Out of the saddle is tough
 

Why is climbing out of the saddle so tough for me? It really wears me out when I do it, but I do enjoy it. I'm a recreational rider, so it matters not, aside from the fact that I'd like to do it more for my own enjoyment.

I'm a heavy guy at 104 kg/230 lb. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to get back into shape. So is my difficulty with climbing out of the saddle simply a function of the load I'm hauling? Is it easier if you're lighter?

generally.

I would rather be out of the saddle while climbing along with finding it easier. I think it has to do with body position. I have been told that I lean forward to much and that I should bring my body back a little more which would then allow other body parts to help and I would be able to tranfer more power if I did. Well I do what works for me. On a steep hill climb I lean forward over the bars, (my head usually over my front wheel) and I rock the bike side to side pushing down as well as pulling up with my legs. Be sure to control your breathing and get yourself into a rythme. Once you get yourself into a rythme than you find yourself concentrating on that vs how much further you have to climb or how tired you are. I also like to go from sitting to seated back and forth switching because it allows a break for certain muscles. since I prefer to be out of the saddle I sit for a rest vs others like to be in the seated position while climbing so standing gives them a break and then they can sit back down and wrench at it again.
hope that helps

I weigh about 165. Climbing out of the saddle is different, but I don't find it any harder than spinning up the hills in a lower gear. I find it's a nice change of pace, and I also think that it keeps the blood flowing in the sitbone area, which seems to keep saddle pain at bay. I think climbing out of the saddle requires more cardio and less leg strength.

Climbing, whether in the saddle or out of the saddle is easier when you are packing less weight up the hill. Always. And forever.

I probably need to practice my out of the saddle technique. I always always sit and spin because I feel unstable out of the saddle. Especially when my shorts catch on the front of the saddle which seems to always happen. I just changed saddles to an SMP which has that bent down nose. That might make it easier.

It is probably a consequence of your lack of upper-body and "core" strength. If you want to get better at working out of the saddle a little faster than standard training you should start up a resistance program. Otherwise spend more time out of the saddle and focus on not being sloppy.

Dropping weight, and this, is key. Even though I'm not all that heavy (165 lbs), I wasn't comfortable out of the saddle until I developed better core and focused on being smooth OOTS.

So, try to drop weight as you're working on core strength and smoothness. And enjoy yourself.

Losing weight always helps climbing, unless it means you also sacrifice power. It's all about the sustained watts per kilograms.

I use to hate climbing out of the saddle as I'd get tired in less than ten seconds. I think I was just doing it wrong. When climbing out of the saddle make sure you shift up a gear or two so you have a lower cadence (around 70?). From there stand and lean over the bars. When you get back to your seated position make sure to shift back down to get back to a comfortable cadence.

That's just the technique though. If you really want to get better at it, do intervals so that you're used to putting out more power for extended periods.

No matter what else you do, you just have to stand more and get used to it.

Yeah, I'll definitely stand up more. But I'm guessing that shedding a few saddle bags will be the key here.

In addition, many people push harder when they are out of the saddle, making it "harder". But you don't have to. Do some drills concentrating on standing and going easier, and then you will detrain the standing = go harder response.

This advice is good. But for a given speed, climbing while out of the saddle is inherently less efficient than staying seated, because more muscles have to be recruited to generate similar power. So you should get out of the saddle either to accelerate or to vary the position/effort, but be aware that it has a cost in terms of energy expended.Here's a link

That's not necessarily true

How so?

Although you engage more muscles, the other muscles are being used less. You are moving some of the load from your legs to your arms and your core. For the same power I can stand and drop my RPE and HR.

Note, even in the link you posted says "Although you develop more power while standing, you also use 10 to 12% more energy". So it is saying more energy for more power, not more energy for same power.

Me too, for RPE, though I'm surprised about the HR. And of course I agree about the arms and core thing, which accounts for the RPE - more distributed loading across more (and different) muscles. But I still think the link is right about higher energy consumption overall. If we took a 1 mile climb at the same pace on successive days, standing one day and seated the next, which do you think would have the greater impact on the rest of our ride? In my case the standing mile would tire me more. You may disagree. If so I'd be interested.

I do this occasionally on flat ground by standing without shifting gears and still trying to keep a smooth pedal stroke.

From my viewpoint, it is mainly a weight thing. When you're sitting on the saddle, you can exert varying amounts of power, which you adjust to whatever you can maintain. When you're pedaling out of the saddle, it more or less forces you to exert an amount of power proportional to your weight, so it's easier for a better rider (more power to weight).

It's kind of the difference between doing a bench press, using whatever weight you can handle, as compared to doing a pushup, which forces you into a particular lift.

Side note on technique: I was on a charity ride a while back, and was going up a hill at 11-12 mph. There was a fit young man on a CF bike riding out of the saddle, and I actually managed to pass him. When we crested the hill, he passed me up, and I didn't see him again. I think he was pedaling at too fast of a cadence, and also had a lot of bike-flop-side-to-side going on. He could probably have done better just pedaling from the saddle.

I used to be useless at climbing out of saddle, but I've lost a lot of weight and done some lifting and the difference is night and day.

Excellent advice.


Plus, lose some weight. Trust me, I know. Last June I weighed in at 250. today I'm at 210. I makes a HUGH difference. Not only because you're pushing the weight uphill, but the strain on your cardio vascular system is hugh. you're out of breath because you're out of shape. Did you really think you could get on a bike and just start sprinting upihill without consequences?

the standard i've heard is one kilo = one minute. I wouldn't worry about it too much though, just keep riding, get a trainer for the winter months. Keep riding. You will loose weight if you do so, and you will get faster and your fitness will improve. stick with it my friend!! If I can do it, you can too.

It's my experience, that if I stand and don't increase my power, that my HR usually goes down, unless I'm standing because I'm overgeared. That said, I still usually prefer to climb seated unless I need the extra power. I usually use it like an afterburner.

Anyway, show and tell is more fun. Here is a video of a climb from yesterday's race. Shows some riders standing at times. You can tell when I stand when the video gets all wibbly-wobbly.

He was probably maintaining a relatively constant power so 250W on a climb may be say 10mph but that same 250W on the flat may be 22mph. That versus what most people do which is 350W on the climb then have to recover on the top and drop to 200W. These numbers are just for demonstration purposes, yours may vary.

Similar thing happened to me on a recent climb where I tried to keep at or slightly above FTP on climbs and I could hear someone catching me from behind. When I hit the top I felt great and dropped to just under FTP and had a corresponding speed increase. A mile later I look back and I see this little tiny speck on the road I'm guessing was the other guy gasping for air.

+1

Thanks, nice video. Quite a climb. My ancient engine would struggle to stay with you guys, I'm afraid. How did you do?

umd-that was a good video to watch, thanks for sharing that. What kind of video system are you using?