As you might know, I am not a fan of FTP tests and haven’t done one in about 8 years. My philosophy is that if the athlete has been training consistently for several months, and all workouts feel doable, they are ready for an increase. No need to test.
In addition, at the start of every year I remind everyone to increase their FTP by about 7 watts or 5% if - again- they have been training consistently and the workouts feel doable.
The one time I won’t recommend increasing your FTP is if you have an event/race coming up in the next 3 months and/or if you are “in season”, meaning, you will have a significant increase in riding time and intensity from group rides, outdoor rides, etc. The reason being, you will be adding additional fatigue that will negatively interfere with your performance and enjoyment of the demands of the season.
Otherwise, if at any point during the year you find yourself completing all 3 weekly workouts consistently, without feeling like they are challenging for 3 months or more, it might be time to nudge that FTP again. Each nudge does not need to be too high, but it needs to be a new number you aim to “grow into”.
Lastly, I see FTP as a training tool. The textbook definition of FTP is not how I apply it in training. In my case, my training FTP is about 10% higher than the power I can sustain for 1h. Therefore, I ignore the FTP calculated by Intervals.icu, Zwift, etc. in my own training and the FTP I use to train athletes.
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