Pedaling a bicycle (i.e. generating power on a bike) is not only dependent on the strength of the muscles, but also on a series of neuromuscular patterns. The more coordinated we make these patterns be, the more efficient we generate power in a bio-mechanical sense. If you want to further excel at the sport of cycling, you need to possess not only the ability to pedal hard but also the ability to pedal efficiently.
December is a special month for Endeavor Performance. In December we start everyone with a clean slate and kick off training for the next year’s season. Before we progress to solely dedicate time to developing fitness we allocate time to work on pedaling technique. Listed below are a few of the drills we’ll be completing this month.
Isolated Leg
Anyone who has attempted to pedal with a single leg knows how much strength and coordination is required to pedal strongly and efficiently. This drill creates the need for the legs to both be strong and efficient.
Spin-ups
Spin-ups are an effective drill to be aware of your pedaling pattern by thoughtfully increasing your cadence over an increment of time. Slowly working up to higher cadences allows the athlete to be intent of staying efficient.
9 to 3s
Pedaling as if the feet were on a clock dial, the objective is to sooner initiate each pedal into its power phase. The drill helps the athlete engage their muscles (specifically hip extensors) prior to 12 o’clock (otherwise known at top-dead-center (TDC)). We see many athletes wait too long in the the power phase producing hard but inefficient patterns.
Interested in working to pedal more efficiently? We’ll work with you during our December training offerings at Endeavor Performance. View the training schedule at https://endeavorperformance.com/training/training-schedule/.