This:

http://www.luescherteknik.com.au/...%20and%202%20web.pdf

Great for rehab from an injury to one leg....

I know it has been mentioned before but these single leg drills are counterweighted, that is there is a weight attached on the opposite cranks arm. If anything this encourages "mashing" or rather the force application on the downwards stroke. Doesn't really help "smooth" out pedal stroke the like.

Can you point to a study that indicates that "smoothing out" a pedal stroke makes one faster?

I only ask because there's a well-known study that indicates that faster guys tend to "push down harder" relative to slower riders AND relative to their own pedal stroke.

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Nope, because as far as I know "smoothing out" the pedal stroke is a waste of time. I was pointing out that if anyone was looking at the counterweighted drills to smooth out (whatever that means exactly) these are not the things to do. If anything the counterweight drills highlight why making concerted efforts to smooth out the pedal stroke is a waste of time.

Aaah...sorry. We're on the same page. For some reason I took your post as downplaying the results of the study and encouraging folks to "smooth out" their pedal strokes.

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All I know is that the last times I rode up climbs with Paul Thomas, he would unclip and challenge us on the climb, and still kick our asses for 3 or 4 minutes. Dude could generate a lot of power with one leg. So now I return the favor to him every time I get him in the pool. He cannot keep up with my one arm swimming at any distance, even a 25 sprint. Seems like cutting our 1/2 your limbs does not = losing half your power or speed. Don't have a clue whether this helps you later on in a race, but sure is fun in workouts!!

Yeah, though whilst there is a clear demonstrable benefit to these drills their application in turning that benefit to actual performance will require a lot more research.

I have experimented with these myself and very anecdotally report that I too didn't see any great improvements in FTP however it seemed that at sub threshold the RPE was significantly lower. So their application may be more in the ways of efficiency which is hard to quantify but could be of great benefit to those who spend a long time at sub threshold rates... Like triathletes ;)

May the testing and experimentation continue.

Hello All:
Counterweighted single leg cycling was my idea. I developed it in my lab and I'm the senior author on the paper which is the result of my sabbatical at Edith Cowan University.
By adding a counterweight to one crank, you can pedal with one leg but with biomechanics that are similar to those during normal double leg cycling. Much different than you would do during non-counterweighted single leg cycling.
The rationale for the study was that you would only exercise half the muscle mass at one time and therefore essentially double the available supply of oxygenated blood. This was well supported by the result that the participants trained at greater per-leg power during single leg than during double leg. While it is true that we did not obtain a performance improvement we did not really expect it after only 6 total workouts over three weeks. Anytime you design a study you are constrained by what you believe the participants are will to do and how much time they will take off of their normal training. We decided on three weeks knowing it might not improve performance. That's where the analysis of muscle biopsies came in. We pulled biopsies before and after each block of training (single and double) and analyzed the tissue. The results for increases in glut-4 (insulin and contraction mediated glucose transporter) and CoxII and CoxIV (limiting steps in the respiratory chain) are highly compelling. They suggest that this will be a potent training stimulus as well as clinical modality.
Cheers,
Jim

Hey Jim, So the question is: given the available data now available from the study what is the next step in terms of capitalizing on the adaptations shown? Longer time using the single leg drills, longer intervals (6,8,10mins or longer) or combining with other forms of training?

I had some brackets made up for my pedals, so have played around using these drills from time to time.

As mentioned above, highly anecdotal but I found after following a similar protocol to the study I found that sub-threshold effortsfelt easier. Improved efficiency perhaps?

Did you consider doing a similar study comparing counterweight single leg cycling to non-counterweight single leg?

Can you get the same effect using a trainer with a large heavy flywheel, e.g. Lemond Revolution?

OK, I finally was able to give it a try. I used only about 10 - 12 lbs of counterweight. I have to say that it felt strange. I was expecting to be able to crank out more watts with each leg, but the whole thing seemed awkward and I actually found non-counterweighted single leg pedaling to be easier.

Interesting. Hard to imagine why it would be awkward. Couldn't be smoother in my lab or in several other labs around the world.
How did you attach the weight? Maybe a pic would help.
Cheers,
Jim

Jim, I don't think this was answered in this thread, but what was the mass of the counterweight?

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We use 10kg and that seems to work really well for most riders.

Thanks...I guess that means Dreadnought above was using ~1/2 the required mass. Maybe that contributed to his "difficulties"? That would be sort of a "tweener" between fully counterweighted and uncounterweighted pedaling, no?

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Maybe, but we've done a wide range of weights in the lab 10-40 lbs and all of them are MUCH better than no counterweight. I'm wondering if the weight was rotating or somehow unstable.

I took some pics, but I was unable to attach them to my post. I'll try again. I can tell you what I did. I brought weightlifting bar to the machine shop. They cut it to about 5" in length and the threaded one end of it so that it would fit into the crank like a pedal. Then I put 2 x 5 lb weights on it plus the lockrings. My estimate is that the total weight was somewhere between 10 and 12 lbs. I can email the pics to you if you want..

I should point out that I've done a fairly large amount of non-counterweighted single-leg cycling. My guess is that I've become accustomed to using my hip flexors so much that the counterweight disrupts my usual rhythm.

Your setup sounds exactly like one of our early prototypes and should work just fine. I can imagine that if you approached it just like non-counterweighted single leg it would have been really jerky. We give our beginners a bit of instruction to emphasize the push. Try just riding for a while with sneakers so you can't pull up. That should allow you tone things down and then you can put bike shoes back on. Also, if there is room on your spindle, try loading it up to 20 or 25lbs.
Cheers,
Jim

That would not explain why 0kg (non-counterweight) seemed easier

OK, I'll try that. Should I start out at fairly low RPM?

Most of us tend to select something a little slower than double leg. Maybe aim for 80-85 and see how it goes.
Cheers,
Jim

But trying to pedal as if the weight wasn't there would explain it ;-)

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Go ride a skateboard. Your leading leg is your dominant leg upon which you balance. The other leg that you use to push forward is your less dominant leg, and as such is the one you should be training in single leg cycling drills.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

...and yet, despite my preferring to stand on a skateboard with my left leg and pushing off with my right, like the vast majority of folks, when at FTP levels and above my "L-R Balance" is invariably a near exact 50-50 split.

Do I still need to do single leg drills? :-/

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

Wrong forum mate. ;)