"I am not interested in riding harder but I am interested in riding easier. "

I'm also looking for this answer. I just started about a month ago to ride clipless, again, a Shimano SPD system with Nashbar two sided pedals. I had tried clipless a year ago with one sided pedals and they were a PIA to get into. Pedal always rotated to clip in side down. My near falls occurred while trying to rotate and clip in. So now I have two sided, but the left shoe remains stubborn to clip in. Will probably try SpeedPlay next. This time around I seem to like the clipless system, as I am perceiving easier riding, if only slightly. My search in the forums earlier brought out that one doesn't so much PULL up on the opposite pedal as just lift to unload weight of your foot. Ergo your power down stroke is 100% applied to moving bike and not some of it lifting your opposite foot. However the son in law did mention pulling with opposite leg used different muscles, so apparently some do in fact pull. All quite confusing.

Should I even mention another theory I read, I believe in road forum, regards moving cleats back to foot or shoe arch, as opposed to ball of foot. Suppose to be a slight percent gain for riders??