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Why do you need 'hill climbing power'?
Choose a lower gear, spin twice as fast and push half as hard. You'll still go the same speed.
I'm prepared to get flamed here but, surely to "develop hill climbing power" as per the title one must increase muscle strength? Squats, deadlifts etc? in addition to building stamina.Wouldn't hill climbing as a means to hill climb training only really develop endurance? (albeit with some limited strength increase).
Power = Work / Time?
Having big muscles doesnt mean you'll get up a hill quicker as you'll be heavier and you wont have any endurance if you've just been doing weights in the gym.
Fitness is a vague term. And your ultimate strength is only one aspect. How hard you can push the pedals is one thing but also how many times you can turn them is another.. 🙂 Lots of interacting factors in how quickly you can get up a hill.
davidtaylforthHaving big muscles doesnt mean you'll get up a hill quicker as you'll be heavier and you wont have any endurance if you've just been doing weights in the gym.
Not necessarily big muscles - but stronger.
And I wasn't implying that gym work alone would be a means to any end.
Hill climbing is the end result of a number of means. Getting stronger is not the only way.
I have strong legs but can out climb a number of my friends (most) some of which are much stronger than me. I road bike a lot which I feel keeps me in good shape for mtb. I do ride more than them so specificity of training is relevant. This is a really important part of training; training in too abstract a fashion (eg weights for hill climbing) can be used in a complimentary fashion, but your body needs practise in the activity you are training for too.
Aerobic fitness contributes, lung capacity, mental focus (a little, you obviously can't think your way up the hill!), smoothness, cadence, bike setup eg ht vs fs, spd vs flat etc (again a subtle contributing factor) and many more I can't think of right this minute. Oh, and a strong core too...power transmission etc.
A consistent smooth spin in your Granny is better than a wiggly honk out of the saddle in the mid ring. Power is nowt without control.
I searched google and found an extract by a doctor named after a special lady wig
http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/cycling_cadence.html
It seems (not just from his article) that spinning away sat down might be the most efficient way to get up hills? I sure hope so because I am not very good at dancing around on the pedals.
but your body needs practise in the activity you are training for too
Yeah, neurological training I think, isn't it? A big part of it.
And yes I think sitting is more efficient than standing because you are not wasting energy bobbing your body up and down (or even supporting it for that matter)
Depends on the size of the hill, and the incline....
And yes I think sitting is more efficient than standing because you are not wasting energy bobbing your body up and down (or even supporting it for that matter)
It depends how steep the hill is I think.
There comes a point when you can't get enough power down in the saddle for biomechanical reasons.. but if you can it's still more [i]efficient[/i] (not poweful) to sit down.
Think about the number of active muscle groups, if the bike is supporting you then primarily propulsive effort is used. If you honk, then you have to use more energy to support, balance and counterbalance your movements. My bike starts waggling a fair bit side to side if I climb "stood up", which is a lot of upper movement (not tiring, but it's dividing your resources), I think the main thing is the additional strain to your core when stood vs sat.
Efficiency is key.
Perfect, you have a kid. Use the kid to get strong, buy a bike trailer find quiet safe place to ride with hills, tell the wife to go out and have some time to herself, get a good training session in, earn some bonus points from wife and spend quality time with kids. Everyones happy and you get stronger 😀
It seems (not just from his article) that spinning away sat down might be the most efficient way to get up hills?
It may well be but with the hills around here I find myself in the very lowest gear, pedalling squares half the time
............ and as for those training plans that tell you to climb and keep your heart rate under 85% 🙄 how the hell do you do that on a 20-25% hill?
standing up increases the power as you add your weight but you also need to support it so you get more power AND more effort
the effort is greater than the power iirc 10% more power 15% more effort
Googled this a while back and the most convincing post I found was from a guy on a runners forum. Said he'd tried the gym, tried interval, running up and down smaller hills etc.
But they only way he managed to make up a really big one that always beat him was to run, then walk when it got too much, then attack as soon as he recovered.
Each time he made it a bit further and eventually to the top without stopping.
I've always found riding a s/s doesn't help my fitness, in fact it has an overall negative effect. 🙁 It does help with that out of the saddle honk. But there's far to much down time coasting or spinning like a hamster, but not getting anywhere. Use your gears to go faster not just slower and strength and fitness will come. 🙂
Just ride your bike, a lot 🙂
No doubt sitting pedaling is more efficient. That's why stand up pedaling is good for training.