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The Science Behind a Great Pedal Stroke

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  • čas přidán 12. 08. 2024
  • // Topics Covered In This Episode:
    00:00 - Intro
    14:43 - How power is produced through the pedal stroke
    18:39 - The muscle used for producing power on the bike
    23:23 - Torque effectiveness and the creation of an effective pedal stroke
    28:16 - Synchronizing the top and bottom of your pedal stroke
    // LINKS
    Articles:
    - Everything to Know About Pedaling to Maximize Your Cycling Power: www.bicycling.com/training/a2...
    - Why and When to Use Low-Cadence Intervals in Cycling Training: www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/lo...
    - Cycling Cadence: How Fast Should You Pedal for Ideal Performance: www.bicycling.com/health-nutr...
    Research:
    - Influence of duty cycle on the time course of muscle fatigue and the onset of neuromuscular compensation during exhaustive dynamic isolated limb exercise: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
    - Optimal cadence selection during cycling : review article | International SportMed Journal: journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.105...
    // GUEST
    Charlie Livermore first worked in Pro Cycling in 1989 with the Wheaties-Schwinn Cycling Team. Then he worked with Chris Carmichael at USA Cycling before spending three years with the Coors Lite Cycling Team, and finally seven years at the helm of the Volvo/Cannondale Pro MTB Team. In 2004, Charlie founded and operated a cycling performance center in Northern California. In 2006 he co-founded Continuum Sports, the management company of the BMC Pro Cycling Team. He joined CTS as a coach in 2011.
    // HOST
    Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for more than 14 years and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.
    / LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
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    Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/15dWnen...
    Google: bit.ly/3sZ07B8
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    Twitter: / trainright
    Facebook: / ctsathlete

Komentáře • 50

  • @mattsmallshot
    @mattsmallshot Před 4 měsíci +2

    as a motorcycle mechanic, this sounds like a inline twin 2 stroke engine, something to get in my mind when riding my bicycle now

  • @Velodictorian
    @Velodictorian Před 5 měsíci +3

    This totally explains the effect of too long of a crank that I was feeling. With 175s (I’m 5’7”), I always felt it difficult to get stroke started and started at 1230 or 1 instead of 11 that I can do with 165s. I also feel like I’m able to extend the stroke deeper into the 7 o’clock position. My circle is more circular instead of eccentric

  • @awalling1
    @awalling1 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Worked on this for the last month ,. Definitely focusing better trying in synchro 11-1, 5-7 . I Improved power and cadence +++ . Thanks soo much…

  • @silviapeterson1856
    @silviapeterson1856 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Brother Charlie! How great to see you on your first Podcast in your zone of genius. You are a natural and a wealth of knowledge! ❤

  • @rayF4rio
    @rayF4rio Před 6 měsíci +2

    My imagery is to to think of the crank/BB as a pepper mill (with the old little hand crank on top) and to think about grinding pepper with my legs. Been doing this since the 1990's and now its just natural. In fact I've had other cyclists ask how I've developed big hamstrings for cycling.

  • @billmccaffrey1977
    @billmccaffrey1977 Před 5 měsíci +2

    As a BKA (below knee amputation) of one side), this explains the lose of symmetrical force balance, which is not huge. The lose of dorsiflexion on one side is more significant. The prosthetic binds the area behind the knee causing you to need to bring that knee higher and thus can over extend the opposite leg. I have reduced my crank length to 165mm. I have learned to cycle at higher cadence 90 to 110 and use low cadence 50-60 to build strength. I would love to improve my efficiency even more.

    • @vantarpon6849
      @vantarpon6849 Před 5 měsíci +1

      I switched to 165mm cranks to address my hip arthritis/hip angle. Even at 6"2" , going from 175mm to 165mm was seamless and felt natural. Getting back on 175mm now feels strange. Good job on finding improvement with your situation.

  • @kennethderrington1229
    @kennethderrington1229 Před 5 měsíci

    Great presentation. Charlie I still remember how you helped me with cadence and pedal stroke 11 years ago climbing Squaw Pass on our way to Mt. Evans. Thanks again, I'm still learning and improving. Ken

  • @mariafernandapinzon843
    @mariafernandapinzon843 Před 6 měsíci

    Charlie Charlie !!! You are the best thank you for all your advise always pedaling. Thank you Adam for inviting him. You both are a great team !!

