I’ve been using trainer road for about a year and two months. I’ve been on a low volume training plan, adding in endurance workouts when nothing is scheduled. My FTP has not improved since around November and I’m not sure what I should start doing differently as I am very consistent with my training. For workouts I usually have a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and fuel with around two gels.
Do you use plan builder? Are the workout PL’s getting higher as you progress through the plan? What is your typical survey result after a workout? Just trying to get an idea of what your training plan looks like, how difficult workouts are for you, and if you are getting appropriate progressive overload. Sometimes gains are made that don’t reflect in a single FTP number, PL’s will help show improvements in different areas.
Have you done a ramp test or just been relying on AI FTP detection?
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What’s your FTP, weight and height?
I do use plan builder, just general base and build. My sweetspot and Vo2 levels progress but threshold is pretty stuck. Although sweetspot I cant seem to get over 5. My usual response is hard. I only use AI detection m
188, height 1.65 m, weight 50kg
How much do you sleep?
8 hours usually and occasionally a nap
With a BMI of 18.4 you are officially underweight, so your diet isn’t adequate. You need to eat more, aim for at least 100g of protein ad use a TDEE calculator to aim for 500 kcal/day surplus. Once you have hit 52kg, you can try increasing volume with easy z2 days or extending rides
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What is your age? This can be a factor.
What have you done to continue your progression? If you continue to do the same thing eventually you will plateau. Have you extend the duration of individual workouts/rides? Extended the length of your long endurance ride? Over-all volume?
The simple “fix” is to do more. (If you can)
I’m 22. I extended my endurance rides and workouts to 1:30. I can’t do much more because I am a student and don’t have much more time.
Not sure if this will actually get anywhere that helps your plateau, but just curious what do you mean by “threshold is pretty stuck”? Is the TR plan not giving you any higher PL threshold workouts? If so, is it because of you rating previous threshold workouts very hard or something? Do you manually change threshold workouts to be a similar PL as one you’ve already done?
This is just my interpretation of AI FTP detection based on research and going through the plan myself, I may be wrong with how it works. AI FTP doesn’t actually take a max effort to calculate FTP (like a ramp test or 20 minute effort), so it’s relying on your PL’s stepping up in difficulty, then looking at your responses to tell how easy or hard it will be. I’ve read it doesn’t look at HR, so the algorithm is only going to know how hard a workout is based on whether you completed it, then your response. So if you’re never stepping up in PL’s, you’ll never progress in AI FTP, even though there is a good chance you’ve made a lot of physiological progress after following the plan to a tee. I’d probably take a ramp test and see how it lines up to your current AI FTP, then you at least know whether your question is “why is my AI FTP reporting the same value over the past several months?” or if your question truly is “why am I physiologically at a plateau?”
Trust me as someone who did medical school and later switched careers, you will not get more time than now… anyway adding 10 min to your scheduled tr rides is 30 mins/ week
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Hey @Danangel,
Welcome to the forum!! 
I think we can get you through this plateau. 
It looks like historically you’ve been dropping single ad hoc Low-Volume Base phases onto your calendar, but if you’re looking to progress further, I’d recommend building out a custom training plan with Plan Builder and following it as best as you can.
I can see that you’re consistently doing 4 to 5 activities each week without getting any red days, so I’d recommend selecting a Mid-Volume plan, and then picking the discipline that best fits your preferred riding style or terrain if you’re not training for an event.
The Build and Specialty phases that come along with our custom plans will bring a new type of training stimulus which I think will help to get you over this plateau (it just so happens that your last FTP bump in November was at the end of your last Build phase) as well as the proper recovery that’s needed to give your body the time to build back stronger for the next training block. Training periodization is one of the biggest keys to getting faster. You can read more about this in the link below!
It looks like you do a fair amount of unstructured riding, and this is totally okay! Red Light Green Light will help to keep you on track and manage your training for long-term success, so make sure to keep an eye on your calendar and accept any adaptations that are suggested and rest when we recommend it.
Just know that if your goal is to get over this hump, I’d recommend consistently knocking out your workouts as best as possible. If you plan on riding outside each week and don’t have a power meter, you can still follow along with our workouts using RPE (there’s more on that in the link below), or you could do your Endurance rides outside as long as you’re keeping it easy. 
Let me know if this helps and if you have other questions about any of this. I’d be more than happy to help get a plan set up that works for you! 
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I have a full time job, 3 kids, a wife, bills, house, etc, etc to take care of. You have a lot more time than 1:30 hours a day unless there’s something you’re not telling us. You would just have to make training a priority. IMHO low volume at some point will just not be enough and you’ll need to increase volume.
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