In praise of one leg drills (... and older women)

[thwart]

Wait... at my age all the women older than me are on Geritol. :crap:

But one leg drills. Wow. Started to do some regularly on the rollers this winter and have now been out on the road enough to see the effects.

Best description I can come up with of the improvement I've seen is that the short steep hills around here have lost 5 degrees of grade, and the crests have magically moved 50 meters closer.

At this point in my training the benefits on the flats are a bit less dramatic. Although... high cadence riding/spinning is much smoother.

Why did I wait so long?

[fiamme red]

I've been experimenting with no-leg drills on the stationary bike lately, but they don't seem to be doing anything for my outdoor riding. :confused:

[Matt-H]

Hey Thwart,

Could you share specifics of the roller drills, please?

Thanks!

Matt :beer:

[thwart]

Sure...

ONE LEG ONLY Drills (OLDs): These drills are the hallmark of a serious cyclists off season training program. They are the most efficient and cost effective way to develop your pedaling efficiency and technique. Remember when you pedal with both legs, the leg that pulls the foot through the bottom of the stroke, up the back and over the top, gets lazy. That's because the other leg is pushing the pedal down, a much more powerful and natural action than pulling the pedal up! Now, think about it: if your leg doesn't help bring the pedal up and over the top, it's just dead weight. It increases the resistance your muscles must overcome to move your bike down the road. Learning to complete a 360-degree circle with each leg makes you a better more efficient rider, which automatically makes you a better more efficient runner too! The key 'feeling' you want is to have constant pressure on the pedal at all times during the entire cycle. Here's a tip: think of your pedal stroke as a box: push earlier over the top, push down and then pull straight back at the bottom.

Most importantly, vary gearing and also build volume slowly. It's best to start with an easy gear (for neuromuscular development) and then progress to a very BIG gear for force development. Start with short repetitions of 30sec and build up to 2-5 minutes. Cadence should also vary. As a general rule, keep cadence below that point when your stroke begins to break up. Avoid constantly hitting dead spots---slow to a lower cadence and then increase over time as you improve.

Man... can't imagine 5 minutes of it... but then again, I'm old and weak. :D

I'm sure someone like TiDesigns could elaborate further.

[TBDSeattle]

I've been incorporating one leg drills (OLDs) into my daily commute for about two years.

My commute is only about 5 miles each way so normally I'd call these junk miles and not count them in my training. By incorporating OLDs into the routine I can actually get a bit of a workout.

I do pyramids with each leg. 30 rotations, 40, 50, 60, 50, 40, and then 30.... or go higher depending on how I feel that day.

Since I have a rear rack on my commuter bike for panniers I flip the leg that I'm not using up and hook the toe on the rear rack. It is actually surprisingly comfortable and keeps that leg from hovering off to the side and getting hit by the ghost crank.

When I first started the routine it was torture... now it is taxing, but tolerable. And I have noticed a remarkable smoother stroke when I ride with both feet.

The closest thing that I can liken it to is riding a fixie... after a week or two on one of those you can feel how much smoother your stroke is on a regular bike. But doing OLDs has the advantage of not requiring tight pants, a backwards ball cap, and an inability to stop!

Best- TBDSeattle

[Matt-H]

Thanks for the info. I am going to try this today, but I'm thinking pyramids more along the lines of 3,4,5,6,5,4,3...