Road Cycling - "Heels Down"

At one point while watching the Tour de France, I heard one of the coaches yelling to his riders to keep their heels down. At the time they were about to begin a tough climb.

My question: Besides the obvious that this may make you climb faster (based on the context of the statement)... exactly why does keeping your heels down help you climb better? And... is it a good idea all the time?

To try it out for myself, I made a concerted effort to keep my heels down on a 22-mile training ride the other night and pulled off one of my fastest solo rides of the year -- hauling my carcass over the distance at 19.1 mph. I'll be the first to admit it's no record and won't prompt me to get into racing, but at my age and gravitational handicap, I was pretty pleased.

So what gives about the heels? Any sports physiologists out there?

One thing it seemed to do was keep my knees in toward the bike which seems to be a more efficient way to pedal, but I'd like other people's opinions.

Thanks,

Trekaholic

I think bringing your heels down forces your shin muscles (sorry, I'm not even going to try to name the muscles) to work and not your calfs. Using your shin muscles, you can get alot more push out of every turn of the crank, giving you the power to climb.

I hope this makes some sense, and I'm not pulling this out of my butt. :p

-Dan the Man-

I heard the same during the tour and have focused on doing it myself. My perception is that by doing so my pedal stroke seems more fluid where more of my effort is transferred to the pedal. I've also noticed that with heel down attitude that I seem to be pulling up more via my cleat in the upward cycle of my stroke.

ankling...
http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/english/begin/im/rt04.gif

Dropping the heel below the level of the toes when pedaling at the eleven, twelve, and one o'clock positions rather than leaving the foot in a toe-down position throughout the entire pedal stroke increases the effective torque around the crank axle and utilizes pedaling strength as rotational power without waste. This technique takes its name from its exaggerated movement of the ankles. Ankling is an effective pedaling technique on level roads and slopes when riding at an average speed of around 20 km/h.

source: http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/

Oh yeah, about pedalling technique, is Lance Armstrong using ankling this year? I didn't really notice.

Originally posted by ockey53
I think bringing your heels down forces your shin muscles (sorry, I'm not even going to try to name the muscles) to work and not your calfs. Using your shin muscles, you can get alot more push out of every turn of the crank, giving you the power to climb.

I hope this makes some sense, and I'm not pulling this out of my butt. :p

-Dan the Man-

Ok, I did know what I was talking about :D

-Dan the Man-

Basically just spinning in nice circles and not just mashing on the pedals. Correct?

when lance does his "stand and spin" his toes are pointed down, almost freakishly so. me, i'm WAAY too slow to be worrying about all that.

Thanks for the quick replies. The ankling diagram from Dexmax was helpful. I'm still a little curious about the physics behind this, though.

Trekaholic

I picked up on that and have imporved my speed as well.

Another important aspect is that pedalling in the seat naturally causes the Achilles tendon and hamstrings to shorten. I don't know why. A conscious effort to keep the heels down before a tough climb ensures these tendons are ready for the onslaught.

In addition, with the standing that's needed on tough climbs, there is a tendency for the body to be well forward of the BB spindle, which naturally causes stretch in the tendons and calf muscles as the feet rotate. It's one reason why some riders suffer Achilles and calf injuries when they stand to power away, or simply mash the pedals.

There is some debate about the effectiveness of ankling, but its proponents certainly have a lot of positive comments about smoothness of the pedal stroke, especially if you have a (preferred) high cadence and ride for long distance/periods.

The height of the seat has an influence over how well ankling works. A riding partner of mine raised his seat slightly and was disappointed to observe that his ability to ankle was reduce to almost zero. You also will note in replays of the TdF that the knee bend at the bottom of each pedal stroke is quite pronounced for most riders.

To improve ankling, take your foot off one pedal and continue pedalling with the other. You'll find it "clunking" through the pedal stroke until you smooth it all out. Then change to the other foot and pedal. You can really only do this on the flat and for not really long periods.

FWIW

R

With ankling you'r in effect altering the crank length at differant segments of the revolution ?? Like a variable bio-pace ???