  • @derek75116
    @derek75116 Před 3 dny

    Does anybody know whether theres a power meter product that measues tangential power applied to the cranks ?
    Ive never owned power meters but really only interested in pedal stroke efficiency since power is derived from this.. per this video..
    So far as know
    1) quark type systems measure crank system torques
    2)Pedal strain gauges measure left vrs right leg inputs but not whether force applied is tangental.
    Perhaps theres a system that uses both pedals and a crank torque meter to resolve what is being lost with non tangential forces being applied at the pedal axel.
    If anyone knows please tell me 😁
    This has been a bit of a life obsession for me.
    I love the muscle oclock diagram in this video. Very cool.

  • @davidbee9563
    @davidbee9563 Před 5 měsíci

    I ride a fixed gear commuting bike year round with a low gear(38/16) in an area that is mostly flat bur some short climbs. What I find is you can learn to pedal efficiently at various speed/cadence and load/effort. Going downhill or with a tail wind to keep pedalling smooth, under control. And then uphill or into the wind smooth application of power at lower cadence. To be smooth at 60, 80, 100 and 120+ cadence.
    There is a short sequence of rolling hills on the edge of the city. Speed is 10 to 15km/h at the tops and 40 to 50km/h at the bottom. My fastest segment time is still on a fixed vs a geared bike.
    I am 185cm tall and ride with 175mm cranks on all my bikes. I have found with shorter cranks on road it does not feel like I am using the entire range of leg muscles. But on track I ride 170 cranks with a 46/16 and it feels OK, mostly riding 28 to 35km/h.
    Looking forward to part 2.

  • @larrysemer1582
    @larrysemer1582 Před 4 měsíci +2

    A lot of this seems to depend on saddle height

  • @gerrysecure5874
    @gerrysecure5874 Před 5 měsíci +3

    Optimal cadence depends on duration of the effort. Sprint 130, 5min 70, 20 min 80, 2 hrs 90 so its a U shape.
    Max power needs high cadence due to strength limit, vo2mx needs low cadence due to cardiac limit , long duration high cadence again due to muscle fatigue. Science sometimes is just unnecessarily dumb in complicating things.
    Edit: Thanks for feedback guys. Just keep in mind the numbers are rough averages to illustrate. Your individual optimum may be bit higher or lower depending on your training history, but you get the idea. When it feels right it probably is.

    • @bitchoflivingblah
      @bitchoflivingblah Před 5 měsíci

      clear and concise. thanks.

    • @salmar1634
      @salmar1634 Před 5 měsíci

      Wow! That's exactly what I needed to know, cadence according to type of indoor workout. Always wondering if I'm doing my Vo2 and thresholds correctly.

    • @Gabrielle4870
      @Gabrielle4870 Před 5 měsíci

      Scientific data to back this proposition?

    • @neoneherefrom5836
      @neoneherefrom5836 Před 5 měsíci

      When it feels right it probably is… until it doesn’t … and it isn’t…
      Thresholds can come without warning and can be masked by analgesic effects.

    • @gerrysecure5874
      @gerrysecure5874 Před 3 měsíci

      @@Gabrielle4870 Brain and experience.

  • @ChrisAcheson
    @ChrisAcheson Před 2 měsíci

    Adding pedal upstroke power is key.

  • @emmabird9745
    @emmabird9745 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Hi Guys, this is very interesting. I've been riding for nearly 60 years so i have some bad habits. I've tried making my strokes "back and forth" like you appear to be saying, 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock and 5 to 7 but its never felt right.
    Recently I've been pulling the upstroke, thats the areas 5 and 6 in your first slide by concentrating on lifting the rear leg only and letting the front leg do its own thing and my trainning loop times have tumbled, I'm going about 10% faster. My reasonning is that instead of the negative torque (the red bit on your torque graph) I'm now producing positive torque there (turn red to blue). By practice over about a month I can easily keep this up for more than 30 minutes. I am now trying 0.5kg ankle weights and feel as though those muscles are getting stronger (I'm even faster when I leave them off).
    Am I doing wrong?
    Is my back and forth techniqe simply needing more exercise and give up on the lifting up or even can I combine both? Any views?

