Tadej Pogačar's Home Training Plan in 4 Weeks

The first trap in any Tadej Pogačar home training plan is staring straight at the wattage. His published power zones show Zone 2 at 238–323 watts, with an FTP around 415 watts at 66 kg, or about 6.2 W/kg.[1] Those numbers are useful for one thing: reminding everyone that his engine is not the part to copy.

The transferable part is the architecture. Pogačar’s training, at least in the public slices we can see, is built around mostly low-intensity riding, a controlled number of hard interval sessions, and enough recovery infrastructure to make the hard work repeatable. A Cycling Weekly analysis of a UAE Team Emirates winter camp week described a polarized pattern: heavy Zone 2 volume with 2–3 interval sessions, close to an 80/20 distribution between easy and hard work.[2]

So this is not Pogačar’s private program, and it is not an attempt to ride his watts before work. It is a 4-week home-trainer block inspired by the pieces that are actually visible: the polarized structure, the interval shapes, the activation work, the fueling habits, and the coach’s refreshingly plain explanation. Javier Sola, Pogačar’s coach, put it this way: “We don’t do anything extreme — everything we do is in the literature.”[3]

Set Your Own Numbers Before You Start

Every workout in this plan is written as a percentage of your FTP, not as an absolute wattage. FTP is the power you can roughly sustain for a hard, steady effort around threshold. If your smart-trainer platform recently tested it, use that number. If not, do a fresh ramp test or 20-minute FTP test before Week 1, then let the trainer control the intervals in ERG mode if you trust your setup.

If your FTP is 250 watts, a 120% VO2 interval is 300 watts. If your FTP is 180 watts, it is 216 watts. That scaling is the whole point. Pogačar’s Zone 2 could be another rider’s race-winning attack; your Zone 2 should feel like training you can come back from tomorrow.

The Weekly Shape: Mostly Endurance, Carefully Placed Intensity

The plan assumes 6–10 hours per week. The 6-hour version is not a compromised version; it is the sensible version for riders with jobs, families, and a limited recovery budget. The 10-hour version adds Zone 2, not extra hero intervals.

That mirrors the useful lesson from the UAE winter camp example: the hard sessions matter because they sit inside a much larger amount of low-intensity riding, not because every day is sharpened into a test.[2] Indoors, this matters even more. A trainer removes coasting, traffic lights, tailwinds, and soft-pedaling. A 90-minute indoor endurance ride can be brutally honest.

Keep the 80/20 split honest by counting time, not suffering. Warmups, cooldowns, Zone 2 riding, and recovery spins belong on the easy side. Only the actual interval time at tempo, threshold, VO2, or harder belongs on the hard side. If you add volume, add it to Zone 2 first.

The 4-Week Pogačar-Inspired Home Trainer Plan

The block progresses for three weeks, then backs off in Week 4. The interval types come from publicly documented Pogačar- or UAE-linked training examples: tempo blocks, criss-cross over/unders, VO2 max sets, torque intervals, and 40/20s.[4][5][6][7][8] The progression is original; the ingredients are sourced.

Week 1: Calibrate and Build the Floor

Week 1 should feel almost suspiciously controlled. The tempo blocks borrow from the documented 3–5 minute tempo style associated with Pogačar-inspired training, but they are not meant to empty you.[4] The torque work is strength-oriented riding: low cadence, firm pressure, no upper-body wrestling. If your knees complain, raise cadence and reduce resistance.

Week 2: Add Over-Unders Without Turning the Week Into a Race

The criss-cross session is the first workout that will tempt you to overachieve. Resist it. The MyWhoosh UAE Team Emirates workout library includes over-under style work designed with the team context around Pogačar, but a home rider needs the shape more than the bravado.[5] The goal is to learn how your legs handle repeated threshold changes while keeping enough freshness for the rest of the week.

Week 3: The Hardest Week, With VO2 and 40/20s

VO2 max work is usually where amateurs start borrowing trouble. Velo’s Pogačar-themed workout example uses 3–5 minute efforts at 120% FTP, which is plenty hard when scaled honestly.[6] Four 4-minute efforts are enough for this block. If the third interval collapses, stop at three and ride easy.

The 40/20s add snap without requiring a huge total dose. Cycling Weekly lists 40-second sprint / 20-second recovery work among ways to train more like Pogačar, but indoors the recovery seconds disappear fast.[8] Keep the first set controlled enough that the final two reps still look like cycling, not a wrestling match with the trainer.

Week 4: Absorb the Work

Week 4 is not a lost week. It is where the previous three weeks have a chance to turn into fitness instead of background fatigue. Keep the hard pieces short, leave the trainer with something in reserve, and do not add a bonus test because you feel good on Thursday.

