Btwright1987

Hi all,

I have noticed that when climbing out of the saddle my quads tend to give out fairly quickly if I am pushing on, especially if I start the climb seated and stand to get more power through the pedals.

Has anyone got any tips for improving endurance in my quads? Can be either on the bike or off the bike exercises.

Cheers

GravelMN

Incremental overload followed by adequate rest and recovery supported by good nutrition. Find a short hill of adequate grade to make you work hard and do hill repeats until you get to the point where your quads are quite tired and you are sore but not in severe pain for the next couple of days. Do this once a week adding one repeat each time. After a month or so, find a slightly bigger, steeper hill and do the same.

LGHT

Good advice. This worked for me. I just wished someone told me to stop when I was sore and not in severe pain lol. I recall not being able to walk the next day more than once. However I learned a LOT about how to recover quickly as a result.

12strings

I'm fortunate to live around some rolling hills...for trainig, I simply make a point to get out of the saddle for the uphills if they are going to take about 30 seconds or less....then recover on the down hills...I think it has really helped my out of saddle endurance...

Or if you want to go crazy and injure yourself, I saw an interview with Alberto contadore where he said he would pedal out of the saddle for 20 mins!

ThermionicScott 

It doesn't follow that climbing out of the saddle is necessarily bad for your knees or anything else. If your form is good, it's mostly like walking up tall stairs, applying little more than your bodyweight with each "step." It's certainly better than grinding uphill seated in too large of a gear or with a saddle that's too low.

Looigi

"Shut up legs" works for me.

12strings

Agreed....I was referring more to my quads exploding if I tried that....��

Carbonfiberboy 

All the above is good advice. There's a 400' hill here that we ride frequently. Every once in a while, I climb the whole thing standing, mostly just to see how my conditioning is coming. A lot of it is skill and a lot of it is pacing. I recall reading an article by a rider who had an operation which made it impossible to sit on a saddle for a while. He removed his seatpost and rode everywhere standing, shorter and then longer distances. IIRC he was up to about 50 miles by the time he could sit again.

Mandeville

Fitness, training, proper form and the usual other stuff all apply as noted to better climbing out of the saddle. And that may be all there is to it for you as it certainly is for most others. But...certain people regardless of fitness etc are not built to climb standing. Probably the most common stereo-type category wise come from the tall and heavy. (For a cyclist.) We've all seen people like Contador, Pantani and Armstrong ride remarkably up those TdF climbs standing for long periods. (Especially on the attack.) On the other hand how often did we see Ullrich stand? Or certain other elite world class riders past and present?

Now I'm neither elite or world class. Just old and tall. I am however very fit and not overweight but at 6'5" and 215 pounds I'm not light. I've learned as an individual cyclist that I simply cannot climb standing out of the saddle except for very short distances/duration on climbs.(Yes, I've trained standing and continue to train but I only can stand a bit further/longer as a result.) If you are older as in being a senior climbing tends to jump you HR up very quickly toward it upper limits if you also fit those are areas that I named limiting standing.

Hopefully you are of the age and body type that will allow you to have the potential for much greater standing performance in you and it's just a matter of training and that other stuff to dramatically improve.

Carbonfiberboy 

There's truth to that. However when people say, like I did above, "It takes skill," the truth is that skill isn't much use without strength. Yes, handstands take skill, but that doesn't enter into it until you can support yourself with your arms. Same with pedaling standing. My BMI is lower now, but even when it was the same as yours, I could pedal standing for a long time. I'm 70 now, but back when I was 60, I could leg sled >4 X bodyweight. Now I'm squatting 1.5 X bodyweight and single leg pressing bodyweight. If one doesn't have a gym, pistol squats work. No need for a cyclist to go all the way down. Just down to a 90° knee angle is enough. I think if you can do sets of 20 of those, you can climb standing and for long periods with a little practice.

Age is an issue: our protein requirements increase as our protein use becomes less efficient, and our muscles go away even more quickly if we don't work them hard. Or not, if we do.

sprince

I used to believe that, but then I started practicing by doing every hill out of the saddle from start to finish. For me it was never the legs, but more the feeling that my heart was about to explode. After I while I got good at managing the effort and being efficient, going for a mile or more before sitting down (I'm 200lbs+).

The fact that you experience the aching quads off the bike as well, tells me that your quads are not only weak but you may be compensating for other muscles that aren't taking their share of the load. Out of the saddle should switch the stress from your quads to the glutes and calves. Try some hiking or weight training, and some core work.

Billy k

I had a knee replacement Feb 2014. One month to the day after replacement I completely tore my quad. I believe it maybe due to surgery that the quad went out on me. Well two months ago I bought my first road bike and I am trying to get fit. Hills Tear me up,but I keep at it. Quads burn but do recover in 5 min or so. I get scared when I can hardly get a good breath.i need to know what is good training and what is pushing myself to a heart attack.