Originally Posted by
europa
Your hips should not rock when pedalling - if they are, your saddle is too high. If you're making them do it, stop.
The easiest way to improve your pedalling is to imagine you're trying to scrape something off the bottom of your shoe ie, a pull back at the bottom of the stroke. The rest comes naturally.
Don't be fussed about trying to pull up on the pedals - few people can add any power that way, the most they achieve is to get their foot out of the way of the rising pedal.
Richard
That is the winning response. The scraping motion was (I think) first described by Greg Lemond (probably from his coach). Ditto on the "pulling up" theory. Several studies have shown that this in an inconsequential part of the pedaling stroke.