Standing up and stomping on the pedals can give you a feeling of power and mastery. But most of the time, it’s dumb.
Seated climbing is more efficient over longer climbs. You use more muscles when you’re out of the saddle, which raises your heart rate by eight percent – and keeping your heart rate lower is important on longer climbs. Standing requires more energy because you work your legs, arms and back, and you use 12 percent more oxygen and energy.
A long climb is a 1.5km or more, and making the decision to sit or stand depends on the steepness.
Here are five techniques to get to the top stronger and faster:
1. Keep Your Body Still
- Don’t rock your upper body; it wastes energy.
- Don’t let your shoulders hunch forward; instead, keep them back and down to open your chest for breathing.
- A quick test to tell if you’re hunching forward: if your elbows are sticking out so far you can’t lightly brush your knees on the upstroke, you’re hunched and robbing yourself of oxygen.
- To keep your upper body from swaying as you pedal, pull lightly on the bar opposite the leg that’s on a downstroke.
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