I did some one leg drills last night on my trainer and I could barely last a minute before resting. I wasn’t even using a small gear and its obvious now that my left leg doesn’t provide 50% of the power so are one legs drills suppose to be very difficult or am I just weak?
they aren’t suposed to be difficult,you do this drills to work on your pedaling technique,not power.
use the small cog.
I’m not really sure that one-leg drills are good for anything, and I say that being a PowerCranks user. It requires a lot of power to pull the pedal over the top and unless you have unlimited time to sit there and do them with each leg, I doubt you could ever get to the point where you could become aerobically efficient. It is a pretty good ab workout though. When riding PowerCranks you lift up on the upgoing leg to some degree, but are still pushing down with the big muscles, so basically you are just getting the upgoing leg out of the way of the downgoing leg. It does make the legs equal out the effort to some degree because they both have to do their own work to get around the circle.
Whether all that is a huge performance benefit is the subject of no small arguement.
Chad
I thought they were a good way to find the weak spots in the rotation…All the books/magazines that i’ve read recommend them… Anybody else had sucess with these drills or are they worthless?
Regarding doing a full minute with one leg… Try 20 seconds right leg, 10 second transition, 20 seconds left leg, 10 second transiton, 3 times around. A minute straight thru with one leg can certainly be tough.
I thought they were a good way to find the weak spots in the rotation…
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If they do find such, how do you address them? More one-legged drills? You probably can’t do enough of them to be able to do them aerobically unless you are really dedicate to spend hours and hours doing drills one leg at a time.
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All the books/magazines that i’ve read recommend them
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Well, books and magazines have to have some substance to sell and they create that substance by pushing complex training plans, or “Five weeks to your best Sprint Tri”. How many magazines would you sell if you told people the best way to be a fast triathlete is to train at an aerobically sustainable level for a much time as they can manage week after week, month after month, year after year? Sounds boring, but it is highly effective.
Chad
I don’t know maybe focus on the weak areas when I’m pedaling with both legs??? Only on slowtwitch have I read the argument that magazines/books provide zero substance and are only fluff to sell, sell, sell… Is that because everyone that posts on here, except me, is an expert in bilateral breathing, dimples, aerodynamics, position and nutrition??
*Only on slowtwitch have I read the argument that magazines/books provide zero substance and are only fluff to sell, sell, sell… Is that because everyone that posts on here, except me, is an expert in bilateral breathing, dimples, aerodynamics, position and nutrition?? *
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Others might find useful info, but after a year or two subscribing to one (i’m thinking more of a two-year subscription to Runner’s World), I realized there are only so many different types of “workouts” you can invent to publish before you realize that the only thing you really need to do 95 percent of the time is go out and ride or run (being a horrific swimmer, I won’t comment there except to say that you can really learn to swim from a magazine or book–it won’t provide feedback if you are doing it wrong).
Reviews from mags are not particularly useful because often the same products are also advertisers and mags don’t make money by making their paying customers look bad.
Chad
Chad, you still doing 50/50 PCs/regular cranks?
Dave
Understood…
More or less. I don’t track it, but I just can’t leave the Mandaric hanging on the wall for long, so I generally commute on the fixed cranks and do the lunchtime ride on PCs.
Chad
I did some one leg drills last night on my trainer and I could barely last a minute before resting. I wasn’t even using a small gear and its obvious now that my left leg doesn’t provide 50% of the power so are one legs drills suppose to be very difficult or am I just weak?
I do one minute one leg drills, smallest gear, just spin, concentrate on the pull up. I’m a spinner on the bike, and keeping my cadence up is where I’ve found my best ability, I’m not a super strong guy to just push the pedals hard. Having said that- 1 minute will totally make you seem weak- I know I’ve had problems this year with my right leg, and a minute was tough to pull to the top at the end of the minute. Its def. a leg blast thats for sure. I do them maybe every so often- more if its on the trainer.
I’m not really sure that one-leg drills are good for anything,
Tell that to Chris Horner and Geoff Kabush…And LAnce and his coach. I think they are really useful, like one of the above people said, they arent supposed to be fast as much as steady to work the entire pedal stroke.
I throw some in on pretty much all my indoor sessions, they seem to work pretty well as long as I do them consistently, They do nothing if I do them once a month, sort of like all other drills, you have to do them to see improvement. I use them to build some strength and work on dead spots. Another thing that works pretty well is to find a nice long hill and do like 1 min on, 1min off going from really tough gears to easier ones.
Tell that to Chris Horner and Geoff Kabush…And LAnce and his coach.
Oh, I’m sure that a lot of people say they are a good idea, but what I find insufficient is the reason why. How much time does a person spend on them? Are they trying to train the muscles aerobically? Are they trying to train their brains to pull up? Those folks you mentioned have their own quirks, but they are not fast because they do one-legged drills. They are fast because they are talented and train a lot more than the average human. I used to ride PCs full-time and the minute I switch back to regular cranks I then start pedaling in the normal method unless I am consciously thinking about it. How much less effective is it for a guy who only does them 30 minutes a week, or likely even less?
If you don’t have much time, don’t spend it halving your effort.
Chad
I’d have to agree with cdw’s statement: “I used to ride PCs full-time and the minute I switch back to regular cranks I then start pedaling in the normal method unless I am consciously thinking about it. How much less effective is it for a guy who only does them 30 minutes a week, or likely even less?”
When I first get on my rollers in the winter, my pedal stroke is noticeably choppy. It only takes a couple of rides to get everything smooth on both legs. I even do one leg drills on the rollers after a couple of weeks of re-introducing myself.
After riding the rollers consistently for months over the winter, I go right back to my same choppy self on my first ride outside. So, I’m not sure how much value there is in the one-leg thing (or rollers for that matter - hell, I’ll even throw in PCs). The only reason I do it is to reduce the boredom. I find that I need constant distraction to make it to the 1 hour mark (my goal for each session).
When my FSA crank arm fell off my bike mid-ride (only 3 months after I bought it), I one-legged it to my bike shop. That was a good workout – 3 or 4 miles. Fortunately for me, it was the left side, but now I am probably more mismatched.