Originally posted by Trekaholic
Thanks for the quick replies. The ankling diagram from Dexmax was helpful. I'm still a little curious about the physics behind this, though.

Trekaholic

moment arm... The longer the distance, the more leverage...

Pedal like your scraping mud of the bottm of your shoes.

so how far do u dip the heel? as far as it goes or just enough so its lower than the toe?

slightly lower or just level... depending on the cadence...

On steep climbs, 15deg-18deg, I ankle a little bit.. My cadence is just above 60rpm when I do this.. I do ankling when my cadence drops and I am in my last gear... Can't do anything else at this point..

This is the way I learned to do the ankling and what I concentrate on flats while riding even now. I especially concentarte on this while pulling a big gear into the wind or up an incline while seated. I follow the diagram posted to a T.

http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/english/begin/im/rt04.gif


When my foot is approaching the top of the crank cycle-I am pushing my foot forward trying to keep my toes pointing down just a touch. the key there is pushing forward from about 11pm on-NOT pulling up.

On the downstroke I try to pull my foot down instead of push it down and also try to concentrate on making sure my heel is down. When I hit about 3-O-clock-I am already trying to pull my foot Back to 6-O-clock.

This technique "feels" like it is using more muscles at once, but not just the thighs or hamstrings, etc. And it also feels much more fluid.

The hard part is doing it without concentrating on doing it. That takes forever I think.... And since the coaches need to remind there riders to do it-I guess I dont feel bad that I forget at times to do it!!!

I was told by another rider in my club to "ankle" during a ride once while we were way up north in the countryside....kinda comes naturally to me :P but I do notice that I don't get any cramps in my calfs anymore

Superb thread.....:beer:

Originally posted by belfast-biker
Superb thread.....:beer:

I agree. This is a great thread explaining a fairly arcane cycling technique. At the risk of going off-topic, when I first saw the title to the thread, it took me back to the days of my callow youth when I was a student of equitation. (Horse)Riding instructors are notorious for yelling "Heels down" at their students.

Is it just me or does the picture show the heel below the toe at the one, two, and three o'clock position, not the eleven, twelve, one....

Originally posted by wallybrau
Is it just me or does the picture show the heel below the toe at the one, two, and three o'clock position, not the eleven, twelve, one....
Yes. The thing is that on the upstroke ( from 6 to 11 o'clock) you are effectively lifting the pedal with your foot, hence improving the power output, plus smoothing out the entire pedal stroke. The exercise I mentioned in a previous post is excellent for illustrating the need to lift the pedal as well pushing down, and also helps identify where your pedal stroke can be improved around the entire 360 degrees.

Well, I stumbled across this thread this morning and planning a hard ride this evening I decided to try out the "heels down" technique. Boooy what a difference! I turned in the fastest 22 mile time I have ever done, and by an almost 2 mph average increase.
Ocassionlly I get some achilles tendon pain when I push hard, but today, NONE. I think I need to lower my saddle by a few MMs to smooth things out and I seem to spin up hills a little better.

NOW for my question. Should I maby move my cleet posistion a little further forward on the sole of the shoe, or should I leave it alone? Tell me what you think. :confused:

Leave your cleats alone at this time. Actually, randonneurs tend to shift them further back to avoid hotfoot problems. If you don't have a problem at the moment with cleat position, don't fix it.

Get used to the new stuff first before changing something else. I would leave the seat where it is at the moment. It's taken me a long time to sort out my randon bike and I learned very early on not to make a rash of changes, because you don't know which ones have worked and which didn't.

See if you can replicate or improve your time over the same course a second, third, fourth and probably fifth time with the new pedalling technique. It might have been that you were just feeling great physically today.

When you do change the seat height, do it literally mm by mm. We don't want you getting knee problems now.

