Peloton bikes are best known for their video classes, which feature a social leaderboard, chatty instructors, and handpicked music. But from a fitness perspective, my favorite feature is “power zone” training, which works with specific classes or you can enable the power zone bar for any workout.
Cyclists measure their effort in terms of power: how much energy you transmit through the pedals in a given length of time. It’s often measured in watts. On an outdoor bike, you need a power meter to measure this; on Peloton, this measurement is built in. On Peloton, you're probably familiar with your "output," the number in the center of the display that goes up when you increase your resistance, your cadence, or both. This is the same as power.
A power zone workout (or “ride,” as Peloton calls them) will tell you when to go into each zone. Unlike other Peloton classes, instructors leading power zone rides won’t tell you what resistance to use, and they may recommend a cadence, but you’re never required to hit it. So if you’re in zone 1 and the instructor tells you it's time to pedal in zone 3, you can choose to increase your resistance, your cadence, or both—whatever gets you there. To be totally clear, power zones are nothing to do with heart rate zones. We’ll talk about the difference a little bit later.
Why are power zone rides special?
While the non-power zone workouts could be almost anything—a “classic rock ride” could be hard, easy, or anywhere in between—I know that a “power zone endurance” ride is going to keep me in zones 2 and 3 for most of the workout, training my stamina without making me too fatigued. On the other hand, a “power zone max” ride will have me working hard, like a HIIT workout. The difference is that I know from the power zone bar on my screen exactly when I’m hitting the ideal output for the workout that I’m doing—not too hard and not too easy.
What is a power zone ride like?
When you want to do a power zone ride, your first job is to decide which kind. You can filter classes by “power zone” as a type, but within that you’ll see three types of classes:
Power zone max (PZM): These rides will take you into the higher zones (6 and 7) with easy recoveries, usually in zone 1.
The shortest power zone rides are usually 30 minutes (there may be a few 20-minute rides in the catalog). The 45-minute rides are probably the most popular, but there are plenty of 60-minute rides and a few 75- and 90-minute PZE rides.
Credit: PelotonA few minutes (usually one song’s worth) of pedaling in zone 1 to let your legs start to warm up.
A “build” with 30 to 90 seconds in each of the zones you’ll be using in the workout. For a PZE that might be 90 seconds in zone 2 and 90 seconds in zone 3. For a PZM, you might get 30 seconds each in zones 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Instructors will get creative with the details, but will always keep the structure of a zone 1 segment, a few spin-ups, and a build. During the warmup, they will usually explain the structure of the workout to come.
To see the structure of the workout before you start the class, you can tap Class plan in the ride description, then View details, and you’ll be able to see the full breakdown. (Some older classes may not have this information, but anything from the past few years will always have it.) The plan will show you what zone each interval is in, and how many minutes you’ll spend there. In the example here, you’ll spend 3, 5, 7, and then 5 minutes in zone 3, with shorter recoveries in zone 2. This is pretty typical for a PZE class.
Why you’ll love the power zone bar
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/PelotonThe power zone bar is a color-coded line at the bottom of your screen underneath your output. The zones will fill in with color according to your output, so that when you’re in zone 1, you’ll just see the leftmost blue chunk lit up, and when you’re in zone 7, you’ll see the whole rainbow, with zone 7 in red to let you know that’s where you are. Power zone classes released after November of 2022 have an indicator outline around the zone you’re supposed to be in, so even if you missed the instructor calling out the zone, you’ll see on your screen what zone you should be in.
When you set up your power zone bar—more on that in a sec—you’ll get the option to show it all the time, instead of just in power zone classes. I highly recommend doing this. With the power zone bar, you can use the idea of power zone training when you’re doing a scenic ride, and you can see how traditional style classes compare to your own zones. If I want to take a music ride for fun, but stick to easy training, I’ll just make sure my output stays in zone 2 or 3. With the power zone bar enabled, it’s easy to do that.
How to set up your power zones on Peloton
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/PelotonIf you know what the term “FTP” means (hello, cyclists), you can go into your settings right now and turn on the power zone bar. It’s in your profile, under Preferences. At the bottom of the screen, find the FTP section, and tap “calculate custom value.” You can enter your FTP number there. For the rest of us, though, you’ll want to take an FTP test. Well, you might not want to, but you kind of need to, to calibrate everything properly.
How to take an FTP test
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/PelotonThe FTP test takes 20 minutes, but I like to budget an hour. That gives you 10 to 20 minutes for a warmup, 20 minutes for the test, 5 to 15 minutes for a cooldown, and then plenty of time to lie on the floor afterward. (Pro tip: Have someone bring you a fresh, cold bottle of water when you finish.)
I’ve taken a few FTP tests. Here are my tips:
Do an FTP warmup ride. Some are 10 minutes, some are 15. I find that longer is better; sometimes I’ll do a 10 minute warmup twice. Pick your favorite, most encouraging instructor for the warmup.
Start at a strong, steady pace, something you’re confident you could keep up for 20+ minutes. Every five minutes, ask yourself if you could kick up the intensity a notch and still be able to hang on. If you have a 20-minute PR already in the system (whether a previous FTP test or another ride), filter the leaderboard to “just me” and try to beat yourself.
No matter your fitness level, there is some amount of power that you can log in a 20-minute test. If you don’t like the number you get, you can retest in a couple weeks. But you won’t know what number that is until the end. So don’t quit. Keep pedaling. You can absolutely do this.
Before you know it, you’ll be in your final sprint to the finish. The ride will end, and at this point I usually snap a photo with my phone of my output on the leaderboard. When you leave the ride to do a cooldown (please do a cooldown, your body will thank you), Peloton will ask if you’d like to update your FTP. Say yes. By the way: It’s recommended to take a new FTP test every 4 to 6 weeks.
Heart rate zones vs. power zones
Now, you can still wear a heart rate monitor. That’s fine. You’re just not using it to guide your workout. You’ll see the power zone bar at the bottom of your screen, and a heart rate zone indicator at the top left. Either ignore or hide the heart rate zone indicator. You can tap the little sideways arrow and it will disappear, but your heart rate data will still be logged so you can look at it later.
Note the heart rate zones in the top left, and power zones at the bottom. At the moment, both are in zone 1. Credit: Beth Skwarecki/PelotonWhat kind of power zone workouts should I do?
When you first start, the easiest way to learn your way around power zone workouts is to do the Discover Your Power Zones program (available from the “Programs” section on your bike's screen). It will guide you through doing an FTP test at the beginning and at the end of the four-week program, and in between you’ll get a sampler of all the different power zone workout types. The instructors know they’re talking to power zone beginners, so they’ll spend plenty of time explaining how everything works and giving you tips on making the most of it.
Besides those three built-in programs, you can also find program suggestions online. Some popular options include a free #RedditPZ group that runs nine-week programs and a paid Power Zone Pack that runs challenges for subscribers.
0 or 1 Power Zone Max ride(s) per week
Power Zone Endurance rides for the rest of your available time (or do other rides while staying in zone 2-3 on the power zone bar)
When choosing your own workouts, the Power Zone Tool from homefitnessbuddy.com is incredibly useful. You can filter and sort by instructor, length of workout, and a cool metric called TSS (training stress score). The higher the TSS, the harder the workout will be to recover from. (For example, you can search for “Christine PZE” and sort by TSS, lowest first. You’ll immediately see that she has several rides that are 30 minutes long and that are entirely in zone 2—great for a recovery ride.)
You can also get a preview of the zones as a visual chart, which I find easier to read than the way Peloton presents them in the class plan. Be aware that the very newest rides won’t be on this tool yet, but also that some older rides will be on there as well that may not have the power zone indicator. But fortunately all the statistics are right there in each entry, so you can choose exactly which rides you’d like to take.
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