A pretty common workout, most use it to lift FTP so they're doing them at 95%-100% of FTP.

100pct ftp

2x20's should be at 107+ of FTP in my opinion!

Why stop there? Why not 200%?

107% with a 5min rest in between? That would be quite a challenge, and would leave me pretty wrecked, depending on what other stuff I did in the preceding days or want to do in the following days.

I'll do 105% with 10 min rest ... and that is a hard workout. For me anyway.

So for me it really depends on the bigger picture. If I raced Tues night and will race again on Sat ... but want to do 2x20 on Wed or Thurs I will back if off some. So maybe 90-95%. If I've got more recovery time before racing ... and am reasonably fresh, then it's more like 100 - 105.

But there are other variations too. 3x20 ... over/unders ... etc/

100% FTP with 5 minutes rest in between. Keep it simple. The last few minutes should hurt.

2x20 @ 95-100% with 4 minutes rest is my bread and butter

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@christopher_borden •
Spinning Spoke • Dimond Bikes • Flo Cycling • Castelli Cycling

Brad,

Part of the equation needs to be how many you're doing per week. If it's just one or two sets then the intensity should really be there. If you have the time to crank 3 X 20 six days a week like I do right now, then 95% seems to be pretty sweet.

YMMV,

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

I stay at 95-100% ftp. Though the last 5min of the 2nd 20 I push it until my legs are jello.

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I got nothing.

If I was doing 2X20's that's how I would do them too.

95 to 100% Probably closer to 95 though

jaretj

I do them at 2 x 20 (on 5min rest) as hard as I can hold without fading - I'm very glad when it's over . Am I doing it wrong?

Sounds about right to me.

I am not sure where the 85% came from. Typically the workout is aimed at raising FTP/critical power and it's done by holding a very high proportion of that value for an extended period of time in the truest sense of specificity. If this is done as an FTP/critical power workout it should be done circa 95-100%.

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Jason
Dig It Triathlon and Multisport
http://www.digittri.com

For me the key is how much rest. More rest = higher percentage of FTP. Sometimes I find it's nice to shake the workout up a bit and have a longer rest than 5 mins, as long as 20 mins at ~70-75%/FTP, but really pin the effort at 105% of FTP.

Seems to me you can't answer the "what percentage of FTP" question without an idea of what you did the week before and what you're doing the following week. 2x20 at FTP is a pretty monstrous workout that you can't do very often in a week, especially week after week (or you're not really doing it at FTP).

The 85% comes from the idea of "sweet spot" training. By scaling it back just a bit, you can do more of them over a week/block/whatever. You'll probably do more good for your FTP by doing 2x20 at 85% for 3 workouts a week than 2x20 at FTP once.
http://www.fascatcoaching.com/sweetspottraining.html

nope.

85% of ftp is nothing. 2x20mins can be done every week....

Thanks all. Everything makes sense. Seems like the surrounding factors (e.g., other workouts that week, phase of training, frequency of the sets) really dictates the effort, but that 85 (maybe closer to 90) to 100 percent of FTP are good general parameters.

Happy training all.

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*********************************************
Brad Stulberg
Author, Peak Performance
http://www.BradStulberg.com

How can I approximate this workout without a power meter? That is, about what LOE are the 20 min sessions? I know it will be extremely subjective without actual wattage numbers, but from what I've heard the 2x20 is the "best" bike workout you can do.

I would think that if you have your FTP dialed in correctly it would be nearly impossible to do 2x20 @ 105%. Maybe you are underestimating your FTP by a little to accomplish this. Anyone else think so?

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
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Did you misread his post? He said often every week, and doing it consistently.

If you're consistently running 50-60 mpw and doing 3 or 4 days of 2x20 @ 95-100%... well, you're pretty awesome.

Where did I say they couldn't be done every week? Is your monitor broken, or something?

If 85% is nothing, you might want to ask those guys who wrote "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" to update their research. 85% is squarely in the "sweet spot".

Save your breath. You're going to be wrong because they've decided you're wrong...even though you're right.

Sweet spot is 88%-94% of threshold and 2x20 at threshold isn't a monstrous workout. It's 40 minutes of work, with rest, at your 60-minute power. It's a tough workout, but it's not monstrous.

Check out some of the workouts in the back of Training and Racing with a Power Meter. There are 4 hour workouts with 2x20 at threshold in there and one also has 60 minutes of sweet spot. That's monstrous. I've done a bunch of them and some of them will make you look forward to a workout that's only 2x20 at threshold.

you dont get the concept of training stimulus.