Watts per kilogram calculator
Your power-to-weight ratio, and what it would take to move it. Enter FTP and body weight; the second tool works out what a target costs in kilograms.
Watts per kilogram
What is my W/kg, and what does it mean?
The number that decides how a climb feels. It moves from both ends: more watts, fewer kilos. Losing 5 kg usually does more for it in three months than any interval block.
Weight and W/kg goal
How much weight do I need to lose to hit a W/kg target?
Shows what the target costs in kilos, with and without the FTP you expect to gain. A sanity check against targets that quietly require you to weigh 62 kg.
What is a good W/kg?
Rough bands at threshold, for a recreational rider rather than a racer:
| Under 2.0 W/kg | just started |
| 2.0 – 2.5 | recreational, rides regularly |
| 2.5 – 3.0 | fair — most fit amateurs live here |
| 3.0 – 3.5 | good, club level |
| 3.5 – 4.0 | strong amateur |
| 4.0 – 5.0 | very strong, racing well |
| Above 5.0 | elite territory |
These are not a judgement. A 45-year-old on four rides a week and a 22-year-old on twelve are not in the same competition.
Is it faster to gain watts or lose weight?
Over three months, for most people who are carrying extra weight: losing it wins, and it is not close. Twenty watts of FTP is a hard-earned block of training. Five kilograms is a diet that runs in the background while you train normally, and it moves W/kg by roughly the same amount.
That stops being true once you are lean. Then the only way up is watts, and the arithmetic gets slow and honest. The second calculator above shows exactly where your target sits — and it is worth running, because a lot of W/kg goals quietly require a weight the rider has not seen since school.
On climbs W/kg is close to everything. On the flat it barely matters — there raw watts and aerodynamics decide.
Part of ten free cycling calculators — all of them run in your browser, nothing is sent anywhere.