  • @topcat304
    @topcat304 Před 5 měsíci

    In studying physics and physics in sports, we sometimes get terms confused. In terms of Power, I think we need to are talk about 'Work' ; W=F x Distance. This is the same for the length of the push by a speed skater on ice or the force on the pedal by a cyclist. Time of application is important. The same force applied over a longer period = more 'Work' being done and faster speed. ( im only referring to the time of application to the pedal, not the distance the body part travels)

    • @neoneherefrom5836
      @neoneherefrom5836 Před 5 měsíci +1

      I’m not exactly sure what you’re trying to say but I’m pretty sure there’s a simpler way of saying it. Lol

    • @topcat304
      @topcat304 Před 5 měsíci +1

      ​@@neoneherefrom5836You are probably right. Just start your push at 11:30 instead of 2:30. This like other techniques needs to be practiced when you are fatigued as well.

    • @neoneherefrom5836
      @neoneherefrom5836 Před 5 měsíci +1

      @@topcat304 begin momentum a little earlier than necessary prior to the optimal force requirement phases of the pedal cycle to ensure continuity stroke over stroke!

    • @topcat304
      @topcat304 Před 5 měsíci +1

      @@neoneherefrom5836 I guess we could use the old saying "If your not early, you're late!"

    • @neoneherefrom5836
      @neoneherefrom5836 Před 5 měsíci +1

      @@topcat304 BINGO!!!! just like you’d be a damned fool to go into the base of a small hill with minimal momentum and suboptimal gearing when doing otherwise could very well do half the work for you depending on the size of the hill.
      Ain’t science a beautiful thing when it’s applied to a sport you love. ;)

  • @racittaj
    @racittaj Před 5 měsíci

    The problem is that first you need: 1. Ideal crank length for your body and discipline/position(road, tt, gravel, xc..)
    2. Perfect q factor/stance width
    4. Perfect cleat position, shoes and insoles.
    3. Perfect symmetry L/R. Shims/wedges, different crank length L/R- nobody have perfect symmerty by default!
    One you get all this correct than you can start..

  • @edwarding4355
    @edwarding4355 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Shorter cranks seem to follow this logic.

  • @salmar1634
    @salmar1634 Před 6 měsíci

    Great presentation! My question is if my indoor bike on a smart trainer has 172.5 cranks and my outdoor bike has 170, is this a bad thing or a long term issue. I typically ride out on weekends and 3 rides during the workweek.

    • @gerrysecure5874
      @gerrysecure5874 Před 5 měsíci

      Don't worry, unless you have a medical limitation you won't feel nothing. I once bought a left side 175mm PM for my (winter) MTB and in summer I mounted it on the roadbike which had 172.5 mm on the chainside. I noticed after several years by accident when I cleaned the bike.
      People make a fuss about mm forgetting we are inherently asymmetric biological entities not precision machines.

    • @vantarpon6849
      @vantarpon6849 Před 5 měsíci

      @@gerrysecure5874 Well said regarding asymmetries. Same can be said about obsessing about L/R leg power distribution.

  • @tan240sx
    @tan240sx Před 5 měsíci

    Why does the diagram at 28:05 show peak torque being at 3 o'clock? That's about where I start applying power and I peak at just before 6 o'clock. Seems counterintuitive.

    • @WanderingSword
      @WanderingSword Před 5 měsíci

      diagram is correct. Peak torque is at 3 oclock, not 6. Reason is at 3 oclock is where you apply most leverage to the crankarms

    • @gerrysecure5874
      @gerrysecure5874 Před 5 měsíci

      Your rotation speed may be near max at 6 o'clock, but your torque approaches zero.

