The turbo trainer is a great piece of equipment that will let you ride year round and will let you do drills.
In today’s video I’m rocking some drills to help for pedal efficiency.
The more efficient you are the faster you can go with less effort. Think free speed 
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Why? I know lots of people – cyclists and coaches alike – recommend One Leg Drills. But, I’ve been thinking about it and reading about research and Michele Ferrari’s ideas about pedaling and cadence (I’m not concerned about his comments on cadence now, just how he talks about pedaling). It seems that having a more even pressure – pedaling round – doesn’t equate to more power. I agree you need to get your opposite leg out of the way so that you don’t have to push the weight of that leg and any resistance it may be causing up, but what I recall reading there’s no increase in power if you lift your leg or pull up. And, isn’t pedaling round, one leg drills all about lifting your leg? Hmm, also those funny cranks that aren’t connected and you need to lift up to get the crank and pedal back up to the top of the circle, haven’t proven to improve power or efficiency.
Ferrari talks about dancing on the pedals. If you think about it, and you look at all the running technique analysis, the faster you apply force and the faster you get off the pedal, the more power you produce and the more efficient you are.
Thoughts?
nlc
Hi All,
Good stuff Kerry,
There are primary and secondary benefits associated with most drills. The primary benefit of one leg drills such as the one that Kerry is demonstrating here is to improve the efficiency of the stroke, reducing “dead” time when the feet are at 6 and 12 oclock. The one leg drills “encourage” you to over emphasise the mud scrapping technique… This encourages you are enlist more muscle fibres in each pedal stroke, which increases your efficiency. This will not make a major difference to your instantaneous power output (your sprint).
But it is when we start to look at the secondary benefits that we start to see what we are really looking for. By engaging additional muscle fibres and increasing your efficiency, your overall performance will be improved as you will be able to maintain a given power level for a longer duration.
Well thats how I see it anyway.
Cheers
Paul
Kerry,
Thank you for that great info on the leg drills. What are your thoughts of power cranks? My feet go num doing IM. What might cause that? and prevent this from happening, so I can have a good run off the bike? Thanks
Kerry,
Glad you posted this work out! I love doin them and I’ve had great results in the past from doin’ this.
I have a question about the swim start… yesterday I did a triathlon, we didn’t jump into the water but stood up in the lake and then took off. It sucked, my timing chip got loose because someone accidentally puled it, luckly I was able to save it at the cost of getting dropped to the back of the pack. my question is how can I get a good swim start standing without using too much energy.
Hi Kerry.
I would like to start doing one legged pedaling drills on my bike trainer. How long should I work out on one leg?
Thanks, Bob
Hello Kerry, Still cannot play video? any ideas as to what is happening! Take care out there. Peter N.
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