High vs. Low cadence training - Should we include it?

[@impaledface7694]

Riding single speed works pretty good at working on lower cadence, and I know BITD people rode fixed gear since that works low and high as low as you have mountains nearby. Only downside I find with low speed work is knee stress, and I find weight lifting is easier on my joints since I can easily stop instead of riding home. I found weighted lunges feel just like pushing up a medium incline with my glutes on a bike ride. I am a believer in neuromuscular adaptation converting to usage in whatever sport you are doing. I only did 5-10 reps and that was enough for me, but I could see doing 20 rep widowmaker squat sets every once in a while. I would still do upper body work if you can since I find slower rpm standing+rocking of the bike I can employ my pecs, lats, and arms to get more power up a hill.

[@HeyWattsUpCycling]

for training do whatever you like, with lots of variation. on race day use ONLY the technique you have measured requires the least o2 demand. if you dont do lots of blood/breathing testing you wont actually know tho and obviously its not convenient or free to have this done regularly.

[@TomLeeCycling]

@@HeyWattsUpCycling Think it's good to work the other end to your preferred cadence. Like people who slog away at 60-70 rpm all day should consider increasing their cadence. But for me personally I like to spin. And with the high torque work I've been doing over the past few weeks that "lower cadence" ca. 100 rpm, is starting to feel more comfortable for max efforts. And maybe I'm benefiting from the improved mechanical efficiency compared to spinning at 120 rpm.

[@geoffnash2609]

Compared to weight training, even very low cadence work is low force. 40rpm for 5 minutes is 200reps per leg. Still low force compared to squat 6 -10 reps. However ,I still think there is value in being efficient across a range of cadences. If your event/race is going to require low cadence climbing, then it seems reasonable that practicing that muscle recruitment would be beneficial.

[@TomLeeCycling]

@@geoffnash2609 Exactly. We don't exactly know why the pro's do it, but it's clear they do. And there's no harm giving it a go in the off-season. Maybe it bridges that gap to real world riding. As even in a short event (10 mile TT) it's even lower torque, 2000 reps of 35 Nm. So compared to that the low cadence work is 'high torque'.

[@rickbowker]

When I was training in the hills use to work on lower cadence uphill to improve power then pedal very fast on the downhills! Think you need to mix it up!

[@TomLeeCycling]

@@rickbowker Typical gearing definitely makes that the case for most of us! And even when you're spinning out on downhill sections, power matters significantly less and getting aero is much more important.

[@MsTatakai]

I can maintain 5 mins sprinting in low cadence while sprinting in higher cadence is like, 10 seconds ? so sometimes low cadence is better and other times higher cadence is better... the best is to mix up and adapt and perfect the cadence instead of just spinning with force is also a thing many ppl don't know and is needed

[@TomLeeCycling]

@@MsTatakai Also real world demands of bike riding. Like you can't sprint out the saddle at 60 rpm without flipping the bike over. 😁

[@Avianthro]

A seminal paper: J. Chavarren á J.A.L. Calbet Cycling effciency and pedalling frequency in road cyclists

[@TomLeeCycling]

@@Avianthro Thanks. Anton Schniffer (Zwift Academy finalist from this year) had referred to it in a strava post. He does that quite a lot tbf.

[@Avianthro]

@@TomLeeCycling It's worth a read if for no reason other than it provides some brain cell exercise. The main takeaways I see: 1) Efficiency is significantly higher for low RPM but only at low-medium power, up to around 250W. At higher power, cadence matters little if at all...at above ~ 367 W, it may not matter at all 2) Efficiency keeps increasing as we increase power but levels off at around 350W...where Pogi does his cruising. So, it seems that when one is at racing power, RPM should just be whatever feels comfortable for us, probably a function mainly of our individual relative proportions of muscle fiber type, and a bunch of other factors that are changing as we ride. I'd say that when it comes to training, low cadence, i.e. high torque, simply acts as a very-high-rep, low-weight strength training session. latest muscle training research says that this can be as effective as doing lower reps with higher weights, and an OK thing for road cyclists, but it's surely better to hit the gym if your goal is to build muscle strength for track racing.