To add to the material Andy Coggan has provided, here's an item I put together some years back on the relationship between FTP and the underlying parameters of VO2max, Gross Efficiency, Fractional Utilisation of VO2max and Energy Yield per litre of O2.

http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/...king-under-hood.html

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http://www.cyclecoach.com
http://www.aerocoach.com.au

Thanks for that, it was a great read and gives me some hope!
Will also see if I can get some efficiency measurements next time I’m in the lab. Would you say that everyone is more efficient with more cycling, or is there some specific training involved?

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

This is getting a bit long in the tooth, but still worth reading:

https://www.slideshare.net/...ficiency-efficiently

What Andy said.

Cycling more will probably see small improvements in efficiency in the early years. There may possibly be additional gain through high volumes of consistent aerobic endurance training over many years, e.g. though changes in muscle fibre type mix.

The evidence about improving efficiency via specific training interventions reported in the scientific literature to have potential benefit (e.g. via high intensity training, maximal strength/resistance training) versus simply training normally isn't exactly overwhelming to the extent that including such interventions is a no brainer.

One should also consider whether such training interventions are sufficiently specific to or even possibly slightly counter productive for your overall development needs. YMMV.

I do suggest getting a good bike fit.

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http://www.cyclecoach.com
http://www.aerocoach.com.au