While I will be working on it more tomarrow, you can get a glimpse of my 2003 plan at: www.garytingley.com/powercranks



I'd like to hear about specific increases in cycling performance using the cranks



Gary

gary. i will be watching your progress. i did write a brief summaryon the www.cruciblefitness.com forum, for rich strauss. i rode them for 2 months prior to IMMOO. in that time i showed a 1 min per mi increase in the run within 5 weeks, and i was able to do easy long brick workouts for 75 mi total riding at my previous 1/2 IM all out race speed - 15 bpm lower also. this carried on thru MOO, and exactly what mr day predicted for me. these two things, faster running and a lower HR for your avgspeed are the first benefits - actual speed increases take a little longer. this is, i believe , due the fact that speed is ruled by power and effort by efficiency. PC's improve efficiency quickly, and then it is up to you to build power within your newly raised "ceiling", as it were.

as an aside, i was deep in the heart of IM prep when i got mine. i was able to ride as far as i wanted and as hard as i wanted. the transition to them never hurt me or my plan/miles one iota. tim

TTN: The only issue for me, aside from price :), has been this question of transitioning to the PCs and how they would affect my training. I see mileage varies considerably. You say you had no interruption, but other people are saying it takes several weeks to months to make the change fully because your legs get so tired. I know when I do Dr. Arnie Baker's 1 leg drills my legs are toast the next day! Since the PCs are probably more effective at wearing out legs, :), how can people maintain their training without interrupting their regimen? This seems like a problem best addressed in the winter or very early in the season. Do most folks put the PCs on their training bikes and gradually build endurance?

Thanks,

Robert, who missed Godot, but will wait for a sale. :)

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

robert. i shared that concern based on what i had heard. so, i put them on the day i got them, took two one hour spins the next day, and the third day i took off work in the morning and did a 100 mi ride. after that i only took them off for the IM and once when i led a couple elite riders (MOO kona qualifier rich strauss and his coaching partner jon pedder and friend) on a huge 120 mi day on the MOO course. this is a record of sorts, but i am not an elite anything, so it can be done. in fact i suggest you try to go farther than you think you can, as it cemented the benefit of the cranks to me. at someplace around mi 70, i began to have trouble "keeping up" with my hip flexors, and had to , for 5 - 10 mile kind of one leg it, or go 1 for two right to left, or even sort of do a technique like rotor cranks where you use one driving leg for 8 hrs of the circle and recover the other leg over 4 hrs slowly. after this i was recovered and did fine. the telling thing was that even duringthe fatigue my speed scarsely dropped - it is amazing what not pedalling against yourself can do for you.

anyway, after that i continued with IM training as before - 3 hr rides, 4,5hr. shorter harder hill days, whatever. i was fine. as i say your results may vary, i am not fast but have ridden bikes for many years, used to practice "ankling" and riding with "supplese" back in the day and all that. i also xc skate ski and so my hip flexors were not COMPLETELY undeveloped. but you never know till you try. my running only improved from day one. so, in answer to your question : for me i got them at the very height of training volume 2 mo before my first IM and never looked back. neither volume nor quality suffered, quite the contrary. thanx for asking. tim

I am wondering if it is really the "hip flexor" muslces that are being used here. Could you really be training the biceps ("hamstrings")? It seems unlikely that the "hip flexors" would come into play much when the legs are already flexed nearly 90 degreess towards the body in the normal cycling position. In fact, It seems to me that pulling up uses the biceps and so the upper leg is just "along for the ride" so to speak. I base this on my normal cycling in which I always pull up on the back/up stroke and never feel tired in the "hip flexors" but do feel tired in the biceps. Any comments on that? any test data to show exactly which muscles are being used?

c2k. judging by the way they scream and the fact that i can see my HF's now where 20 odd years of cycling never elicted either i have to say the HF's are highly activated by PC-ing. indeed, from the rear of the clockface at say 7:00 to 11;00 you can watch them and feel them working, and when they fatigue you can stare at your leg lieing dead in the water. unquestionably other groups are activated as well. it is amazing how much we all let ourselves allow our driving leg to not only actively lift the recovering leg, but let other parts of our body slough off as a result. it is the sort of thing you will know immediately once you experience it o the point of exhaustion, and nothing i ever did came remotely close to duplicating it. as i say a double blind study is impossible - experiencial eveidence is valid if you are the one experiencing it and others more or less unanimously do to, IMHO. here a post from the other forum is responce to the question " where does the power come from? maybe you will find it interesting:

" two main places, i believe, perfection.
1. no matter who you are you think you are pedalling circles and "spinning" your legs and keeping your recovering leg out of the way at least but you are not. 5 minutes on a set of PC's will demonstrate to ANYBODY that they have essentially NEVER actully lifted their recovering leg actively. so, part of your pedalling effort is actually not going to the wheel, but instead giving your other leg a boost to the top of the pedal stroke.
2. as you actively maintain postitve pressure all the way around the pedal stroke you will develpoe muscle groups which you have heretofore never used. more active muscle groups + no more diversion of energy into pushing your deadwood recovery leg up = more power to the rear wheel at less perceived exertion.

it is masterfully simple - cycliss have been trying to do this for 100 years, with one legged drills, spin ups, fixed gear riding, etc etc. PC's effectively do for you with every pedal stroke what those things do at best partially and for very limited scope." good day! tim

Robert,

People vary in their abilities. I tend to put the worse case up so people don't think they are going to put these on and suddenly be able to ride faster and longer. NOBODY does that.

However, that being said, I must say I am surprised how fast people seem to adapt to them now that many are using them exclusively. I think in the beginning many went back and forth and that really slows things down. Almost everyone, it seems, who have a good base now, can get up to 100 miles on them in 2-3, maybe 4 weeks if they really try. They won't be riding fast at the end but they will be able to walk after the ride and ride again the next day.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

The hamstrings get traineed also. It is just that most people complain most about the HF's. They seem to be the PC limiters for most people.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

second oldest thread ever

 
i noticed we don't hear much about powercranks anymore. i remember when i first started reading ST a lot, maybe 2010ish, they came up quite a lot. anyone still using them?

No.

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New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

12 years later.......

A few people use them. H2Ofun among others I believe.

PC's are a sore topic around here. Be careful.

I have always been a fan Powercranks but they are getting harder and harder to deal with the newer external bottom brackets.

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Soooo much power!!!

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

Lots of folks use them, I continue to be one of them.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Oh come on. Let's not start this shit again.

or...and I'm going to go out on a very, very sturdy limb, it's not so much what you are doing in training as you're just genetically predispositioned that even in spite of yourself, you're just an above average runner, especially for your age

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Not likely...Dave has poor genetics and it is all his hard work and ignoring every coach and expert that has allowed him to achieve greatness despite his genetic potential.

Dave has very poor bike times. He has apparently trained on power cranks for ~10yrs and does something like 10hrs a week, every week. I'd say they have likely negatively impacted his cycling.

That is possible. But, it also is possible some of the training, and training tools I use, like powercranks, maybe helping me and others.
If you look at my results over the years in athlinks, no way am I genetically predisposition-ed.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep