Four Dimensional Power Focus:
NM: ✭✭✭✭✭
AC: ✭✩✩✩✩
MAP: ✭✩✩✩✩
FTP: ✭✩✩✩✩

One of the best sessions there is for neuromuscular training and a regular session in The Sufferfest Training Plans, this drill asks you to progressively build from a cadence of 90 RPM to your MAX over 30 seconds, recover and repeat several times. Cadence builds improve the way you recruit your leg, glute and core muscles throughout your pedal stroke by progressing to your maximal cadence. By reaching your highest cadence possible, you are training the 'on/off' switch in each muscle group to not only work faster, but have less overlap with your other muscle groups. You're training your hamstring muscles to 'turn off' when your quads 'turn on' and vice-versa to achieve a more efficient pedal stroke.

NOTE: As a drill session, this video does not have music or a storyline like 'normal' Sufferfest videos. Just fire up a playlist on your favourite music app and you're away!

Beginner
Cycling can put a lot of strain on your neck and shoulders, especially if you spend a lot of time down in the drops or in an aero position. We’ll sort that out with a series of exercises that will release tension in this area and have you feeling relaxed and ready to Suffer again.

Beginner
Diaphragmatic Breathing is a calming exercise that encourages you to breathe deeply into your abdomen.

Four Dimensional Power Focus:
NM: ✭✩✩✩✩
AC: ✭✩✩✩✩
MAP: ✭✭✩✩✩
FTP: ✭✭✭✭✭

If you were eating lunch, eight minutes wouldn't seem like a lot of time. If you were on a beach, it would be cruel to only be there for eight minutes. But during the eight minute climbs in Angels, you'll swear to every god you can think of that it's never going to end. The focus on lower cadences and power targets near or above FTP make this session perfect for improving your ability to crush shorter climbs. The longer efforts are designed to target your sustained aerobic system, which is great for improving FTP. They're also just short— and difficult—enough that you can drive improvements in MAP.

Beginner
Sufferfest sessions tear your body down. It’s in the periods between Sufferfest sessions, when you’re recovering, that you become more powerful. This session helps boost your recovery time, relaxing you and ensuring you give your body the chance to grow stronger.

Perhaps the only people more Badass than Sufferlandrians are Navy Seals. And this is the breathing exercise that Navy Seals do to calm down and focus themselves before major operations. Learn and use this technique before heading into your own major events and races.

Four Dimensional Power Focus:
NM: ✭✭✭✭✩
AC: ✭✭✭✭✭
MAP: ✭✭✭✭✩
FTP: ✭✭✭✩✩

Time to dig deep into the COURAGE mines. Real deep. No other workout runs the full range of 4DP like this one. The consistent inverse relationship between interval length and intensity pushes your AC to the very limit, ensuring that after each micro-interval your body recovers just enough to hit and hold your power target for the next interval...even if you don't think you can.

The 5-10 second efforts hit your NM system hard. No holding back for these short efforts. All out means all out. The 15-60 second efforts all require significant anaerobic energy, but with so little rest your cardiovascular system never really gets a break. This not only stresses your AC as you try to recover, but it also pushes your MAP to its limit as your body tries to generate as much aerobic power as possible.

Even though there is not a single interval in this workout that is longer than 60 seconds, each full set lasts more than 20 minute. The unrelenting aerobic stress turns this session into a surprisingly good FTP builder.

Four Dimensional Power Focus:
NM: ✭✭✩✩✩
AC: ✭✩✩✩✩
MAP: ✭✩✩✩✩
FTP: ✭✭✭✭✩

Can you ride? Can you Suffer with Style? Make profound Suffering look effortless? Although it has very little Suffering in it, Elements of Style may just be our most important video ever. Developed together with the expert team at CyclingTips and shot on location in Wanaka, New Zealand, this video provides the very foundation upon which all your Suffering must rest. Over the course of six specific drills, you'll learn and practice: An exclusive 9-point 'Systems Check' you can use on any ride to get into your Optimal position. A 4-step process for standing up on a climb and generating more power. How to engage your core, including your glutes, for more stability and power. The components of a smooth pedal stroke and how to bring them together at both low and high cadences. How to stay relaxed, and efficient under pressure. Narrated by one of the best cycling commentators in the world, Eurosport's Carlton Kirby, you'll get clear instructions about exactly what to do, when and why. We guarantee it will change the way you think about your riding style after doing it just once. Do it five times and you'll automatically adjust your position while out on rides. Do it 10 times and Sufferlandrian Angels will burst into tears at the sheer epic beauty of you kicking the crap out of your competition while making it look oh so effortless.

Four Dimensional Power Focus:
NM: ✭✩✩✩✩
AC: ✭✩✩✩✩
MAP: ✭✭✩✩✩
FTP: ✭✭✭✭✭

This takes one of the oldest FTP building workouts, the 2 x 20, and makes it exciting! Forcing your body to churn out power right below, at and just above threshold for 20 minutes at a time dramatically improves your ability to generate sustainable power. It's great for building that FTP (unless you have an unusually low MAP...in which case you're going to struggle!) By itself, the 5 minute effort at the end would not be much to deal with, but after churning out threshold power for 40 minutes, hitting this 5 min effort at 100% will ensure you stress your MAP enough to give this session a slight edge on other “FTP Builder” workouts.