How to Improve Your Pedaling Efficiency

Cycling is a much more form-driven sport than most people realize. When most of us learn how to ride a bike as a child, little to no attention is paid to how we pedal. Simply, the goal is to balance and make the bike move forward.

It isn't until adulthood, when some of us continue to ride our bikes, that we realize we've adopted plenty of bad habits. It's common for beginners to want to mash down on the pedals instead of pedaling in smooth circles, and it can be a hard habit to break—it goes against what we've learned and practiced for years and years.

Fortunately, there are ways to improve your technique and get rid of old pedaling patterns to become a faster, more efficient cyclist—and the winter months on the indoor trainer are the perfect time to start.

More: 4 Drills to Improve Pedaling Technique

Muscle Memory

Part of the reason why competitive cyclists have to learn to pedal all over again is because of clipless pedals. Because your foot is fixed into the pedal, you can push down with the quadriceps and pull up with the hamstrings. The downward portion of the pedal stroke (1 o'clock to 6 o'clock) is more natural because that's how you learned to pedal.

You can change your muscle memory, but it'll take time and effort. Here's the good news:

1. With practice, your legs can relearn how to pedal a bicycle over time.
2. With more practice, your proficiency at spinning in circles will improve.
3. Your legs will remember lessons taught over time.

More: Drills to Practice Pedal Efficiency

When we train for the sport of cycling, the focus often centers around building our aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity, VO2 max and muscle strength. As we ride more often, our gross motor memory for pedaling also improves. Instead of trying to improve each aspect of your fitness at once, use the winter months as an opportunity to concentrate on pedaling efficiency.

The more often you practice pedaling in circles, the more natural it'll feel. Single-leg drills and high cadence workouts will build muscle memory and make your pedal stroke more efficient, which translates to improved speed and power on the road.

Work on these drills a few days out of the week or before each trainer workout to remind your legs of how you need them to operate. Before long, you won't need to think about pedaling at all—it'll be part of your muscle memory.

More: 3 Ways to Improve Pedal Cadence and Efficiency

Advantages of an Indoor Trainer

When you train indoors, you have complete control over your environment. You won't have to worry about traffic, pedestrians or stop signs while you practice your pedaling technique.

A good way to improve pedaling efficiency is to watch yourself in a mirror. Find your dead spots and concentrate on being more efficient applying force when there is a lag in power output.

Once you've practiced this a few times, you'll realize that pedaling is much more complicated than pushing the pedals with your feet.

More: 3 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Indoor Trainer Workouts

To improve your technique and produce more power, you'll also need to dial in the correct saddle height. A saddle that is too low or high will keep you from using all of your muscle groups, and can lead to an overuse injury. Saddle fore/aft, pitch and upper body position also play a factor in how efficient your pedal stroke is.

Use the stationary trainer to adjust these variables through trial and error. If you haven't had a bike fit, this may be a good place to start. When it comes to improving your pedal stroke, small changes in position will make a big difference.

Stationary Trainer Vs. Rollers

In terms of stationary trainers, you have two types to choose from: a fluid trainer or a magnetic trainer. Fluid trainers use fluid inside of a chamber along with a flywheel to apply progressive resistance to your tire. A magnetic trainer uses the distance between two magnets and a flywheel to create static resistance.

More: How Rollers Will Improve Your Technique

Each type of trainer has its own advantages and disadvantages. While a fluid trainer may be best for hard interval efforts, a magnetic trainer is better suited for improving your pedaling efficiency. High-cadence spinning at a lower resistance will be easier than the progressive and more road-like feel of a fluid trainer, which can make it more difficult to pedal the faster you spin.

Rollers offer even less resistance. Because of this, it promotes efficient technique. Unlike a stationary trainer, rollers force the cyclist to balance while pedaling. Rollers also force a you to stay in an area 18 inches wide. Smooth pedaling is the key to keeping your bike still and the rollers moving.

You'll also use your core to stabilize the bike, which is another element of cycling fitness that you should work on during the winter months. In a way, riding rollers will force you to be efficient.

Remember, the key to improving your pedal stroke is practice. Spending a little time becoming more efficient this winter will go a long way toward results in the spring and summer.

More: 8 Cycling Tips for Your Indoor Trainer