blutto said:
...interesting look at pedalling technique...interesting at the very least because it actually addresses the subject....
http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/05/pedalling-technique-what-is-best/
Cheers
blutto
Well, that is an interesting take on technique as far as this thread is concerned as he seems to think the main differences in technique stem from what the ankle does where we have been focusing on pedal forces. This increases the number of potential different techniques out there substantially.
I do take great exception to one point he makes. He writes:
"A problem that is almost endemic in our chair bound society is tight hip flexors, particularly the psoas. Hip flexors as a group lift the femur (upper leg bone) if the torso is fixed in position or help bend the torso forward if the legs are fixed in position. One of the hip flexors, the psoas, are the muscles in humans that are least adapted to an upright position. In quadruped mammals, the angle between femur and pelvis never exceeds 100 degrees, whereas in humans it approaches 180 degrees when standing upright. So our psoas needs to be able to stretch out enough to allow that. Unless you stretch properly and regularly it is unlikely that you will have flexible psoas because like most others, you spent 10+ years sitting at school; you sit on a bus, train or in a car to travel to work; you sit down to work and to eat; you sit down at home to relax and so on ad infinitum – , you get the picture; all of which cramp the psoas. This predilection for sitting means that most people attain adult hood with tight psoas (and other hip flexors and it only gets worse from there on unless a quality stretching regime improves the situation. The psoas is working in any position a human can maintain except lying down. As a species we sit too much causing us to develop short, tight psoas. Okay, nice little anatomy digression so far but where is it going?
Because the psoas originates from the 5 lumbar vertebrae (and discs) and the lowest thoracic vertebra and crosses the hip on its way to attaching high on the inner femur, it is absolutely not the muscle group that the great majority need to stress or tighten more. Tight psoas not only potentially load the lower back but also neurologicaly inhibit the gluteals, the largest most powerful muscle group we have and the one most responsible for extending the hip (pushing the upper leg down). Translation = don't pull up forcefully for extended periods if you want a pain free back. and glutes that work properly. It is natural to pull up forcefully when off the seat and occasionally for brief periods of acceleration in a big gear while seated. I repeat natural. It is not natural to pull up forcefully for long periods when seated. There are people who 'naturally' pedal like this and in almost all cases I have seen, this is a compensatory response to a woeful seat position, cleat position or both. I check psoas tonicity of every fit client under load. In my view, the psoas should be moving because the hip is moving but should not necessarily be active in steady state pedaling. The huge majority of fit clients exhibit a lot of psoas activity even on the down stroke! Now the psoas does play a part in supporting and bracing the lumbar spine but over a long time I've only seen this happen this down stroke tonicity in riders who had poor functional stability and poor motor patterns,which in turn are a result of poor posture and poor range of motion in hips and lower back. In other words, the majority. And no, I'm not kidding. "
This is so much BS and makes no functional biomechanical sense.
I would agree that "tight" HF's is a problem but not for the reasons he states. What does it mean that a muscle is "tight"? What it means is it doesn't relax well. What could cause this? It takes energy for a muscle to relax. The reason muscles become tight is not because they are used too much but because they are used too little and are deconditioned and do not have the neural pathways and muscle energy systems in place for efficient relaxation. So, during training not only are we training our muscles to contract better we are also training them to relax better because for efficient functioning, when the agonist muscle contracts the antagonist muscle must relax, and both must do this with good efficiency.
And, just because the psoas is attached to the spine is not a reason to think that using it would cause back pain. There is simply zero evidence to support such a conclusion. However, there is plenty of evidence that strengthening and balancing the core muscles (which the psoas is because it is attached to the spine) reduces back pain. And, this is supported by a ton of evidence from my customers who report that as they become better balanced their back pain that they have had for years when riding GOES AWAY. Telling people who have back pain that they should avoid using the psoas muscle is giving them advice that, IMHO, has a high likelihood of making them worse.
It also makes no sense to me that he says "I check psoas tonicity of every fit client under load." I can't imagine how he does this. The psoas is so deep it is pretty much impossible to palpate from the skin and I doubt he is doing rectal exams while his clients are riding the bike. Even university studies that look at muscles during cycling "ignore" the psoas because it is almost impossible to evaluate. How he does it during a bicycle fit makes no sense to me.
He is right that a tight psoas will inhibit the gluteals but the solution to this is not avoiding training them but, rather, training the muscle more.
Anyhow, other than the above, I agree with pretty much everything else he says except he really doesn't address any of the issues being discussed in this thread regarding pedal force application technique and timing.
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