Don't Pull Up on Your Bicycle Pedals

“Push down, pull up” is a cue that has been passed around the cycling world like popcorn at the movies.  While it’s extremely common advice, it’s actually extremely incorrect advice.  Unfortunately, because it is so common, people often automatically assume that it’s good advice.  But pulling up on your bicycle pedals hurts you more than it helps you.  Coach Laura dives into the reason why this is true and gives advice on what you should do to optimize your pedaling mechanics.

Read this Coach Tip Tuesday: 

https://www.fullcircleendurance.com/blog/coach-tip-tuesday-dont-pull-up-on-your-bicycle-pedals 

Book a Bike Fit with Coach Laura:

https://www.fullcircleendurance.com/coaching-services/bike-fitting 

Sources:

Coyle, E. F. et al., “Physiological and biomechanical factors associated with elite endurance cycling performance”

Edwards, Lindsay M. et al., “Whole-body efficiency is negatively correlated with minimum torque per duty cycle in trained cyclists”

Korff, Thomas et al., “Effect of Pedaling Technique on Mechanical Effectiveness and Efficiency in Cyclists”

Bike Fit 2nd Edition: Optimize Your Bike Position for High Performance and Injury Avoidance by Phil Burt

Training and Racing with a Power Meter: Third Edition by Hunter Allen + Andrew Coggan, PhD + Stephen McGregor, PhD

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Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or health goals. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening
• 0:16 The Fallacy of "Push Down, Pull Up"
• 1:57 The Basics of Cycling Pedaling Mechanics
• 2:17 The Downstroke
• 4:35 The Backstroke
• 5:51 The Upstroke
• 7:27 The Overstroke
• 8:28 Putting it All Together
• 9:42 Work With, Not Against (aka Work Smarter, Not Harder)
• 13:15 Clipless vs. Flat Pedals
• 13:36 For the Love of Clipless Pedals
• 15:23 Advantages of Flat Pedals
• 17:15 The Bottom Line
• 17:41 Closing

Transcript

(0:04 - 0:24)
Hello, and welcome to the full circle podcast, your source for insights into the science and art of endurance sports training and racing. I'm your host coach, Laura Henry. Today is coach tip Tuesday, push down, pull up.

(0:24 - 0:47)
This forward cue has been passed down to cyclists all over the world from many, many coaches over the years. At face value, it makes sense, especially for riders who are using clipless cycling shoes and pedals. Very confusingly, the term clipless refers to a cycling cleat shoe or pedal combination that allows you to clip in to the pedals, to attach to the pedals.

(0:47 - 1:16)
If you're familiar with downhill skiing, the principle is the same as clipping into skis with boots and bindings. Pushing down with one leg while actively pulling up with the other is going to actively engage both legs and make you a stronger, better, and more efficient cyclist, right? Wrong. Something has always felt off to me about the push down, pull up advice, even back when I was a new athlete and long before I even considered becoming a coach.

(1:16 - 1:45)
Even though I hadn't studied anything at all about cycling or pedaling mechanics, something just felt glitchy and wrong to me about the prospect of trying to simultaneously push down on one pedal while trying to pull up with the other leg on the other pedal. After I became a coach and after I started studying biomechanics and physiology, I learned that the science and the data backs up my gut feeling on this. So Wally advice to push down, pull up is certainly well-intentioned from the people who imparted on others.

(1:45 - 2:04)
In fact, one of my coaching mentors, Brendan Jackson, used to say it to his coaching clients all the time. It is poor advice because it doesn't actually help athletes pedal more efficiently or with more economy. To understand why it's best not to pull up on your bicycle pedals, you must first understand the basics of cycling pedaling mechanics.

(2:04 - 2:17)
And this starts with the cycling pedal stroke. The pedal stroke is the action of turning the pedals to move the bicycle forward. It is broken down into four phases, the downstroke, the backstroke, the upstroke, and the overstroke.

(2:17 - 2:33)
The downstroke. The downstroke starts at the top of the pedal stroke at zero degrees or 12 o'clock. If we're thinking about this as a clock and it moves towards the bottom of the pedal stroke at 180 degrees or six o'clock during the downstroke, power is released by one leg.

(2:33 - 3:01)
The power released is a combination of muscular, inertial, and gravitational power. At the top of the downstroke, the hip and the knee are flexed, and this means that both the hip and the knee are bent and the ankle is dorsiflexed. This means that the foot is bent or angled up, so the ankle looks like a letter L. In the early part of the downstroke, between zero and 90 degrees, or between 12 o'clock and three o'clock, the goal is to push down and forward simultaneously on the pedal.

(3:01 - 3:16)
The gluteus maximus and the hamstrings are the prime movers. They initiate this movement, this downward push, by extending the hip. Prime movers are also known as agonists, and they are the major force producers for a particular joint action or movement.

