Seated Pedaling Myths: Why Standing Pedaling Is Better For Mountain Biking

One of the things that I’m known for is that I am a big advocate for standing pedaling. In a sport where riders are told to use seated pedaling - particularly high RPM seated pedaling - as much as possible the advice to stand up more really surprises some riders. My opinion on the subject comes from my background in functional movement and how to best apply it to the bike. It also comes from understanding where the “sit and spin” advice comes from and why it is flawed if you apply some critical thinking to it. First, I am not saying you should stand up all of the time. I have something I call The 4 Quadrants of Pedaling that outlines how I think riders should use the two different pedaling positions. In a nutshell, I think that you should use seated pedaling for easy, low tension efforts and you should use standing pedaling for hard, high tension efforts. This is the best way to get the most performance out of your riding while also avoiding a lot of overuse injuries. Let’s take a look at seated pedaling and why people think it is better and then see if those theories hold up. First, we’re told that seated, high RPM pedaling is more efficient. However, this is based more on the fact that most riders aren’t strong with standing pedaling and that it feels hard. There have been studies and anecdotal evidence that shows that standing pedaling and seated pedaling are about the same from a metabolic efficiency standpoint. What’s more, when you stand up you are creating movement more efficiently.  You get more hip extension, you get your weight over the pedals so gravity can help more and you are able to get your core engaged with a better spine position and full knee extension, which is required to get stable knees at extension. This is a much better position for the body to create movement and power from. This is one reason I’m not a big fan of bike fits for mountain bikers - once you stand up all those measurements go out the window and if I’m not over-relying on seated pedaling I don’t need it to be “perfect”.  It is the high tension efforts that create stiffness and overuse injuries and so you want to make sure you lay that high tension on the best movement patterns possible. So standing pedaling is arguably more overall efficient, which is a measure of how much energy you get out of your energy input.  Seated pedaling has a lower energy input and can be sustained for longer but don’t confuse that with being more efficient as these are two different things. The next thing we are told is that seated, high RPM spinning is the most metabolically efficient way to pedal.  This is mainly based on the Carmichael Training System and the programs he came up with for Lance Armstrong. Lance was doing a lot of EPO and could therefore handle a higher aerobic load that you or I can, which calls this theory into question.  Even at the highest levels of road cycling you will find riders who are successful with a sit and spin style and with a more aggressive use of standing pedaling - there is no one way that works for everyone all of the time. While you can argue that seated, high RPM pedaling is more efficient, you can’t get away from the fact that trail riding requires you to navigate problems that require the use of your skills, which are always best used from a standing position. These are also usually the highest risk parts of riding and not being strong with being able to stand up and use more tension at the pedals is potentially dangerous. The culture of spin-and-pray to get through technical rock gardens is a testament to how weak more riders are with standing up and working through those problems from a better position. Technical climbs, technical trail sections and jumps/ drops are best handled from a standing position with some tension at the pedals and not being strong in that position is holding a lot of riders back. Lastly, what about the biggest myth about seated pedaling of them all - needing to keep weight on the re