There's some opportunities to use unexpected muscles to help push the pedals
while standing -- I'm offering four here -- because you have more freedom of
body position when standing on the bike. I'm listing these four moves here
because they can be fun to try out (and I couldn't figure out how to post
them to rec.bicycling.fun). Also because some people have been saying
recently on r.b.t that they believe that using more different muscles for
pedaling will make you go faster -- so here's some chances for them to try
to prove their point.
More different muscles to help push while standing:
(A) pull up on handlebar with arm
(B) tilt pelvis to push hip down toward pedal
(C) push upper leg sideways from hip (w bike tilted)
(D) push lower leg sideways from knee
.. (more details below)
Questions:
* which ones have you tried? which ones were fun?
* did you find some others?
* which ones seemed to help more?
* which ones do pro racers use? in what situations?
* which ones do pro racers not use? why not?
more details on each move:
(A) pull up on handlebar with arm.
I see two possible modes of this:
.. (A1) static: Prevent the upper body from rising, so more of the main leg
down-push goes into pushing the pedal down, and less into lifting the weight
of the upper body.
.. (A2) dynamic: Actually move the upper body downward a little bit, so it
adds positive Work to pushing on the pedal. (The key difference with A2 is
that you don't just think about moving it, or try to move it -- you actually
succeed in moving it down a little.)
(B) tilt the pelvis sideways to push hip down toward pedal.
While the hip on the downstroke moves down, the other hip tends to move up.
Perhaps this is what kinesiologists call "Lateral Flexion" or "Abduction" of
the lower spine?
http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Spine.html#anchor166721
The "rotational axis" of this move is a horizontal line front-to-back
roughly thru center of pelvis or midpoint between hips.
(C) push the upper leg + knee out sideways, from below hip joint (with bike
tilted).
This move only helps to push the pedal down if the hip is already out away
to the side, nowhere near the seat or the top tube. I think the
kinesiologists call this "Hip Abduction":
http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Hip.html#anchor847041
The "rotational axis" of this move is a horizontal line front-to-back thru
the hip joint.
(D) push the lower leg + ankle out sideways, from below knee joint (with
bike tilted).
This move only helps to push the pedal down if the knee is already out away
to the side, not near bike frame.
I think the kinesiologists call this "Medial Hip Rotation" or "Internal Hip
Rotation":
http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Hip.html#anchor849446
The "axis" of this move is roughly the long bone of the upper leg. If I'm
standing with my leg straight, this move just aims my kneecap more inside
toward the other leg, not very interesting. But if I'm sitting down with my
knee bent and my lower leg hanging down, this move moves my whole lower leg
with ankle toward the outside -- and that's the way to make it push the
pedal down, if the knee is first put into a good position for it. Sometimes
I've tried to exaggerate this knee position by thinking of "pointing" my
knee out to the side.
Ken