A new study has claimed that normal people pedaling like professional cyclists reduces their performance rather improving it.
Lead researcher Federico Formenti of the University f Oxford explained that they used ten healthy men aged between 19 and 48. They measured the participants' energy consumption at different cadences and exercise intensities, and used video-based motion analysis to study the mechanical determinants of changes in the energy cost.
Professional cyclists pedal at a very high cadence, often above 100 revolutions per minute, for improved efficiency, and they can sustain very high exercise intensity for a long period of time.
However, Formenti and his colleagues found that this was less effective for recreational cyclists.
Dr Formenti said that at a low exercise intensity of 50 Watts, a recreational cyclist trying to pedal like a professional at 110 revolutions per minute would use more than 60 percent of their power just to spin their legs and only 40 percent was going into overcoming the cycling resistance, which meant only 40 percent of the energy you burn would be going into moving the bike forward.
He said that pedaling faster might work for Tour de France winners but it probably would not work for the rest of us.
