Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
I think you are focusing in a very productive area. Another thing to think about is knee angle. Going over the top, there's not much hip angle change, but the knee angle changes. So kick forward with the quad. Once the downstroke starts, the quad phases out and the hamstring comes in. Coming across the bottom, the hamstring dominates as there's not much change in knee angle and there is hip angle change. Hamstring domination continues until the hip flexors take over to lift the foot up to the top. On the backstroke, the ham is all you got to lift that foot. Hip flexors lift the thigh, but until the lower leg starts to dangle, you have to lift the foot with the ham. If think if you drop the ham too early, you're losing power. I keep the ham engaged until about 8 o'clock.
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This is actually what I am questioning. Rather than using the quads at the top of the pedal stroke where the knee angle is most closed, I switched to focusing on the hip extensors and letting the knee do what it's going to do. It's not like the quads are taken out of the picture, but as rkwaki said, using two or three muscle groups to extend the leg on the downward portion of the pedal stroke rather than one. The hip extensors will provide power as long as the hip is still opening.
But one of the keys, I think, is working on lower back strength and rigidity. I found just focusing on keeping my back rigid was almost all I needed to do to get my hamstrings (and glutes maybe?) involved. I am not sure I need to really follow the foot at all. The foot does what it is going to do, as long as I focus on keeping my back rigid and my hip movement.
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