 So welcome to the sixth edition of the RCA training tip show where every Wednesday Aussie time, I'm going to be your YouTube road cycling coach and host of the show, Cam Nichols. In today's video, we're going to be talking about a brand new road cycling testing protocol called the Half Monty, which is a test that you can do in the comfort of your own home using the Sufferfest indoor training application. The Half Monty, in its simplest terms, is a more advanced and scientific variation of the traditional ramp test that you may have previously seen on platforms such as Zwift and Trainer Road. The Half Monty, which is still officially in beta if you go to the Sufferfest training app, will officially be launched in the next week or two, or so I'm being told. So this is truly a first look at the future of cycling performance testing in the comfort of your very own home. So we're going to break this video into four main parts. Number one, we're going to talk about why test your functional threshold power in the first place. Number two, why should you choose the ramp test over other testing protocols, including what the ramp test actually is. Number three, how does the Half Monty work, which actually goes beyond just FTP? And number four, my experiences with the test and why it's becoming the new testing protocol for members of the up-level road cycling course. Now before we get into the meat of this discussion, please know that this video is not sponsored by the Sufferfest. However, the application is used by members of the up-level road cycling course, which is an online coaching course that I have in place to enable road cyclists to take their performance to the next level. Information on the course below if you want to learn more, and there's actually still a few spots open for April. So number one, why test your FTP at all? Now it should be noted that the Half Monty actually does go beyond FTP, which we'll get to shortly. However, FTP, which stands for Functional Threshold Power, is essentially the amount of power or watts you should be able to hold on a bike for roughly an hour. Now the reason why this number is important is because it enables us to establish a rough estimate of your training zones. Now I like to think of training zones as your weight rack. It's just like going to the gym, understanding what weights you should be lifting to work different muscular systems, which is key when you're looking to do different things such as increasing power, strength and or endurance. Cycling is similar. By having an understanding of what heart rate zone or power zone you need to keep it in to work different physiological systems gives us a framework. So the training zones is essentially a starting point for you to implement structure into your training, which will ensure you can take your road cycling performance to the next level. Number two, why would you choose the ramp test over other testing protocols and what's involved in a ramp? First up, the ramp test is as it sounds. You need to be on an indoor trainer, ideally smart, and you start at a low output and every minute the trainer will ramp up the required output. If you don't have a smart trainer you'll need to ramp up the power yourself every minute to comply with the testing protocol and you basically pedal until you can pedal no more. Now external to the ramp test there are other tests which enable you to get your FTP and also your training zones which include the 20-minute all-out test, the two times eight-minute all-out tests, lab testing which typically includes pinpricking for blood and of course the Sufferfest full frontal 4DP test. Well I can appreciate there are other methods for establishing your functional threshold power and identifying your training zones. Why would you do the ramp test compared to those other tests? I'll tell you exactly why. It's practical. You can do it from the comfort of your own home away from varying environmental conditions and traffic. It's not invasive with breathing apparatuses or pinpricking and you don't have to rely on an understanding of what a sustained effort looks like nor do you have to concern yourself with 20 minutes of all-out death. You just throw your leg over, warm up and ride to failure. It's pretty simple with I guess a difficult component being between the three to five minute mark. Now the Sufferfest have extended their version, the half Monty, beyond just the ramp to make the output numbers more reliable which we'll discuss shortly. However I believe that the Sufferfest have now implemented a ramp style FTP test for the reasons I have just articulated being simplistic and practical. You see the 4DP test or to be more accurate the full frontal 4DP testing, while it is a more accurate tool for determining your cycling zones and your FTP, that test is a little daunting and you also need to consider the pacing effect. Our athletes who complete this test pacing their efforts in the right way across those different segments. Thus the Sufferfest have now implemented a more simplistic and practical way for identifying your functional threshold power and other numbers which we'll get to shortly. Number three, how does the half Monty actually work? Before we talk about the hands-on process of doing the half Monty it should be noted that the test and the underlying data that delivers the output numbers is driven by thousands of pieces of both lab data and Sufferfest full frontal 4DP data and the protocols of the test have been designed by the head of the Sufferfest Sports Science Division Neil Henderson. I'll provide details on Neil below if you want to check him out. Now assuming you've got a smart trainer, you've downloaded the app either to a smart