Originally Posted by
Kommisar89
I've wondered about the advantage of climbing out of the saddle. It seems to depend on the rider leg strength (not power) and gearing. On many rides I've noticed that when we hit a hill even at a moderate pace, the lighter guys get out of the saddle while I stay seated. They aren't necessarily going any faster up the hill though. They also typically have something like a 39x23 low gear vs. my 39x28. I only get out of the saddle for relatively short climbs at speed - say I'm doing 22-mph over relatively flat ground and hit a short hill I may stand and power over it while only dropping to 18-mph then sit back down and keep going. If it's more than a short hill I won't be able to maintain that power output without going anaerobic so I just sit down and drop into a lower gear. I have a great deal of muscle strength and I'm a good sprinter but my muscle endurance sucks. I haven't seen any recommendations to train out of the saddle. The climbing routines I've seen usually say to pick a hill and a gear where you can do around 50-rpm for 20-minutes. Rinse and repeat several times.
This is an excellent exercise for building pure leg strength, but on extended climbs you want to be able to climb out of the saddle. It uses different muscles than those taxed when seated, and so allows you to spread the work around a bit. Also, any serious accelerations uphill are going to require you to be out of the saddle to follow. Also, in terms of racing, it is far better to conserve energy by spinning a lower gear at higher cadence when seated. Try spinning at 90+ rpm, I think you'll find it to be much easier on the body, although it may take a little while to get used to.
The reason that lighter guys tend to climb out of the saddle more is because they can generate more powe that way, and because of their light weight, it doesn't tire their core muscles as much as is the case for heavier riders. However, there is no reason a heavier rider can't climb well out of the saddle if they practice it often and work on their core strength.