Better workouts for riding longer and stronger Out-of-the-saddle ?
- Thread starter 90rpm
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just practice. Specificity.
I like big gear hill repeats on a 5-6 min hill. I'll alternate sitting and standing at ~50-60 rpm. Very good workout for that.
I like big gear hill repeats on a 5-6 min hill. I'll alternate sitting and standing at ~50-60 rpm. Very good workout for that.
You *might* find after doing lots of repeats, that you have some particular weakness like in the arms or shoulders or something and *maybe* some off the bike supplemental exercise *might* help but really it's what's been said...specificity. My take, FWIW, is that's particularly true here. Think about what is entailed. Other than actually doing it on the bike the nearest thing I can think of would be running up stairs on a ship in heavy seas. Maybe lobstermen are great climbers.
For climbing out of the saddle (but not sprinting out of the saddle, as the technique is altogether different) one would probably want to be "more efficient", while for sprinting one would want to be "faster". As soon as your ass separates from the saddle your heart has to get more blood to all sorts of other muscles.
I personally do not support any off the bike activity to get faster on the bike. While I have spent 1000's of hours in the gym lifting weights (and done tens of thousands of calf raises), I do not believe it made me any faster on the bike.
My vote would simply be to climb out of the saddle more and work on finding your own technique, one which you can maintain "efficiently" for extended periods. Take a look at two great climbers who spent time out of the saddle, Pantani and Contador, who's techniques are stylistically very different. Contador is very upright while Pantani spent much time climbing out of the saddle in the drops, with a more horizontally oriented upper body. That's about all I can say and certainly am no authority as I spend most of my climbing time seated, unless a level of gradient occurs that has me running out of gears.
I'm with danfoz on this question, with one additional suggestion. My observation is that many newbies waste a lot of energy riding out of the saddle. They try to emulate the out of the saddle sprint technique they see in race finishes. The more efficient way to ride out of the saddle is to recognize that your primary source of power is your body weight positioned directly over the downstroke pedal. This is the main reason for tilting the bike left and right of vertical. The upper body can be quite passive except for the force required to tilt the bike from side to side. But, even riding out of the saddle "efficiently," it takes more energy to ride at a given power than seated. I basically ride out of the saddle only on long climbs to give my back a little rest from time to time or in a sprint finish.
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