One Legged Training

ebola

( i'm a recreational cyclist, still quite new to it, not competitive or anything.. )

I read something on one of the threads here about training using 1 leg, apparently this is a good way to develop the 'pull' phase ? I'm relatively new to clipless pedals & do find the 'pull' part hard work & not yet sustainable.
Is practicing this likely to be of any value ?

My colleagues noted how seriously I'm reading these forums. A couple of weeks ago they jokingly suggested they put up bogus info to make me look stupid.. I had to check.. visions of me cycling in with 1 leg dangling have got a good laugh in my corner of the office .. ( where do you put the other leg ? )

kparrish

I do this on a trainer - you can prop one foot up while you pedal with the other. It will be a bit frustrating at first and you won't be able to keep it going very long in the beginning. This technique is covered in "The Lance Armstrong Performance Program" - a pretty good book if you're just getting started.

This training technique is very difficult for me as a beginner, but from what I've been told by several coaches it will be worth the effort.

P.S.: Get your colleagues out for a ride one of these days and see who gets the last laugh.

n crowley

You are correct, clipless one legged pedaling is difficult, you
do not have the same control over the pedal. Jacques Anquetil
(who you probably never heard of), but he was and still is the
number one TT rider, could never have used clipless pedals,
there would have been too much rolling of the pedal and loss
of power. Anquetil never pulled on the pedal , he used a far
more power forced sliding movement, impossible with clipless
pedals.

patch70

There is a school of thought that working hard on your up-stroke is counter-productive. The vast majority of your power comes from your downstroke and by concentrating on your up-stroke, you actually end up delivering less power with the down-stroke. This has been verified with electromyographic (EMG) studies. Other EMG studies have also shown that the cyclist who put out the most power do not pull up on the up-stroke but rather use it for a momentary recovery phase. In this school of thought, the belief is that the main reason for having cleats is to keep your foot in the same position and assist with proprioceptive training of your muscles/joints/cerebellum.

Certainly others completely dispute this school of thought and I am not certain who is right???

n crowley

You are correct, but not only did Anquetil generate all his
power in that downward application of power movement , with
his technique he was able to start his power application at
11 o'clock when the occasion demanded , completely eliminating
the dead spot area.

kparrish

Hmm, that's interesting to know. What about the concept of pedaling "circles" and not "squares"?

patch70

Hmmm, my cranks always seem to go in circles. I'd return them to your LBS if they go in squares.

n crowley

Anquetil used neither circles or squares, mentally he used
lines, the resistance pulling line of the arms which was
almost parallel to the power application line to the pedals,
this was where the secret of his mysterious extra pedal power
lay. The rotating pedals and cranks did the rest. Instead of
pulling up on the pedals, he just unweighted them as the
idling leg returned back to the top.

Nicko71

I find this thread interesting because I feel I only really am concious of an upward pull when I am working hard in the seat, sprinting up hills, or climbing hills. When I am just spinning - usually on the flat - I feel much more like my stroke is really - well just a spin!!

Should you feel a concious upward pull while you are cruising or 'spinning'?

ebola

Interesting.. so what is being said is actively concentrating on pulling is not necassery ?

- I definitely feel some benefit from using SPDs ( 5 % ish, not sure ), I suppose this is just any slight lift (while spinning?) on the other side contributing some force however small ?

Could anyone more knowledgeable explain exactly how they help ( keeping the foot in the right place ? extending the angle range at which the push works ? )

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2LAP

Sorry, but I thought it was impossible given that with flat pedals (i.e. no toe clips or cleats) your feet come off the pedals when you lift them up! Its only possible with toe clips and clipless pedals, not very difficult at all if you put your resting leg on a box to the side of your bike!!!



Thought he was dead? How come he is still the number 1 TTer, did he ride the last worlds? David Miller might have something to say about that in Hamilton in a month or two!



Did he have rubber cranks that allowed his pedals to move in a non circular motion?

For more information on pedalling and Crowley's technique check out these other posts...

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t30727-15-1.html

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t31308-15-1.html

steve

Of course he's dead...he did die after all.

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zakeen

II think riding with one leg does major improvement in technic! I do heaps of it and see a huge improvement in my hill climing while sitting down!

Yes most of your power is while pushing down, but you can still add more power to that while pulling up! best way to test the difference is go to a hard hill, ride up it sitting down without pulling and then try ridding and pulling! You will see a huge difference in speed! But you must train these untrain muscels to cope with it!

ric_stern/RST

The research that has been carried out shows that better cyclists (elites versus divisional level) generate more power by producing greater force on the downstroke of the pedal and not on the upstroke. The less fit (and these were still good cyclists) produced more on the upstroke of the pedal cycle.

see: Physiological and biomechanical factors associated with elite endurance cycling performance. Coyle EF et al., 1991, Med Sci

Ric

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