Use the Activation Work Where It Helps

Pogačar’s documented pre-race activation routine includes three mini-band exercises: banded bridges, monster walks, and banded split squats, taking under 10 minutes.[9] For a home cyclist, this belongs before key sessions, not necessarily before every easy spin.

• Before Tuesday and Thursday intensity: 1–2 rounds of banded bridges, monster walks, and banded split squats.
• Before long Zone 2 rides: use it if you tend to start stiff or sit all morning before riding.
• Before recovery rides: skip it unless it makes you feel better.
• If activation becomes a workout, you are doing too much.

The purpose is not to get tired before training. It is to remind the hips and glutes to show up before you lock into the same indoor position for an hour or two.

Fuel the Work Before It Becomes a Problem

UAE performance staff member Jeroen Swart has described Pogačar’s fueling range as 80–120 grams of carbohydrate per hour during rides, with amateurs needing a 6-week gut adaptation process before tolerating the upper end.[2] That does not mean every home rider should immediately pour 120 grams an hour into a 60-minute trainer session.

The amateur mistake is often backwards: underfuel the long easy ride, then blame the VO2 session two days later for feeling flat. If you want this plan to work on 6–10 hours a week, the carbohydrate strategy has to protect the next session, not just the current one.

Recovery Is Part of the Plan, Not a Prize for Finishing It

The public recovery numbers around Pogačar are striking, though the provenance matters. A BikeRadar sponsored feature using WHOOP data reported 578 hours of riding and 200 sessions in the measured period, 30 hot tub sessions in the first half of 2025, sleep consistency above 81% compared with 70% for age-matched cyclists, and a resting heart rate of 38–44 bpm.[10] Treat those as context for how seriously recovery is handled at the top level, not as independent proof that you need the same device or the same outcomes.

For this plan, the recovery rules are simpler and more useful:

• If two consecutive workouts feel unusually heavy, remove the next intensity session, not the next rest day.
• If your Zone 2 power requires tempo-level breathing, cap the ride by effort and accept the lower wattage.
• If sleep is poor before VO2 day, move the session 24 hours or replace it with endurance.
• If motivation drops but legs feel fine, start the warmup; if power and breathing still feel wrong after 15 minutes, ride easy.

Indoor training makes fatigue easy to hide until it suddenly is not. ERG mode will keep dragging you through targets after your body has stopped agreeing with the plan. That is useful for discipline and dangerous for denial.

How to Choose the 6-Hour or 10-Hour Version

Choose the 6-hour version if you are returning from inconsistent training, adding strength work, sleeping less than usual, or already carrying work stress. Choose the 10-hour version only if you have been riding that much recently and can add volume without turning the weekday sessions into late-night survival rides.

The cleanest progression is boring: complete the 6-hour version first, then repeat the block with more Zone 2 before adding more intensity. Most riders do not need a harder Tuesday. They need a Saturday ride they can repeat for months.

What About Heat Training?

Heat training belongs outside the default plan. Swart has described a protocol of three sessions per week for six weeks in a small room without a fan, wearing winter clothing, holding core temperature at 38.5°C for 30–40 minutes during 45–75 minute sessions, with reported blood plasma volume increases of 20–25%.[2] That is a professional recommendation from a high-performance setting, not a casual add-on for a tired rider in a spare bedroom.

If you are preparing for a hot event, have medical clearance, and already tolerate the base plan well, heat work can be considered later. It should not be stacked onto Week 3 because the word “Pogačar” made the calendar feel too ordinary.

Where MyWhoosh Fits

The MyWhoosh UAE Team Emirates workout library is useful because it gives riders a way to sample publicly available interval prescriptions associated with the team and Sola’s coaching environment.[5] Use it after you understand your own FTP zones and the weekly structure. Do not grab the sharpest-looking workout from the library and wedge it into a week that is already overloaded.

A good first move is plain: set your current FTP, ride Week 1 as written, and make no judgment until you see how your legs feel on the second endurance day. The useful part of Pogačar’s training is the architecture, not the engine.

References

1. Pogacar reveals his power zones — Brujula Bike
2. How Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates train to be the #1 team in cycling — Cycling Weekly
3. We don’t do anything extreme — CyclingUpToDate, Dec 2025
4. Pogacar Training Secrets — Roadman Cycling
5. How to #TrainLikeTadej — MyWhoosh
6. Workout of the Week: Train Like Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France — Velo
7. The Strength Training Secret of Pogačar and His Tour Domination — Velo
8. 11 ways to train more like Tadej Pogačar — Cycling Weekly
9. Tadej Pogačar’s Pre-Race Routine — Bicycling
10. 578 hours of riding and 30 hot tub sessions — BikeRadar