Welcome to another edition of the Workout Daily Drill Deep Dive for spinning instructors and indoor cycling fans. The purpose of these deep dives is to get into the weeds of great cycling technique. I describe a new indoor cycling drill specific workout that you can add to your playlists and class routines. I also include link to a full playlist or music idea to compliment the drill with riding cues. If you teach indoor cycling or are just a spin fan and like the workout, I hope you can fit it into your training plans for the week. Maybe they will become a staple. I love feedback for improvements so the more you use and provide feedback the better our community can become. If you don’t like the workout drill “you’re crazy” (lol -just kidding) as all of my workouts are brilliant pieces of ride and drill programming to music that I have done myself in my classes. That said – every class and instructor is different and we all have very different musical tastes but I hope for most of you this will make planning that next epic spin class a little easier and faster so that you can focus on graduating to all become “Rockstar Instructors.”

As power level increases, cyclists don’t pedal in circles

Here is the fundamental problem with peddling as I see it. As our riders power level increases, they don’t pedal in circles anymore. They start “mashing and smashing.” This choppy stroke is obvious if you sit in a class as the instructor take Riders up a heavy climb. Many riders Rpm collapses and they stand and work just one half of the 360. This is a real mess. I think that the efficiency aspect is not often addressed in a lot of certifications. This performance equation is too often ignored in riding and class workouts and profile. You would think that given the repetitive nature of indoor cycling, that it would be obvious that the concept of pedaling efficiency and cadence should the foundation off of which we build our routine? I think it is helpful therefore that we should be blending in a few drills to try and balance that. By incorporating a few simple drills a couple times a week into our ride designs your riders will start to see some quick gains.

The focus of this drill is to turn on the correct muscle groups that “pull” with the right timing and not just “push.” Learning to fire these muscle groups at the right time will increase the riders pedaling efficiency. My riders have said that even after the first workout they feel a difference, and within a few weeks it becomes something they “just do.”

Now here is a BIG BOLD WARNING!

The most efficient part of the 360 circle your feet are moving in is 3pm to 6pm. That is where we want dedicating most of our focus to turn the crank. By “pull” I am referring to the 9pm to midnight part of the 360 circle. Now – we don’t want to go from zero pull to trying to use this phase to turn the crank!! What we are trying to do is negate gravity and the weight of the legs so that our opposite side is powering through the 3~6pm phase and over coming resistance less our opposite side inertia. Yikes! I know. Its like rubbing your head and stomach in opposite directions at same time… lol.

Indoor Cycling specifically is well suited to these sorts of drills to practice pedaling efficiency. While practicing these various pedalling drills, I encourage my Riders to close their eyes to eliminate visual distractions that might distract them from the nuances of maintaining a smooth and efficient cadence. With our eyes closed it is also easier to be aware of the sensations needed to train a complete stroke. Much like in yoga where you use the breath to regulate your energy – “conscious” pedaling on the bike can help manage rates of perceived exertion (RPE). By asking your riders to close their eyes on a regular basis we tap into our bodies and in concert with breathing can “connect” to help get RPE under control. This is a secret and powerful way to improve training and a very effective way of controlling HR and perceived effort while maintaining power and speed.

Have a look at the following video as I think in my humble opinion it nails the big picture goal on peddling drills. I think once you “see” a good stroke vs a “bad” stroke you will get the idea:

One Leg Isolation Drills – One Technique.

During the one leg isolation drill intervals we keep medium tension on the bike! Please don’t use super heavy tension, because that will cause the rider to use too much power on the down stroke thereby jacking up the knees. The big picture here is to focus on making the smoothest circular pedal strokes you can. I suggest that we are not striving for a fully symmetrical circle, but instead we are developing a mind-body connection to be able to reference any portion of the pedal stroke. (PS you keeners! pls pls stay clipped in on both pedals please – we are simply directing our attention to one leg :-))

Here is the cue: “Imagine you are scraping gum of your shoe at the bottom and then FOCUS on the back pull for the leg of focus”

Remind the riders to keep constant pressure on the pedal throughout the entire 360 stroke cycle. On the intervals, try to keep a constant cadence of 90~100 rpm depending on tension and certainly no bouncing in saddle. When we return to using both legs remind the class how they “feel smoother” immediately.

Specific Approach and Timings:

So here is the general plan. Of course adjust timings but for my drill we need 4 songs for a setup, right leg isolation, left leg isolation and a final race to burn in the message.

Step 1 “The Setup” : Alternate 5 iterations of 1 min on with a heavy gear interval and RPE >7 with 1 min easy gear spins w/RPE <7. Time Needed: 10 min

Step 2: ‘Right Leg Isolation” – 3 iterations only using (focusing on) the Right leg for 30 secs apiece with 1 min spins using both legs. Time needed 4.5min

Steps 3 ‘Left Leg Isolation” – 3 iterations only using the Right leg for 30 secs apiece with 1 min spins using both legs. Time needed 4.5min

Step 4: Race On!: Have class focus on both legs and lets do 100~120 RPM for a song… you choose timing

[su_button url=”http://www.indoorcyclingmixes.com/spin-class-one-leg-isolation-drills-pedaling-smooth-like-butter-playlist-and-cues-feat-deadmau5/”]Click here for the “Pedaling Smooth as Peanut Butter Music Playlist and Cues Feat Deadmau5″[/su_button]