(3:17 - 3:46)
Then the quadriceps all contract, there are four of them, to initiate the extension of the knee, and this assists with bringing the foot forward through the pedal stroke. The plantar flexors of the ankle will start to push downward on the pedal. The anterior tibialis, which is a muscle that runs from the outside of your shinbone near your knee around the front of your shinbone down to the inside of your foot, counterbalances the plantar flexors while the ankle is in a neutral position, driving the heel down to the ground.

(3:47 - 4:08)
In the later part of the downstroke, between 90 and 180 degrees, or between three o'clock and six o'clock, the quadriceps and the hamstrings become the prime movers of this motion. The quadriceps continue to extend the knee, and the hamstring continues to extend the hip. So before, they were in a flex position, now we're going into extension, we're making everything longer.

(4:08 - 4:33)
The plantar flexors increase their activity as they push down on the pedal, and they reach peak muscle activity in the 110 to 130 degree range, and this is between three o'clock and four o'clock, as the cyclist tries to push their foot down to the ground. At the bottom of the pedal stroke, the knee should remain slightly flexed or bent at about 10 to 15 degrees. Never at the bottom of the pedal stroke should the knee be fully extended.

(4:33 - 4:45)
We always want to have a slight bend to the knee. The backstroke. The backstroke takes place between 135 degrees, halfway between four o'clock and five o'clock, and 225 degrees, halfway between seven o'clock and eight o'clock.

(4:45 - 5:00)
And the backstroke is a transition phase between the upstroke and the downstroke. In this phase, you are dragging your foot across the bottom of the pedal stroke. So if you've ever heard the cue, scrape your foot like a horse or paw the ground, that's kind of what we're doing here at this part of the pedal stroke.

(5:01 - 5:26)
Once the leg and the foot are past the bottom of the pedal stroke, 180 degrees or six o'clock, the hamstrings activate, which causes the hip to go into further extension and the knee begins to flex. So now the hip is fully extended, it's fully straight, and the knee is starting to flex, it's starting to bend again once we get to the bottom of the pedal stroke. The anterior tibialis concentrically contracts, and this causes the ankle to go into dorsiflexion.

(5:26 - 5:52)
In a concentric contraction, a muscle's tension rises to meet the resistance that is being imposed on it, and the muscle shortens while it is generating force to meet and overcome that resistance. A common great example for this is to think about if you're doing a bicep curl and you bring your hand and your forearm towards your shoulder, the biceps on the top part of your arm is shortening as it meets that resistance and overcomes that resistance. The upstroke.

(5:52 - 6:06)
The upstroke is the movement from the bottom of the pedal stroke to the top of the pedal stroke. It takes place starting at 180 degrees, 6 o'clock, and it continues to 360 degrees, 12 o'clock. During the upstroke, power is absorbed by one leg.

(6:07 - 6:26)
The power absorbed is a combination of muscular, inertial, and gravitational power. If you remember, this is the opposite of the power that is released during the downstroke. During this phase, the hip and the knee begin to flex, and the heel begins to rise while the cyclist is seeking to pull the hip and the foot to the top of the pedal stroke.

(6:26 - 6:58)
From 180 degrees until 270 degrees, or from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock, the hamstrings are the prime movers, and they are extending the hip while flexing the knee. The soleus and the gastrocnemius, more commonly known as the calf muscles, lift the heel of the foot by plantar flexing the ankle. From 270 degrees until 360 degrees, from 9 o'clock until 12 o'clock, the iliopsoas, the rectus femoris, and the sartorius, which are collectively commonly referred to as the hip flexors, all work together to initiate hip flexion, or to bend the hip.

(6:58 - 7:17)
The iliopsoas is a deep muscle that connects the spine to the lower limbs. The rectus femoris is one of the four quadricep muscles, and the sartorius, which connects the hip and the knee joints, is actually the longest muscle in the human body. The anterior tibialis is dorsiflexing the ankle at this time, and the cyclist is seeking to lift the foot over the top of the stroke.

(7:18 - 7:28)
As they do this, the heel is slightly higher than the bottom of the foot as the entire foot comes over the top of the pedal stroke. By the top of the pedal stroke, the ankle is almost neutral. The overstroke.

(7:28 - 7:50)
The purpose of the overstroke is to get the foot over the top of the pedal stroke and to begin the downstroke. The overstroke begins around 315 degrees, which is between 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock, and it ends just past 360 degrees, 12 o'clock. As the foot crosses the top of the pedal stroke, the hamstrings and the gluteus maximus initiate hip extension into the downstroke.

(7:50 - 8:08)
At this point, the cyclist will drop their heel to transition into the downstroke. The iliopsoas, the rectus femoris, and the sartorius, remember the hip flexors, continue to flex the hip. The anterior tibialis continues to provide dorsiflexion of the ankle until the top of the pedal stroke at 360 degrees.

