Should one stand during 4DP?

#1

Hi,

I performed my 4DP a couple of weeks back in the seated position during the longer efforts (1m/5m/20m) - 5s is naturally standing to push :slight_smile: . I was at a friend when he was doing his’ and he stood up a couple of times during the longer efforts, allowing him to push a bit harder and get some brief recoveries for a couple of muscles.

I am about to do mine in a couple of weeks again and I would like to clarify whether would be ok/recommended to stand for a few pedal strokes? I think it would be skew the metrics a little bit, but I am open to hear other opinions.

Thanks a lot!

#2

Generally for the 5’ and 20’ you’d sit as that’s how you’re most likely to do those kinds of efforts in the real world.

As you say, the sprint is generally standing and the 1’ is just whatever as it’s a more “scrappy” effort anyway. I tend to start seated, then stand, then sit for that one :slight_smile:

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#3

sprints i do standing, 5 minutes and 20 minutes seated and 1 minute I start all-out sprinting standing, then sit and (try to) stand for the last 5-10 seconds. ( try to because I m usually happy I can still breath in that last 5-10 seconds…)

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#4

Actually, that is the same as me, stand-sit-stand for the 1’! I got it the wrong way round in my reply!

#5

Great question and something I’ve often wondered about too.

My thinking is that since the 5m and 20m efforts are supposed to be primarily stressing your aerobic systems then you should do them sitting and not risk skewing the results with potentially more anaerobic contributions from standing. I suspect I could raise my FTP score by a significant amount if I did a few standing stints, but I don’t think it would give the best training metric to work from - which is what this test is really all about.

Anything goes for the sprints and 1m efforts where you are simply churning out maximal power any which way you can!

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#6

I think it’s intended for you to sit for the 5 and 20 min efforts, but it won’t disqualify you.

For the 1 min effort I usually stand, sit, stand sit, stand, sit, die, fall over.

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#7

Thanks all for the replies!

Last time I did the 1min all-seated, but I think it makes sense to appeal to stand since you can squeeze some more effort/watts out that would simulate an end-of-racing sprint effort flat or uphill hence I will try that for the next 4DP.

I will keep the full 5"/20" entirely seated because that is what you would get in a real-world situation as well said.

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#8

I couldn’t make it the entire time without standing. When inside I stand for 30 seconds every 5 minutes to keep the blood flowing and to keep the backside from getting too sore. I haven’t noticed much of a difference in the numbers but then again when I do stand I try and keep the ftp number around what I was pushing when seated and not jumping up 50-60 watts

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#9

Greetings everyone, to a great 2021 full of health and fun rides!

So, I completed the 4DP for the second time today. I was able to improve my numbers a lot in the 1 min effort. What made a huge difference was the stand/sit/stand technique depicted in “The Trick” workout session.

I’ve set some personal targets as to which numbers I wanted during each 20s window. It worked well. First 20s I was a bit conservative but stood up, then in the next 20s I used like two bigger rings at the back at a higher cadence (> 110rpm), it was very nice since it allowed me to bump up the effort in the second stand at the last 20s window until I emptied the tank completely.

Here is the intervals.icu screenshot.

1min effort
1min effort1073×574 35.1 KB

Thanks all for the input!