device or as I have to my laptop, you've got a heart rate monitor on. First up you will need to input a rough FTP number into the setting section before you start the test. Now if you don't know your rough FTP that's fine when you sign up to the Sufferfest. They have some preliminary questions which is based off data that they have obtained from thousands of other tests to give you a rough FTP number before you start this test. And at the end of the day it's a ramp to failure so if your FTP guesstimate is off it doesn't really matter. Now for the first section of the test you'll need to put the trainer into ERG mode which essentially means you're giving control of the trainer to the Sufferfest application. Now you start this test with a good warm up unlike what I've seen with other platforms. Now that you're warm the Sufferfest uses a calculation to increase each ramp by a certain wattage pending your current or rough FTP. I noticed with this ramp section, say in comparison to the Zwift ramp test, that each increase was in the vicinity of 28 watts as opposed to the straight out of the box 20 watts that you would get with Zwift. In true Sufferfest style I liked how the software was encouraging me to keep going with the carrot of what map currently was during each ramp increase. Map stands for maximal aerobic power which is most commonly referred to as VO2 max. The Sufferfest have a proprietary way of also identifying a map power number in addition to your FTP number for this test using their extensive database of testing athletes in lab ramp testing environments over the years. Now there obviously came a point when I could pedal no more and what the protocol is here as advised by the dynamic screen pop ups that you are presented with during the ramp that you must stop pedaling for a full 15 seconds at failure giving the application enough time to recognize that you have completed the ramp. Now you can skip to the next section in blue once you've completed the ramp test by pausing. This can be done by using the space bar and sliding the play head interface across to the beginning of the next section in blue. However, I was a little unsure during my test how to do this so I changed the settings from erg mode to level two which is actually required for the next section and this also gave me back control of the trainer's power output. You'll see when I hit the blue area the next phase the Sufferfest algorithm kicked in and I was presented with my new map number. Note here that FTP at this stage was still undecided unlike other ramp tests. Why does the Sufferfest do that? Well they say that the next section, the 20 minute sustained effort, gives us a more reliable FTP number because we're not just looking at the ramp test in isolation. You see the ramp test has been criticized in the past for being more favorable for those athletes that are able to sustain an effort at their maximal aerobic and anaerobic capacity in comparison to other athletes. Thus, this next 20 minute section became critical to determining not only my lactate threshold heart rate but also a more precise FTP number. So this section is all about heart rate. The Sufferfest uses a calculation based on your maximal power output and maximal heart rate reached during the ramp to define a heart rate range for you to target during this 20 minute effort. My heart rate range was 155 to 160 beats. I actually found this section to be a lot easier than I had originally anticipated because I thought it was gonna be a 20 minute all out effort but it turned out to be about a zone three, maybe bottom end zone four effort which was a little bit uncomfortable but overall it was pretty easy and I found the time went quickly because I was concentrating on keeping my heart rate within a specific zone. Once the end of the test was concluded I was presented with a screen which had updated my maximal aerobic capacity which has previously just been an estimate based on my FTP and also my lactate threshold heart rate zones. Interestingly, my FTP stayed exactly the way I had assumed it to be based on current fitness levels and the increased map number automatically changed my other top end zones for more effective training targets. Number four, how did I personally find using the half Monty and why is this now the testing standard for members of the up level road cycling course? Well first up I actually enjoyed the testing process unlike the Zwift ramp test it was more personalized using a rough FTP that drove a well defined warmup and ramp starting point. Looking at the test from afar I was a little bit concerned about the 20 minute effort. I was concerned because if a test becomes too daunting for athletes does it become a practical way for them to be able to not only test their numbers upfront but also test over the course of a training block but the 20 minute sustained effort wasn't difficult at all and it provided a framework to more accurately identifying my FTP and also my lactate threshold heart rate. And that is really an important one and a compelling reason why this will become the new measuring stick for members of the up level road cycling course. Not only is the FTP number more reliable and you get a defined map number the fact we can also identify your lactate threshold heart rate just ensures we can start to leverage reliable heart rate data to complement our power training whether we be training aerobically high intensity or managing our fatigue. So to wrap up I actually wanna say hats off to the SufferFest I think it's a great testing protocol which is backed up by elite road cycling coaches lab testing data and of course a well regarded training application. I'll catch you all in the next video.