(8:08 - 8:26)
So all four of these phases together create the pedal stroke. And imagine this, that just took me quite a while to explain. And since this on average happens about 80 times a minute, this means that all of the things that I just described happen in your body within a second while you're cycling.

(8:26 - 8:39)
The body is truly an amazing thing, folks. This overview of the pedal stroke happens in both legs, but the phases happening in each leg are opposite of each other. So for instance, if the right leg is in the downstroke, the left leg is in the upstroke.

(8:40 - 8:58)
If the right leg is in the backstroke, the left leg is in the overstroke. If the right leg is in the downstroke, you do not want to push down at all on the left leg, which is in the upstroke, because this would cause a counterforce to the right leg as it is going through the downstroke. The legs are connected to each other throughout the pedal stroke by the bicycle itself.

(8:58 - 9:07)
Specifically, the two legs are connected via the pedals, the crank arms, and the bottom bracket. The crank arms are the levers that your pedals are attached to. Collectively, they are called a crank set.

(9:08 - 9:26)
The bottom bracket connects the crank arms to the bicycle, and it allows them to rotate freely. The force applied to the crank set via the pedals is what allows this rotation to happen. In this example that we're talking about from earlier, the left leg is effectively using the forces generated by the right leg in the downstroke to ride through the upstroke.

(9:26 - 9:42)
In many ways, the upstroke is a passive phase of the pedal stroke. It's at least much more passive than the downstroke. As one leg is releasing power, the right leg, in this example, in the downstroke, the other leg, the left leg, in this example, is absorbing it through the upstroke.

(9:42 - 10:03)
As paradoxical as it may seem initially, these counter forces throughout the pedal stroke are exactly why it's wise not to pull up on your bicycle pedals. At face value, it seems like pulling up on your pedal through the upstroke would help assist these physics and mechanical factors that we've been discussing. And honestly, when considered strictly from a mechanical perspective, it is actually correct.

(10:04 - 10:21)
Pulling up on the pedal does increase mechanical effectiveness. However, and this is the rub, that mechanical effectiveness comes at the cost of efficiency, and the efficiency loss is greater than the mechanical gain. In other words, this juice is not worth the squeeze.

(10:21 - 10:52)
Pulling up on your pedals hurts you more than it helps you. If you actively pull up on your bicycle pedals during one leg's upstroke, you are working against the physics forces already in play throughout the entirety of the pedal stroke, and as a result, you are using more energy, which means that you are less efficient. Less efficiency means overall lower economy, with economy in this instance being defined as the balance between the force produced and the energy used or required to generate that force.

(10:52 - 11:13)
All of this means that pulling up on your pedals is more costly than if you don't pull up on your pedals. If you just ride through the upstroke and let your downstroke leg be active and do the work, you will be more efficient and economical as you ride your bicycle. You want to work with the mechanics and the machine of the bicycle to generate power and speed in the most economical way.

(11:13 - 11:37)
You don't want to work against it. Because cyclists are completing an average of 80 pedal strokes per leg per minute, listen to episode eight in Cycling Cadence Matters if you want to learn more about this, considering efficiency is incredibly important. Over the course of an hour-long ride, the average cyclist is going to complete at least 5,400 pedal strokes in each leg.

(11:37 - 12:05)
Rather than pulling up on their bicycle pedals, cyclists seeking to increase their speed and their power should instead focus on reducing the amount of power that is absorbed in the upstroke by developing the ability to generate more power through the downstroke. This leads to greater economy over time, which is a desired adaptation and outcome over the long-term. Finally, pulling up on the pedals in the upstroke overuses muscles that are not intended to be used at this phase of the pedal cycle.

(12:06 - 12:22)
While this does cause the loss of economy that we've been discussing, it also causes premature fatigue in the muscles that are being utilized to perform this pulling up action. And this can lead to several negative impacts. The most significant negative impact is that it increases the risk of injury.

(12:23 - 12:47)
When we use muscles to perform an action that they are not actually intended to be the prime movers of, it overloads those muscles and thus it greatly increases injury risk. Remember, managing load versus capacity is critical and mismanaging load versus capacity is what leads to overuse injuries. Additionally, premature muscular fatigue causes decrease in performance over the course of a ride.

(12:47 - 13:15)
For triathletes, this impact is even greater than it is for cyclists as this overuse not only impacts a triathlete's bike leg performance, but their run leg performance. This is because imposing this unnecessary muscular fatigue on the bike causes triathletes to start off the run leg of a triathlon in an even more muscularly fatigued state than they should be. This snowballs into accumulated fatigue being imposed more rapidly over the course of the run, which in turn leads to decreased performance over the course of the run.

