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Friends don't let friends skip 'left' leg day.


BLACKvoodoo

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Posted

Your thoughts on getting a balance using other types of exercise focused on the weaker leg to get more even results.

 

 While cycling, do you notice that one side of your body has greater power than the other when driving a pedal stroke? While it's common for one side to become dominant, strength imbalances in your legs can have a negative impact on your overall cycling efficiency. With a few of these tips, you can isolate your weaker leg in order to have evenly distributed endurance in both legs.

Imbalances in your legs can be caused by a previous injury or by inadequate positioning on your bike. While you may be tempted to write off an imbalance as a minor thing in relation to your goals, it's important that you treat this issue proactively, as it can eventually cause pelvic torsion, reports Velo News.

It may be easy for you to spot which leg is stronger just by sight alone, as the quads of one leg may be visibly larger than the other. However, if you're uncertain about which leg is stronger, try paying conscious attention to which leg consistently acts as a driver in your pedal stroke. Once you've pinpointed the weaker one, be vigilant and force that leg to take over the stroke.

To enhance your muscles in the weaker leg, consider performing single-legged pedaling drills. Livestrong.com recommends pedaling in 30-second intervals with your weak leg while keeping your stronger leg off the pedal. Use some resistance and increase your speed as you become more familiar with this exercise.

If you regularly incorporate deadlifts and squats into your training regimen, you should have enough power in both the front and back muscles of your legs to grant your efforts more success. 

Posted

I discovered by using the WattBike that my left leg was putting out only 39% of the power at times!

So that has helped me focus on putting more effort into it. I also do one-legged seated squats at gym and try to exercise each leg independently. Let's see if it pays off.

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