Spin-Up Sets
75 min · 46-56 TSS · IF 0.63 · 55-70% FTP · Zone 2
What this workout does
An easy aerobic ride with short high-cadence spin-ups. Ramping cadence toward your smooth maximum trains the nervous system to fire faster - leg speed you will feel in every sprint and surge.
The foundation is easy aerobic work, and the spin-ups add pure neuromuscular training - firing patterns, coordination, and leg speed - at almost no metabolic cost. A higher comfortable cadence lets you produce the same effort with less muscular strain later on. Sprinkle these in year-round; they never compromise the next day.
How to ride it
Indoor / trainer
Ride at 60-70% FTP. Do 8x30-second spin-ups: wind cadence up toward 110-120 RPM while keeping effort at 55-65% FTP, then ride 4.5 minutes steady. Smoothness beats raw RPM.
Outside
Flat road, light gear. For each 30-second spin-up, hold effort near 55-65% FTP and let the legs accelerate until just before you bounce - then back off a touch and hold that leg speed to the end.
Workout structure (75 min)
- Warm-up 10m 58% 8x - Spin-up 30s 60% 113rpm - Steady 4m 30s 65% - Steady 20m 65% - Cool-down 5m 53%
Targets are a percentage of FTP. This is the same shorthand the free workout builder understands — paste it there to edit any step, or download the workout for Zwift, Garmin or any smart trainer.
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