  • @edsassler
    @edsassler Před 5 měsíci +2

    Painful to listen to… First there is the difference between feeling and measuring. I built an adjustable bike that is plate loaded (it lifts plates instead of turning a wheel) to isolate forces produced - that’s my static measurement. What a rider feels is feedback from muscles. A tiny muscle working at its limit will feed back the same information as a large muscle working at its limit, but produce almost no force. That’s why people think they are generating force by pulling up on the pedal. Trying to teach a rider to pedal better by feel can’t work. Try engineering a pedal stroke based on the geometry of the body and its large muscle groups - glutes & quads. Quads extend the pedal from the knee, which is only effective from 11:00 to 2:00 (you actually got that one right). With the range isolated you then have to look at mechanical advantage. The attachment point of the connective tissue from the quad is very close to the pivot, it’s designed for foot speed in running. If you teach a rider to isolate just the quad by having them clip in with just one foot and accelerate the pedal from 11 to 2 over and over until that range becomes second nature, you can then start testing for effective cadence. Quads don’t like to produce torque, much below 80 RPM and the heart rate goes up without a corresponding change in power. Using hamstrings to pull back on the opposing range doesn’t work. Try getting the hamstring to keep up at 80 cycles/second - not gonna happen.
    Teaching a rider to isolate their glutes is easy, but It goes against their primary skill set - lifting their body weight. The basis for walking/running/standing is lifting your body weight. It involves firing the quad and extending from the knee. It’s your most used skill. When you sit on a bike and think about pushing down with the pedal at 3:00, your brain says “we know how to do that” and it fires the quad. From that position, extending the lower leg from the knee pushes the pedal forward. I have a simple way to teach isolating glutes, it’s called sitting. When you sit on a chair with your feet on the ground and lean forward, weight transfer is to the floor via the glutes.
    My point in all of this is that you’re not critical enough about how riders are pedaling, you lack a means of measuring, and you haven’t really figured out the engineering.

  • @speedy81
    @speedy81 Před 5 měsíci

    Great show and presentation. Does crank arm length affect how smooth is one's pedal stroke? I'm 5foot 3, not tall, fairly flexible and don't have any major hip impingement. I have been using 170mm cranks for the last 3years but just started trying out 165mm cranks. Still getting used to the shorter crank arm and i do feel my pedal stroke is smoother but feel it's more effort when using bigger chainrings. I missed the leverage from 170mm crank arms? Is this just a matter of giving my body time to adapt to the shorter crank arm ?

  • @Gabrielle4870
    @Gabrielle4870 Před 5 měsíci +1

    Learn to ride the rollers, fixed, free wheel, two legs, one leg. It'll be very obvious when / where you aren't smooth.

  • @argeelearner3978
    @argeelearner3978 Před 5 měsíci

    Can you address crank length inyou need podcast?

  • @tomrecane6366
    @tomrecane6366 Před 5 měsíci

    Rollers. It’s almost impossible to ride them without a smooth cadence as described in this video.

  • @stevedrake6529
    @stevedrake6529 Před 4 měsíci

    That guy says you know way too much!

  • @MrTeff999
    @MrTeff999 Před 5 měsíci

    Eliminate P-minus and gain free power. IMO

  • @The123fiona
    @The123fiona Před 4 měsíci

    Id be a bit more impressed id they could spell the word "pedal" correctly.

  • @paterjan9733
    @paterjan9733 Před 5 měsíci

    The first and most important optimization is the body. This accounts for at least 90% of the performance. And you can't buy that with money. Getting your body into good shape is hard work over many years. And you learn everything about how to pedal and sit correctly through experience. Everything else is nonsense.

    • @stephendenagy3396
      @stephendenagy3396 Před 5 měsíci +2

      There is some truth in what you say, because the whole body generates power. As a physician, I recommend bicycling for developing core strength. But, for athletes, and aging individuals with bad knees (as myself), the mechanical aspects they discuss are CRITICAL. They are discussing efficiency, but poor duty cycle will lead to knee pain as well as being inefficient. What they didn’t really mention is that with bad ergonomics really, really strong people can be effective, perhaps later at the expense of joints, and loss of theoretical performance. This actually is very good stuff.

    • @derek75116
      @derek75116 Před 3 dny

      @@stephendenagy3396Yes !, after 1 million kms, age 53, i have loose cross over ligaments, actually more so, worn down knee cartladge, so employing too much power 10 to 2.00 o’clock probably isnt so good for my knees these days. Oh how i wish stem therapy could build up my cartilage again… can it ?