Academy·Step 5

Goals — weight and FTP that lead somewhere

"I want to be stronger" isn't a goal. A number with a deadline is — and it shows whether the training is working.

"280 W" is a daydream. "280 W by the end of March" is a plan that, by mid-February, you can tell is or isn't on track.

Two numbers are enough

Ognik records weight, FTP, resting heart rate and HRV. Goals make sense on the first two — they're the only ones you influence directly.

FTP rises from training and nothing else; 6–8 weeks for a visible step. Weight is the other side of the W/kg fraction — a kilogram less does the job of a few watts more, but losing weight mid-build takes power away with the mass.

Your most recently recorded body weight.

Measurement first, goal second

Without a starting point there's no telling whether you're ahead of schedule or behind it.

  1. Open Progress, "Metrics" tab.
  2. Tap "Log measurement" and pick "Record today's body weight" or "Record an FTP test result".
  3. Open a metric: ranges ("Week", "Month", "3 mo.", "Year") plus "MIN", "MAX" and "AVERAGE".

Log your weight

Weigh yourself in the morning, at the same time — daily swings reach a kilogram.

This is how your weight has trended over the past six months.

Set the goal and forget it for six weeks

Inside a metric's detail: "Set weight goal" or "Set FTP goal" — a value plus a deadline, optionally a name. From then on you'll see "Goal: …" and "… to go". Don't check daily — come back after a block.

Set an FTP goal

How much

Deadline at the end of a block, not the year: a six-week goal tells you what to do this Tuesday.

You know where you're going. What's left: making it to the deadline when February is grey.

Read next

Step 6 · 2 min readStreaks, weeks and history — how not to drop off in FebruaryConsistency beats heroics. Three things in the app that show it, and one way of reading them that doesn't discourage.