Reply to a post further up:
I think the main shin muscle is called the "tibialus Anticus" or something along those lines. I remember mine used to be quite well defined when I was younger and pushed the larger chainrings. I looked it up in Gray's one time. I may have the spelling wrong, but it's in the general area :)

Gonna have to try ankling tomorrow. :D

The amount of "dip" is determined by several factors including saddle height, the anatomy of your leg, condition and cadence. You will find at high revs it is difficult to get much "dip" but practice and training, as usual, extend the limits. I sometimes lose concentration and forget to ankle while out on long tours, thinking about work or other such nonsense and find myself getting fatigued. A sudden return to reality and proper ankling gives me new energy and the speedo increases a couple clicks.

[i]Originally posted by dexmax
source: http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/ [/B]

Luckily my wife is Japanese and she will be able to translate the parts of this wonderful web site that are in Japanese only!

Originally posted by TrekRider
Luckily my wife is Japanese and she will be able to translate the parts of this wonderful web site that are in Japanese only!

So... your name is TrekRider and you're married to a Japanese woman. And I'm Trekaholic and married to a Chinese woman.

How are we going to keep this straight?:beer:

Luckily my wife is Japanese and she will be able to translate the parts of this wonderful web site that are in Japanese only!

Actually there's trick to avoid translation need:
http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/english/index.html

Great thread & forum!

Thanks for the quick replies. The ankling diagram from Dexmax was helpful. I'm still a little curious about the physics behind this, though.

TrekaholicYour lower leg act as a receive side lever. The actual lever length is from knee pivot point to centerline of the pedal. As you heeldown the lever shortens giving you a advantage, and as you toedown the lever lengths. LA toes down to use the spin advantage.

Interesting thread. I've heard that ankling technique is somewhat controversial...some coaches believe in it, others don't think it works and may cause Achilles injuries.

Hopefully, somebody will publish a scientific study based on power meter technology.

I have found that I actually transistion between the, heals down, flat and toe down depending on my cadence and power needs. I find I can put more brute power to the pedels heals down and butt back on the seat, as my foot speed increases I tend to level out.

I have found that I actually transistion between the, heals down, flat and toe down depending on my cadence and power needs. I find I can put more brute power to the pedels heals down and butt back on the seat, as my foot speed increases I tend to level out.

I thought that was what I said. :(

ankling...
http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/english/begin/im/rt04.gif

Dropping the heel below the level of the toes when pedaling at the eleven, twelve, and one o'clock positions rather than leaving the foot in a toe-down position throughout the entire pedal stroke increases the effective torque around the crank axle and utilizes pedaling strength as rotational power without waste. This technique takes its name from its exaggerated movement of the ankles. Ankling is an effective pedaling technique on level roads and slopes when riding at an average speed of around 20 km/h.

source: http://www.cycle-info.bpaj.or.jp/

Based on the diagram it does not seem the heel is down at the points in the pedaling circle you mention. Is the diagram or the description more accurate? Thanks.

I thought that was what I said. :(

Confirmation bro. :D

ultimate ankling info :-)
http://www.cranklength.info/animation/ankling.htm

Reply to a post further up:
I think the main shin muscle is called the "tibialus Anticus" or something along those lines. I remember mine used to be quite well defined when I was younger and pushed the larger chainrings. I looked it up in Gray's one time. I may have the spelling wrong, but it's in the general area :)

Gonna have to try ankling tomorrow. :D

My 13 year old confirms it is the tibialus Anterior (?). I was telling him about this technique and he says "oh yeah Dad, that works your 'tibialus Anterior'". Yeeeeesh... I like "shin muscle" myself. :p

Tom

I have problem with my upper calf muscle on long rides. It begins to hurt on the outside just below my knee. Do you think this would help?

I have problem with my upper calf muscle on long rides. It begins to hurt on the outside just below my knee. Do you think this would help?

That sounds more like something corrected with correct cleat position, seat position or even stretching.

IIRC, outside knee pain is in the IT band. A runner friend gave me stretches to do when I had that pain... haven't felt pain since.

This is what I was talking about...the shorter the "knee to pedal" distance the more power you have.

