{"id":164150,"date":"2018-04-06T12:17:03","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T12:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=164150"},"modified":"2018-04-06T12:17:54","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T12:17:54","slug":"improve-pedal-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/04\/06\/improve-pedal-stroke\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Pedal Stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Your nickname in the cycle club is \u201cGuns\u201d on account of your huge thighs. So why do you keep getting dropped on the club ride? Maybe it\u2019s time you looked at your technique.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Knees pointing forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The biggest indicator that you\u2019re not pedalling properly is that your knees point outwards at the top of each stroke. If you look like Charlie Chaplin when you ride your road bike, your saddle is probably too low. You\u2019re losing watts because your muscles aren\u2019t being used efficiently. Here\u2019s how to fix it.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=FVu5Zrktm40 params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/FVu5Zrktm40\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>If your knees still point out when you\u2019re out-of-the-saddle climbing, or if you\u2019re doing a lot of BMX or MTB riding, you may need to work on strengthening your glutes and lower back muscles, as these aren\u2019t worked so hard if you spend a lot of time in the saddle. Work on your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LVD7WoIJwGA\">floor bridge<\/a> exercise.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Strengthen your arches<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Sure, we all want thunder thighs, but they could be the result of your foot not carrying all the power they generate into the pedals. In other words, your thighs may be every cyclist\u2019s worst nightmare \u2013 excess baggage. This video shows you one exercise to improve your power-to-pedal transfer.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=XBvfk3zwiiE params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/XBvfk3zwiiE\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>Exercising your tibialis posterior helps those of us with flat-feet. But, even those blessed with a healthy arch will be surprised at the performance increases after doing this exercise.<\/p>\n<p>Invite your long-suffering partner to hold <a href=\"https:\/\/www.johnlewis.com\/john-lewis-resistance-band-light\/p231332163\">the band<\/a> while they catch up on their favourite tv show.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Use cleats<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Pretty much every cyclist who starts using cleats wonders why they didn\u2019t do it sooner. You\u2019ll go through a period of adjusting them so your feet are comfortable &#8211; but it\u2019s time well spent. Nothing teaches you about pedalling like cleats \u2013 and nothing improves your efficiency.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=fzQNudLGoIk params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/fzQNudLGoIk\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>Suddenly you understand how your legs work together in one circular motion, rather than firing off like pistons one after the other. I use them on my road bike, but I still prefer flat top pedals on my off-road and Brompton commuter. My road bike cleats have improved my pedalling on all bikes.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Scrape and point technique<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Assuming your connection to the pedals is sufficient, either because you\u2019re using cleats, or a grippy shoe\/pedal combination, you can focus on how your power is transferred throughout the stroke. As soon as your foot hits the top of the stroke, put as much energy into pushing your foot forward as you do in pushing it down.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/04\/svaly-na-kole-1080x1080-1024x1024.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-164152\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/04\/svaly-na-kole-1080x1080-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This applies force through the first 180 degrees of your stroke. At the bottom of your stroke, jut your ankle down and pull your heel back as if scraping something off the bottom of your shoe. If you\u2019re wearing cleats you can actually pull upwards continuing to apply power through all 360 degrees. Now go practice!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your nickname in the cycle club is \u201cGuns\u201d on account of your huge thighs. So why do you keep getting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":164154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[332],"tags":[1861],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-164150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-training","tag-pedal-stroke"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Improve Your Pedal Stroke - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your nickname in the cycle club is \u201cGuns\u201d on account of your huge thighs. So why do you keep getting dropped on the club ride? Maybe it\u2019s time you looked\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/04\/06\/improve-pedal-stroke\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Improve Your Pedal Stroke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your nickname in the cycle club is \u201cGuns\u201d on account of your huge thighs. So why do you keep getting dropped on the club ride? 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