(13:15 - 13:36)
As you can probably gather, it is impossible to pull up on your bicycle pedals if you are riding with flat pedals. Pulling up in the pedal is only possible if you have clipless pedals or pedal cages because you need an interface that connects you and your foot to the pedal. If you are going to be able to pull up on the pedal, otherwise gravity comes into play and you can't do it.

(13:36 - 13:49)
There are a lot of things to love about clipless pedals. I'm a big fan. The most important thing that a clipless pedal system does when set up properly as part of a good bike fit is to keep the foot in an ideal position over the pedal spindle.

(13:49 - 14:05)
The pedal spindle is the part of the pedal that connects to the crank arm. The pedal body, the part of the pedal that you actually press on, rotates around the pedal spindle. Ideally, the foot should be aligned over the pedal spindle so that the pedal spindle bisects the first and fifth metatarsal heads.

(14:05 - 14:20)
The metatarsals are the long bones in your feet. The heads of the metatarsals are the tops of these bones near where your toe bones begin. Together with the toe bones, which are called phalanges, they form the metatarsophalangeal joint or the joint where you can flex and extend your toes.

(14:21 - 14:38)
Ensuring that this alignment is optimal and consistent means that more of your force and power is applied directly and you waste less energy and force controlling your foot's position on the pedal. In flat pedals, you have to constantly be moving your foot to maintain that position. With a clipless system, it just stays there.

(14:38 - 15:00)
Despite what many cyclists think, clipless pedals do not exist so that riders can pull up on one pedal while pushing down on the other. And perhaps to the chagrin of all the people who love clipless pedals, cyclists who ride flat pedals can actually have better pedaling economy than cyclists who ride clipless pedals. Yes, contrary to popular belief, flat pedals are not just for kids and hipsters.

(15:00 - 15:17)
They are appropriate for all cyclists and all ability levels. Yes, this is even true for athletes riding, gasp of shock, aerodynamic triathlon bikes. This improved economy comes from the fact that a flat pedal requires the rider to focus on that downstroke drive that we were discussing earlier.

(15:17 - 15:31)
As they focused on that downstroke drive, they reduced the force that is absorbed by the upstroke leg. No matter how stiff a cycling shoe is, the cleat in a clipless system will always be smaller than the width and the length of the shoe and the pedal. Just has to be.

(15:31 - 15:44)
It can't be bigger than it. This means that the cleat cannot fully span the full width and the full longitudinal arch of the foot. The longitudinal arch of the foot is the distance between the ball of the foot and the heel of the foot.

(15:44 - 16:05)
Since a flat pedal has more surface area that can be in direct contact with the foot, it can span the width of the foot and it can encompass a greater percentage of the rider's longitudinal arch. All of this means that there is a more even distribution of pressure throughout the triangle of the foot. If you've ever squatted, you have heard of this concept as the principle is the same.

(16:05 - 16:29)
In order to both squat properly and get the maximum power out of your squat, you need to anchor your squat through your foot by applying pressure on the first metatarsal head, the ball of the toe, the fifth metatarsal head, the pinky toe joint, and your heel. These three points together make up the triangle of the foot. To get maximum power through your pedal stroke, you need to anchor your foot through the same triangle on the pedal of the bicycle.

(16:29 - 16:58)
For example, since the pedal spindle bisects the first and fifth metatarsal heads in a clipless pedal system, it is impossible to put the proper amount of pressure through the heel. The soleus and the gastrocnemius muscles, the calf muscles, end up activating to stabilize the foot instead. Since a flat pedal system does allow for the heel to be anchored without using the calf muscles for bracing, it can allow riders to be more economical in their pedaling and perhaps surprisingly, I know, get more power out of their pedal stroke.

(16:58 - 17:15)
For all of these reasons, it's a good practice to mimic flat pedal riding mechanics when we are riding clipless pedal systems. And most importantly, this includes acting like it's impossible to pull up on your pedals because it's not possible with flat pedals. Over time, this leads to greater economy and better riding habits.

(17:16 - 17:38)
So while you may have heard it many times over from many different well-intentioned coaches, do not pull up on your bicycle pedals. In addition to reinforcing poor pedaling mechanics, pulling up on your pedals leads to less efficiency and less overall economy in your cycling, which hurts your performance. Instead, focus on driving through the leg that is pushing through the downstroke so that you can increase your force and power production.

(17:39 - 17:51)
And this will lead to speed gains over time. That was another episode of the Full Circle podcast. Subscribe to the Full Circle podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

(17:52 - 18:07)
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(18:08 - 18:27)
Please send us an email at podcast at fullcircleendurance.com or visit us at fullcircleendurance.com backslash podcast to find training plans, see what other coaching services we offer or to join our community. Please visit fullcircleendurance.com. I'm Coach Laura Henry. Thanks for listening.