In Reply To:
[snip]
let me see if i understand the issues here.
there are people who believe that engaging hip flexors, and perhaps other muscles that aid the recovering leg, is generally accretive to faster cycling overall. those (like joe friel) who ascribe to the idea of a pedal stroke exhibiting a "flatter torque profile" fall into this camp as does, obviously, powercranks and its owner frank day. you can also throw in the people who ascribe to isolated leg training, one-leg drills, and the old (andy will remember this) "spin coach" sold by ralph ray.
then there are those, and i think perhaps ed coyle (u of texas) might be the best known exemplar, who believe that you just stomp down hard on the pedal, not unlike what we used to do as 3-year-olds on our tricycles. these people believe that what you do on the downstroke is what matters almost entirely, and engaging your hip flexors or flattening your torque profile is counterproductive to being a good cyclist.
am i on the right track so far?
I would say that is a nice assessment of the two camps. Add a little emotion from both sides ("those claims are impossible" "how can you be so obtuse to not see the possibilities") and the fact that neither side has the evidence to prove their case and these threads ensue.
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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks