Training glossary
Training Glossary
FTP, CP, TSS, IF... The tools that enable you to train better and achieve measurable results come with a series of terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that are best understood in order to fully reap the benefits of this technology.
Let's call them formulas. Calculations based on the duration of workouts, their difficulty, and the effort expended when performing them. Others are more complex analytical tools. Each has its own usefulness. Together, they enable the coach to provide better monitoring. And for you, it's also a way to measure your physical fitness progress.
Watts
When you pedal, you generate energy. This power is the objective measure of your effort. It does not take into account how you feel or your heart rate (BPM). All of our workouts are designed based on this power measurement.
Press release
To train effectively, you need to have good baseline measurements. Like all serious coaches, we use FTP and CP to determine the capacity of all the cyclists who work with us. CP (which stands for critical power) refers to the ability to sustain a certain power output for 1, 5, 8, or 20 minutes. Some cyclists are very strong for 1 minute, or even 5, but struggle to maintain high power for longer periods. FTP is calculated based on CP 20, as is the power that will serve as a benchmark for both training and recovery exercises.
FTP
Like CP, FTP ( functional threshold power) refers to the physical ability to sustain an average power output of X for a period of one hour. However, you don't need to ride flat out for 60 minutes to find your FTP. A calculation based on your CP 20 test will suffice. Basically, if you have an FTP of 300, you should be able to do a one-hour time trial at an average of 300 watts.
BPM
Heart rates are very useful for better understanding how your body tolerates the different types of exercise you do. While watts measure the amount of energy produced by the body, heart rates quantify the energy consumed to produce that effort. They are also very important for understanding the body's recovery rate. During periods of intense training, it is a good idea to regularly check your heart rate at rest, as well as during peak exertion. If significant variations occur (e.g., heart rates that are too high in the morning or too low during exertion), this is a sign of fatigue that must be taken into account in order to avoid overload.
RPM
RPM is simply the number of revolutions per minute made by your Crankset cranks. Depending on how fast you turn your legs, different muscle fibers are used. There are also optimal RPMs and flexibility techniques that require you to turn your legs quickly.
IF
factor intensity factor allows you to see at a glance what type of training you are doing. The IF cannot exceed 100, which means that you will have exerted the equivalent of your FTP throughout the entire exercise. A session of 70 will therefore be demanding, and at 90, you will suffer throughout almost the entire session.
TSS
Developed to monitor the training of endurance athletes, the TSS (training stress score) is just as effective for Sunday cyclists as it is for professional athletes. Based on your FTP, the duration and intensity (IF) of the day's program, it assigns a score to each workout. Like IF, one hour at your FTP will give you a score of 100. However, this figure can rise well above that. A Ride at average speed with an IF of around 50 should give you a TSS of around 150.
TSS is very useful for tracking your training and ensuring that you are working all your systems (both strength and endurance), but also for avoiding overtraining. Other sophisticated calculations such as TSB (training stress balance) use TSS from several weeks of training to find the perfect balance between fatigue and fitness in order to reach peak performance.