This diagram is exactly like I ride! Works great for me. :D

I would not be inclined to base my pedaling style on what a professional coach said to a specific, elite, professional rider. By the same token, ankling is cool, but I just don't believe that it's a great idea to bust your hump trying to force a pedaling style. Try it, don't over-do it. If your saddle isn't too high, and you keep your ankle relaxed (i.e. feeling the pedal all the way around), you're probably already ankling... it just isn't a forced motion.

Doesnt ankling also bring hip flexors into play, that brings the core into the equation as well?
I find this when trying to keep my heel down and "scrape my shoe"

I read somewhere that these hip flexor muscles are not aerobic muscles, and dont lend themselves to endurance? Ok Koffee, you got some exsplainin to do!

I know for years I've been riding with my toes pointed slightly (sp?) down through the entire pedal stroke. Whether this is a result of my own pedal style (if there is such a thing), or poor technique (which is probably closer to the truth!) it is how I've been riding for a long time now. Since just last year though I've been paying more attention to my pedal stroke and how to improve it. I agree with Roadbuzz in that this shouldn't be a forced motion. However, I have to unlearn my old technique in order to learn a new one. I have to pay attention to my pedal stroke and correct myself. I'm sure with time it will be like second nature.

This really is a great topic.

I just came back from a short hilly ride, if you can do that here in Toronto!

I paid close attention to that scraping the mud thing on all climbs, I notice I suck at hill climbing, and now my shins burn, I guess thats a good sign.

Im going to keep working it, i noticed my cadance increased when I kept my mind on it.

Good thread. Heels down seated climbing works for me too. Keeping the heels down seems to naturally get me working the hamstrings on a climb. That is, pulling back and up with power on the backside of the pedal strokes, rather than just hammering the quads. Great way to power over hills, but I can't do it forever on long climbs.

Ankling is different I think. It's working the calf muscles to angle the foot down at the bottom and up at the top to get that more-efficient leverage on the crank arm....leg force more perdendicular to the crank arm rather than "trying to stretch the cranks". I can only do it well at slower rpms, but not under the load of seated climbing.

Hears the deal, IMO. On a given ride, I'll employ all manners of peddling styles. Ankles? It changes with the type of stroke. It depends on the terrain, how I'm riding, what muscles are tired... you name it! In a tight group, I'm usually spinning... no pulling through the bottom, it feels more like just following the pedals. Time trialing, pushing up a long, moderate grade, or moosing into the wind, I'm more likely to drop my cadence into the 90s, apply more power around the stroke, pushing starting from the hips. A little steeper climb, I do the same thing, but the cadence is lower, and I'm pulling across the bottom. Can't do it too long, though... my biceps femoris (?) just aren't up to it. Most of the time I ride up and somewhat forward, feet pretty flat, and not applying too much pressure at any particular part of the spin. It feels like the "push" is originating about half-way down the femur. (I know.. that's not possible, just what it feels like.)

So, while I don't "ankle", sometimes I catch myself pedaling with, for lack of a better term, locked ankles. I find that if I relax them and keep them "live" the stroke *is* easier and smoother.

I know for years I've been riding with my toes pointed slightly (sp?) down through the entire pedal stroke. Whether this is a result of my own pedal style (if there is such a thing), or poor technique (which is probably closer to the truth!) it is how I've been riding for a long time now.

Bernard Hinault (and probably many other pro's) pedalled exactly like that. Hinault is maybe not a style/technique role model, but certainly a powerful one. :D That is, until he finally blew up his knee... :(

A follow-up: After reading this post back in July, I've consistently made an effort to ankle when I ride. After several months, it's become somewhat natural. My stroke feels VERY smooth and I feel like I get slightly more efficient energy transfer. I have not tried some of the "toe down" posts that have occured more recently in this thread. I'll have to keep that in mind and try it next time (I think I may do this anyway at high cadences on flats). Still, ankling seems to work and does give me a sense of more power in the downstroke.

I have been using this technique for a while now. It is now second nature to me when my cadence drops below 70rpm. When my cadence starts to drop I either I start angkling or click a harder gear and start standing.