Leg power discrepency

giannip

Hi

I THINK I have a slight discrepency in my leg power output.

I was trying to think of the best way to figure out how to check this.

Would pedalling at say 90rpm (or whatever) with each leg and on an IDT work ?

vetboy

The new Polar CS600 w power measures left vs right power output ... assuming you were looking for a new power meter.

Joe

Alex Simmons

Suggest joining wattage forum and reading this post:
http://groups.google.com/group/watt...bfc7b455c12009#

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giannip

No chance I'll be separated from my PowerTap...

giannip

ok great. I'm a member so will take a look.

thanks

Bill Black

We are not "Borg" -- seriously, almost everyone has a (power) discrepancy between their two sides and, further, it often varies depending on the exertion level at which it is measured. If the difference results from an injury or physiological condition, then PT could be appropriate -- likewise if the difference is quite significant. Almost all of the riders I have worked with have had a discernable difference between their two sides.

Best,
Bill Black

giannip

no, as soon as I wrote it I should have ammended it to say that I don't believe it's a big difference. I suppose it's just my nature to see if I could "teach" the weaker leg to be "up to speed" so to speak

Eden

If you can get on a Computrainer somewhere (does a local fitness club maybe have one - or even a local PT?) there's a pedal stroke analysis that will show any discepencies. It's actually not so silly to want to know. Yeah - I wouldn't expect to be perfectly symetrical, but I had a discrepancy that showed on the computrainer during my bike fit and it turned out that I also had a leg length discrepency. Putting some shims in my shoe really evened me out.

Fday

A pair of PowerCranks will diagnose leg weakness very well because you can't compensate for any weakness with the strong leg so the weakness shows up very quickly. If you have a weakness, training with a pair of PowerCranks will correct you leg weakness very well because you can't compensate for any weakness with the strong leg so the weakness is corrected very quickly

veloventoux

Strangely enough when riding my bike using Powercranks my Polar CS600P indicates (51/49) for the average left/right power balance. When on my bike using standard cranks CS600P says (54/46).

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Jeff a dit le meilleur est à venir.

Fday

I am not so sure why you find that strange, as the regular cranks allow for compensation whereas the PC's don't. You are probably backing off a little bit on your strong leg (and increasing your weak leg a little also) that is making yourself better balanced when riding the PC's. As you keep pushing your PC ability though you should find you are balanced and the "same" on both cranks, as the weak leg improves.

Only caveat to the above would be if you don't ride the PC's very often, the changes are either not going to happen or they will happen very slowly. Need to ride the PC's a lot to see the balancing occur.

Steve_B

and if s/he doesn't keep riding with them, the changes won't be permanent?

Steve_B

As your signature implies, "the best is yet to come". So that you do not disappoint Jeff, you need to seek a perfect 50/50 balance. I'm sure that you can do it if you try hard enough. Bonne chance!

Fday

Actually, I disagree with this. Leg imbalances tend to occur because of compensatory patterns that develop after injury. If one can get the legs rebalanced then I think they will tend to stay that way unless another injury occurs and they become unbalanced again. Now, pedaling form is another thing. :-)