As I resumed cycling a few years ago, I just turned the cranks and smelled the roses. As time went by I started to develope strategies to deal with issues. First was lower back pain. I found that lower gears and higher cadence helped there as well as standing on the pedals as I coast to every stop or road crossing. Straightening my back for a wee bit did help and lengthened the rides.

Next was knee pain (mostly left knee from weak VMOs). Again higher cadence helps here (roller work in the winter trains for this). I envision the pedal stroke as three sectors of a clock: 12:00 to 4:00, 4-8, 8-12. I alternate my focus on each (yup, even with straps and cages) from time to time to focus on some muscles and stressors while resting the others. I've learned to focus on the back half of the stroke, 8-12, on long inclines, which is easier on my knees. Even on long flat sections, though I usually just mash along thinking of other things or thinking of nuttin, if a knee is 'talking to me' I'll focus on 4-8 or 8-12 for several minutes at a time to give the knees a, sort of, rest.

I'm also now standing on steep climbs much more than before, again using all the Quad muscles,tendons, ligaments especially the VMOs. Again, better on my knees. That has me thinking about all the wild side to side rocking of the bike I see from real cyclists on hard climbs. Great theater but looks inefficient so I focus on smooth pedaling when standing, minimal rocking which may be minimal knee stress. Donno, really. I'm also still doing what I've done since I was a kid - 'gunning up the hills' to get them over with, then resting once over the top. I've no idea what the 'Pros' would teach.