min at 65%.
- B — Openers 30 min: easy spinning with 4×30-second bursts to sharpen the legs. Rest the day after.
- C — FTP retest. Run the same ramp test you started with. Compare the number.
What good looks like
If the plan worked, three things should have shifted by week 6. Your endurance rides feel easier at the same watts. The sweet-spot blocks that felt hard in week 1 feel merely firm. And your retested FTP is a few percent higher — a 5 to 10% gain over six weeks is normal for someone new to structured work.
If the number did not move, do not panic and do not assume failure. Retest on fresh legs first, because a tired retest reads low. If it is still flat, the usual culprit is the endurance sessions creeping too hard, which quietly steals the recovery the hard sessions need. Keep the easy days easy.
Running it in CrankPilot
You can ride this plan by hand, picking a matching workout each day, or let the app do the bookkeeping. CrankPilot ships six multi-week plans built on exactly this logic — build weeks, a recovery week, a test — and tracks your fitness and form on a performance management chart as you go, so you can see the base building rather than guessing. If you would rather see a plan run end to end before building your own, the training plans feature is the place to start.